What happened with McCoy’s concussion, its management, and his return? First off concussions are a difficult injury to manage; this is compounded by the pressures of pro sports. A concussion happens when the brain is jarred enough to change normal function. Sounds vague, huh? There in lies the problem, it affects everyone differently and imaging such as MRI and CAT scan only show structural damage to the brain. The altered function that comes with a concussion can be deduced from a battery of tests that focus on cognitive function, self reported symptoms, balance, strength, and emotional state. Some or all of these symptoms can be present and may not show up for 15 to 20 minutes or even an hour after the initial injury.
The Browns medical staff reports that they did not see the injury. This makes it much harder to diagnose a concussion. Injuries to the rest of the body can be tested physically but a brain injury has to be cross examined to determine if it is an injury, fatigue, or simply personality. The medical staff did not see symptoms of a concussion and did not administer a SCAT test (standardized concussion assessment tool) along with their testing. This seems to be the controversial point, but what is over looked is the fact that the test takes a while to administer. McCoy would have been better served by sitting out longer and the SCAT would have justified why he was out longer than several plays while the symptoms could have had time to evolve. McCoy was said to not have showed symptoms till after the game, so it is not known whether giving a SCAT test would have even yielded positive results, especially since half of the test is self reported. To return he has to pass physical testing followed by self reported testing and cognitive testing untill he is full go and symptom free.
What we can learn from this incident is that concussions are difficult to diagnosis and people are becoming more aware of them. This awareness will lead to better tests and better outcomes. Luckily McCoy was not injured further. The thing to keep in mind is that this all happened at the professional level, what is happening at the high school level, especially at schools without an athletic trainer or physician?
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