NFL to Revamp Concussion Policy

(AP)  The NFL soon will have its teams work with independent neurologists on concussion issues.

Commissioner Roger Goodell will implement the policy as soon as details can be worked out. The neurologists will work with the teams' medical staffs.

Goodell recently called for players to tell their teams' medical staffs if they think a teammate shows symptoms of a concussion. He and union director DeMaurice Smith also testified before Congress at hearings on football head injuries.

The Associated Press this month conducted a survey of 160 NFL players - about 10 percent of the league - and 30 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion.

Told of the AP's findings, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail to the AP that Goodell spoke to Smith about "the importance of players reporting head injuries, no matter how minor they believe they might be. The commissioner said that process needs to include players observing and reporting to the team medical staff when a teammate shows symptoms of a concussion."

The NFLPA said it opposes Goodell's suggestion that players tell medical staffs about possible head injuries to teammates.

"If every player were a medical doctor that could recognize symptoms of concussions, then that would be a great idea," NFLPA assistant executive director George Atallah said. "I hope that that league - instead of asking players to police each other - would consider calling on team medical staffs and independent doctors to police the situation as closely."

The new NFL policy, first reported Sunday by Fox, could do that.

[notso9]

There is a simple reason for the increasing number of concussions. When a player puts a helmet on and it just falls on over his dreadlocks or do rag and doesn't mess up his hair, his helmet is entirely too loose. When you see helmets flying off players heads nearly every play, they are simply not doing any good. The helmet is adding to the concussion by causing extra impact to the player when the helmet itself impacts the players heads. Get with John Force racing and learn from their studies on head injuries and you will see that they have found that form fitting head gear that keeps the brain more stable limits the damage caused by head impacts. When I played in high school, our helmets were required to fit snugly on our heads, and concussions were nearly non existant. Simple.

[sanchjr]

This is just what we need, Doctors on the outside giving their opinion on which the team doctor will say the same thing. What they need to do is if they get hurt bad enough leave them out for a game or two. What this will do is raise the (PRICE) of the tickets to where the working person will not be able to buy them.

[sfbanak]

Please--we're talking about a person's brain and all you care about is the price of tickets. Once you lose a part of your brain, it is gone. A neurologist specializes in the brain. It makes sense that they would know most about concussions. Health is more important than the cost of tickets. Too many sports cause too many injuries.