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Letter to the Community: Concussions & Athletes

To the Community: 
 
Oct. 6, 2021: Do you know how badly a concussion can damage your child’s brain?
 
Westchester county families spend countless hours taking their kids to sports practices and games, yet few parents know the long-term risks of a blow to the head. For instance, most don’t consider how often concussions occur, not just in high-intensity contact sports, but in low and non-contact sports and even everyday life. Even a mild concussion can temporarily halt development of the young brain, and that there are no definitive medical tests to diagnose them. They don’t show up on an MRI or CT scan unless there’s a brain bleed, and teen brains are much more fragile than adults’ because their neurons  are not yet fully protected by myelin sheaths.
 
My parents didn’t know any of this until after I sustained three concussions as a lacrosse goalie. After the third one, I was diagnosed with Post Concussion Syndrome, which can persist for months or years. In my case, the hits to the head were never serious enough to knock me unconscious, yet I’ve battled years of headaches, nausea, fatigue and short and long-term memory loss. For a whole trimester my school had to grade me on a pass/fail basis just so I could get my work done. 
 
I have asked many fellow high school athletes about their experiences, and almost everyone I’ve spoken to has sustained at least one concussion. It’s not surprising, given the CDC’s statistic that one to two million children and teens experience them in sports each year. What is surprising, however, is how little we players are told by coaches about head injury prevention or treatment.  
 
This is what spurred me to contact numerous Westchester youth sports teams to offer to give coaches and players a brief concussion awareness presentation. Also, I have established the Athlete Concussion Foundation, a website where young athletes talk about the head injuries they sustained and what they wished trainers and coaches had taught them about brain safety.  We players need adults to teach us the hard facts. 
 
I urge all parents — and all adults volunteering for their children’s teams — to read up on concussion safety at the CDC’s website, and to educate young players about concussion risks. The most important thing we kids need for the future is a well-functioning brain. Take it from my fellow athletes and me, you don’t want to lose months of your life to head injuries.
 
By Meredith Greenberg, high school senior at a Westchester school
 
 
 
Editor's note:  MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements in letters to the editor, and the opinions do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff. Its objective in publishing letters to the editor is to give air to diverse thoughts and opinions of residents in the community.

 

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Bronxville is a quaint village (one square mile) located just 16 miles north of midtown Manhattan (roughly 30 minutes on the train) and has a population of approximately 6,500. It is known as a premier community with an excellent public school (K-12) and easy access to Manhattan. Bronxville offers many amenities including an attractive business district, a hospital (Lawrence Hospital), public paddle and tennis courts, fine dining at local restaurants, two private country clubs and a community library.

While the earliest settlers of Bronxville date back to the first half of the 18th century, the history of the modern suburb of Bronxville began in 1890 when William Van Duzer Lawrence purchased a farm and commissioned the architect, William A. Bates, to design a planned community of houses for well-known artists and professionals that became a thriving art colony. This community, now called Lawrence Park, is listed on the National register of Historic Places and many of the homes still have artists’ studios. A neighborhood association within Lawrence Park called “The Hilltop Association” keeps this heritage alive with art shows and other events for neighbors.

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