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In a recent Washington Post report, a student athlete and family sued for their right to keep their son out of the state-mandated, seven-day concussion protocol so he could play in the following week’s state championship game. The parents claim he never lost consciousness, and did not suffer a concussion — despite appearing to be laid out on the field for nearly 30 seconds.

Whether or not the player lost consciousness, it’s thin ice to be skating from a health and safety perspective. We don’t know what data was collected immediately after the hit, nor have we been monitoring for symptoms since the incident — two benefits of having XLNTbrain working for you. Obtaining clearance from a medical professional is still required, which was the last hurdle for this young man to leap.

The young running back, Shawn Nieto, received clearance to play, but only played one down, in which his team at Cleveland High in New Mexico, won anyway.

Notice every state has new compliance standards with regards to concussion care in youth sports. Also, notice how our modern-day sports culture still puts wins over athlete safety, which is a battle XLNTbrain diffuses by managing them properly. Most people are still learning about this new technology that is helping thousands of athletes already, and ultimately saving sports.

XLNTbrain’s co-founder and science chief Harry Kerasidis, MD was asked by Rick Maese, reporting the story for the Washington Post, about differences in concussion incidence and severity at younger ages. How young is too young to play football?

“The younger we go, the less science there is,” said Harry Kerasidis, a neurologist who authored the recent book “Concussion-ology: Redefining Sports Concussion Management For All Levels,” “and we have kind of extrapolated from studies that were done on older individuals.”

——From the Washing Post—–

Kerasidis explained that there are two schools of thought: (1) A child’s brain is still developing and any trauma can be especially harmful; (2) children are smaller, slower and perhaps unable to deliver as much force in their collisions as older players. While recent research has found CTE widespread in a former player who was 25 years old at the time of his death, researchers are working to understand definitively the long-term effects of head trauma suffered by young players. — Washington Post, January 19, 2016 by Rick Maese

Dr. Kerasidis also answers “Should you let your child play football?” in this video. Ultimately, the more data you through a system like XLNTbrain provides much more objective decision making in this process. Despite Shawn’s desire to be on the field playing with his teammates for the championship, he may have saved the memory for the rest of his life.

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