The truth about child concussions, straight from an NFL trainer: ‘It’s not worth it’

An NFL trainer warns that new data is revealing more about concussions than was ever known before.

Myths surrounding concussion assessment and recovery still persist to this day, and they can stand in the way of getting proper treatment.

‘It is not necessarily an emergency situation.’

Kayla Parker, an athletic trainer with the Denver Broncos and official trainer of the NFL team’s cheerleaders, wants parents to know that risking brain trauma to participate in youth athletics is going to have more negative lingering effects than actually sitting out to recover.

Parker spoke with Blaze News and revealed that a lot of discussion and amateur analysis surrounding head injuries can be much further off the mark than some may realize.

“If you even suspect you have a concussion, sit it out. It’s not worth it,” Parker advised.

If a child, or adult, is indeed concussed and gets hit a second time within a 48-hour window, Parker warns that the brain can suffer from “second-impact syndrome,” which could potentially result in death.

The faster an athlete is removed from activity following a suspected concussion, the faster he typically comes back, Parker explained.

Concussion myths

It’s not always an emergency.

“If you suspect your kiddo or yourself have a concussion, it is not necessarily an emergency situation. You don’t need to rush off to the emergency room,” the trainer detailed.

A typical concussion protocol in an emergency room will include a CT scan, but that is to rule out a possible brain bleed.

“Outside of that, they don’t have anything else for them,” Parker said.

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Another long-held myth is to never let a concussed person fall asleep.

“That is definitely a myth,” Parker said in response. “When we suspect a concussion, they are absolutely allowed to go to sleep.”

At the same time, Parker said that a loss of consciousness is actually only prevalent in around 10% of concussions. Moreover, it is not an indication of seriousness either.

“It really doesn’t dictate how fast they’re going to come back from that concussion. We’ve seen those athletes come back faster than the ones that never lost consciousness at all. It’s going to be the previous medical history that’s really going to dictate how well they do coming back from the concussion.”

With concussion history and existing medical conditions as main drivers of ongoing health problems in many professional athletes, Parker said concussion prevention is the obvious goal for both kids and adults. However, “There is nothing that will 100% prevent a concussion.”

Another myth, one perpetuated in recent years, is that increased padding on the outside of a football helmet can help reduce concussions. This has been seen with the use of Guardian Caps.

But this is giving a “false sense of security,” the trainer said.

Chiefly, Parker added, “We are very concerned about preventing brain bleeds and skull fractures, and that is truly what helmets were originally designed to do.”

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Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

New knowledge

Parker’s work with the Broncos cheer team has expanded her depth of knowledge for different types of injuries. In that same vein, an important part of the job for the trainer is keeping up with new data and information surrounding concussions.

With that has come a new understanding of how young athletes are growing up and the possible effects screen time is having on their brain.

Vision problems have been consistently tracked as part of head trauma recovery, with recent studies — cited by Parker — suggesting that prolonged screen exposure has been “associated with symptoms such as visual fatigue, dizziness, and imbalance.”

When asked directly if excessive screen use can make a person more susceptible to a concussion, Parker replied:

“That is yes, that’s essentially what I’m saying. … It is something that they’re currently studying.”

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