Regulatory approaches to reducing risks of brain trauma

There is an increasing body of scientific evidence that suggests that repetitive brain injuries can lead to acute and chronic neurological deficits, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease. CTE has been implicated in the high profile deaths of professional football players, but the disease has also been found in the brains of individuals with only youth or college level sports experience. Given the 44 million children and adolescents who participate in organized sports in the United States, understanding and minimizing the risks associated with brain trauma is a major public health priority. Although increased awareness about damage due to concussions has helped lead to widespread adoption of concussion legislation, the current “template” legislation adopted by most states only addresses a portion of the acute effects of brain trauma incurred by youth athletes. Thus, there are many ways in which the “template” legislation can be improved. The most important step to reducing the damage caused by repetitive brain trauma from youth sports is to limit the exposure through eliminating off-season contact practices, limiting in-season contact practices, and utilizing available technology to monitor and appropriately reduce the number of hits incurred by each athlete. Adoption of these common sense changes will vastly decrease the exposure to repetitive brain trauma, thus helping to address the spectrum of acute and long-term health problems associated with concussions.