A law named for a child who suffered a near-fatal concussion injury is now preventing repeated concussions for thousands of children across the United States.
All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted varying versions of Washington state’s Zackery Lystedt law, named for a 13-year-old football athlete who was disabled by a serious concussion in 2006. As the legislation was originally passed in Washington, the law requires coaches and trainers to undergo yearly training on how to recognize a concussion. It also requires athletes to leave the game if they’re suspected of having a concussion, and only allows them to return to play if a licensed health worker has signed off on the decision.
Now, new research published in the American Journal of Public Health that analyzes the law’s effect on reported concussions across the nation finds that the law is working as intended.
Immediately after the laws passed, rates of reported concussions rose, perhaps because more people began recognizing its signs and symptoms. Then, about two-and-a-half years after the laws went into effect, rates of recurrent concussion, which is when someone sustains another head injury before healing from the first concussion, decreased significantly.
Recurrent concussions heighten the risk for depression, long-term brain damage and CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. When it comes to sports, the risk is greatest in football. But while the NFL has borne most of the scrutiny when it comes to brain injuries, countless other athletes who will never make it to the professional league have also suffered from traumatic brain injuries.