Coaching summit tackles concussions, protocols

ROGERS — Dr. R.J. Elbin’s message that removing athletes from play immediately after a possible concussion may seem simple, but now he’s got data to back up his claim that doing so is key to recovery time.

Elbin, an assistant professor and director of the Office for Sport Concussion Research at Arkansas, was delivering that message and more to area middle school and high school coaches as part of the fifth annual Mercy Coaching Summit held Thursday at the John Q. Hammons Center.

“We are starting to understand the value of removing kids from play,” Elbin said. “We’re trying to send a message that maybe playing through a concussion is not good. Number one, we’re really starting to examine why some kids take longer to get better than others. That’s a major thrust of some of the research I’m doing.

“We’re starting to put the puzzle together. Instead of just examining a piece of the puzzle here or a piece there, we’re finally putting them together that there are different profiles of this injury. Clinically, we see this

and we’re starting to back this up more and more with scientific evidence.”

Elbin was one of several speakers at the event to help educate coaches on a variety of relevant topics. The Summit has grown from a Rogers-only event five years ago to one that includes more than 350 coaches from several Northwest Arkansas schools.

Elbin’s study showed a group of athletes who continued to play with a concussion versus those that came off the field on average missed twice as much time — 44 days compared to 22.

Tom Williams, assistant boys basketball coach at Rogers Heritage, will begin his 40th year in coaching in a couple weeks. Williams said he came away from the presentation with more knowledge about concussions.

“This new stuff makes you feel like they are staying on the cutting edge as far as how concussions affect kids and what’s the best way to treat it and how you look at it,” Williams said. “It’s more than just recognizing the symptoms. It’s how we can understand it’s not the same for every kid. Some take two weeks. Some take three months.”

Rogers Heritage trainer Mark Haynes said Elbin’s work gives them better tools to take care of athletes.

“They give us information and we’re able to implement things that are way more accurate now,” Haynes said. “I feel like our kids have better or as good information as any sports program in the nation. We are getting firsthand information and research with new tools that they are checking.”

Elbin said diagnosing concussions isn’t easy though since symptoms don’t always show up right away.

“Here’s the tricky part, they can be delayed,” Elbin said. “We also have to rule out if they have a headache because the kid didn’t drink enough water or didn’t eat lunch or didn’t sleep the night before or their helmet is giving them a headache and that’s tough.”

Elbin also pointed to some recent studies showing that concussions are now more treatable.

“It’s not just ‘come back and see me, but there’s nothing we can do,’” Elbin said. “That message has kind of lost its zeal. We can do something for your kids.”