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Houston Texans Quarterback Matt Schaub sustained a concussion back in 2007 and says he was very lucky to have had the right diagnosis and treatment. Younger athletes don’t usually have access to athletic trainers, so Schaub says it’s important for them to understand what a concussion is so they can catch the symptoms early on.
“It’s vital to educate the people in the community and allow the Methodist Concussion Center to help them be aware of the problem that concussions are becoming.”
Athletic trainers from the Methodist Concussion Center will be collaborating with Houston Texans staff to conduct educational presentations at schools and various organizations throughout Houston. Here’s President of the Houston Texans, Jamey Rootes:
“It’s a program to reach youth, players, coaches, trainers, administrators, and others to understand head injuries, understand the symptoms and the impacts, and importantly how to deal with them, how to diagnose them and how to treat them.”
Dr. Howard Derman is the medical director at the Methodist Concussion Center. He says, put simply, a concussion is a brain injury caused by a blow to the head.
“It’s like a rubber ball in a box. When the rubber ball shakes around, different parts of the rubber ball hit the side of the box. Likewise in the brain, the front of the brain, the back of the brain, the sides of the brain hit the skull.”
Derman says there may or may not be loss of consciousness. He says it’s also important to realize that concussions are not only seen in athletes.
“The majority of people that we see with concussions are patients that are involved in car accidents or working and something falls off a shelf and knocks them out. So don’t think that it has to be an NFL football player that has a concussion.”
The Methodist Concussion Center will be offering immediate post-concussion testing for student athletes and other patients.