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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Eagles' Westbrook shouldn't have played
Eagles running back Brian Westbrook suffered another concussion Sunday while playing against the San Diego Chargers. (RON CORTES / Staff photographer)

 

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook’s latest concussion is more than just an unfortunate setback in a brilliant football career.
 
Westbrook’s sidelining on Sunday has broader implications, since it also sends a message to college and high school athletes about returning to the field too soon after suffering a brain injury.
 
While the first concern of everyone — Eagles fan or no — is that Westbrook heals fully, his injury in the game against the San Diego Chargers highlights the many uncertainties and dangers concussion-injured athletes face.
 
These players not only are at a greater risk of suffering another concussion, but also could face serious long-term health problems that doctors still are trying to understand.
 
With haunting case histories of retired players who suffered memory loss, dementia, and depression from so-called post-concussion syndrome, the National Football League has come under well-deserved public pressure — lately, even from Congress — to make its games safer.
 
That may or may not be possible, given the bruising level of play in the NFL. But the league is looking at improving helmets and other safety equipment, along with intensive screening of injuries. Why the NFL doesn’t have firm rules on rest periods for injured players — like those mandated in boxing — seems another issue for the league to explore.
 
After a request from a congressman at a House hearing on football brain injuries last month, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell agreed to create public-service announcements on the dangers of concussions. That’s an acknowledgment that the NFL has a bigger role to play in sports safety.
 
Indeed, the consensus at that Oct. 28 hearing was that the NFL’s moves certainly will influence football safety at the college, high school, and youth league levels. So it’s important for pro athletes — along with high-profile college players — to be role models. Sure, easier said than done.
 
Westbrook’s re-injury is a clear enough indication that he probably returned too soon. University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow resumed playing only two weeks after a September concussion put him in the hospital overnight, hardly much of a respite.
 
If athletes with topflight medical advice return to the field prematurely, the risks are multiplied many times for school-age players who are told to “shake it off” and whose safety equipment may not be the best. Yet even though their developing brains take longer to recover, thousands of concussed young athletes get back in the game too soon.
 
Public-health experts have been arguing for a number of years to make younger players, coaches, and players’ parents understand the serious risks from concussion. If Westbrook’s injury helps get out that message, it will have done some good.
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