Contact: Richard P. Gulla
781-434-7101
rgulla@mms.org
Waltham, Mass. - February 24 - The severity and potential of long-term health effects of concussions are now recognized at all levels of sports, from the professional ranks to youth leagues. And the risks of this brain injury from impacts to the head have raised the fears among parents whose children participate in sports.
To add to the public awareness of this injury, the latest (February) episode of Physician Focus features Dr. Ann McKee, Chief of Neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Professor of Neurology and Pathology and Director of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center at the Boston University School of Medicine, and one of the nation’s foremost experts on the effects of concussion and head trauma. Hosting this edition is Dale Magee, M.D., a past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
While acknowledging that the benefits young people gain by participating in sports are many and valuable, Dr. McKee offers important, basic information on what she characterizes as an “invisible injury,” one that carries no obvious signs of harm such as bleeding or pain.
The conversation includes details on the injury’s symptoms, how it’s diagnosed, what to do for a player when a concussion is suspected, gender differences in susceptibility to the injury, as well as the dangers of second and multiple concussions, “sub-concussive” impacts to the head, and the development of “skill sets” by athletes to reduce the risk of concussion in sports.
Physician Focus is a noncommercial production of the Massachusetts Medical Society and Hopkinton (Mass.) Community Access Television, HCAM-TV. Now in its eleventh year, the monthly half-hour program brings viewers health and medical information on timely topics from physicians and other healthcare experts. Distributed as a public service, the program reaches more than 275 communities in Massachusetts each month through the courtesy of public access television stations. For details on the program, visit www.physicianfocus.org.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and NEJM Journal Watch alerts and publications covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country.
HCAM-TV was founded April 1, 2004 by the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Hopkinton as a nonprofit corporation to manage local access to cable broadcast facilities. For information on HCAM, visit http://www.hcam.tv
