It’s Football Season Again!
Football season opens more discussions about concussions or traumatic brain injuries (TBI) but they are not isolated to football – soccer and field hockey are also sports with risks for head injuries. In fact, cheerleaders have the fifth most frequency of concussions of all sports!
TBI’s are defined as a blow or jolt to the head, or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain.
Seventy percent of all sensory information comes through the eyes. When a person suffers a TBI the brain and eyes no longer process information together. Post-concussion vision syndrome is real and your eye doctor is in the best position to be able to identify and treat those who have suffered the injury.
Proper precautions to keep kids safe have definitely improved over the years: awareness and ability to recognize the symptoms; as well as keeping the child off the field for precautionary reasons is something that we see more often now.
Your Optometrist is in a unique position to be able to identify and treat anyone who is subjected to a traumatic event. “Optometry understands vision better than any other profession, and because of this, has the tools to give patients with brain injury the best care possible,” according to Chrystyna Rakoczy, O.D., chair of the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Brain Injury Committee.