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Fruita Monument High School senior Tyler Kenagy describes the injury to the right side of his head when he suffered one of his two concussions.
Head game: Recognizing signs of concussions important on local, national level
By Allen Gemaehlich, The Daily Sentinel
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Tyler Kenagy has hit his head on the basketball court a couple of times the past two years. The Fruita Monument High School senior, however, has no memory of those incidents.
“I remember opening up my eyes and seeing Coach (Dave) Fox, and I could see TD (Tyler Daniels) out of the corner of my eye,” Kenagy said. “I remember sitting up for a little bit.”
Kenagy left his feet to attempt to block a shot in a game against Grand Junction and had his feet taken out from under him by another player, sending him crashing to the floor.
“When he hit the floor, it was one of the worst things I’ve seen on the basketball court in my life,” said Fox, who has coached for more than 20 years. “You knew right away it was bad. After the game, it was really scary. He was in la-la land. He wasn’t sure where he was.”
Kenagy does remember bits and pieces of what happened after hitting his head.
“As I was walking back to the training room, I had a ‘flash bang.’ It’s like when a flash goes off,” Kenagy said. “You see it, then you close your eyes, you’re in one place, then you’re already back to another place. I couldn’t tell how long I was walking or how long it took me (to get to the training room).
“It feels like you are dreaming. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, is today the day we play Junction?’ It’s like I woke up from a deep dream.”
Kenagy is one of an estimated 140,000 high school athletes in the United States every year who sustain a concussion, according to the National Federation of High School Injury Surveillance System.
Studies suggest up to 50 percent of athletes experience concussion symptoms every year, but only 10 percent report having a head injury.
According to the Center for Disease Control, 1.7 million people have a traumatic brain injury each year. Of those, 52,000 die, 275,000 are hospitalized and 1.365 million (nearly 80 percent) are treated and released from an emergency room.
Mesa County School District 51 started recording head traumas this semester and plans to keep a record on file to monitor how many student-athletes sustain head injuries.
“What’s interesting about this is, this has become a heavily researched topic,” said Dr. Michael Reeder, a sports medicine specialist at Rocky Mountain Orthopaedics.
“There used to be 10 sets of guidelines. In 2008, the leading experts in head injuries came together and came up with guidelines for head injuries. They defined concussions, how do we treat it and when to return to play.”
Part of the problem is many athletes who sustain a concussion don’t realize it. If a concussion is not identified, a second concussion could cause permanent damage or even death, studies show.
“A lot of kids will try to downplay their symptoms because they don’t want to be taken out of the game,” Reeder said. “They may not understand there’s a problem or because of their brain injury, they don’t recognize there is a problem.”
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill March 29 requiring all coaches of youth athletic teams ages 11 and older to take a training course to recognize the symptoms of a concussion.
The bill also requires coaches to not allow an athlete suspected of having a head injury to play until cleared by a medical professional.
District 51 was a step ahead, requiring all of its coaches, regardless of sport or level, to participate in a clinic through Rocky Mountain Orthopaedics or an online course through the NFHS.
Coaches were required to take the course prior to their season starting this school year.
The Colorado High School Activities Association requires all varsity coaches to take a certified course on identifying concussions.
“I think it’s important,” Reeder said. “We have more information than we have ever had. We want everyone to be on the same page. (District 51 Athletic Director) Paul Cain’s been great. He’s been real proactive with this. He’s made a big difference.”
Cain created a handy, pocket-sized informative pack for coaches that lists the symptoms of a concussion, questions to ask the injured athlete and instructions on how to administer a balance test.
If the athlete makes five or more errors that show a loss of balance, it could indicate a concussion.
“If the coaches have any suspicion of a head injury, they should contact a trainer or a doctor,” Cain said. “That athlete should be held out of competition until cleared by a medical professional.”
The injured athlete won’t be cleared until he or she completes the Reduce Educate Accommodate Pace (REAP) Project endorsed by the Colorado Department of Education.
The REAP project includes several steps for the athlete to complete before he or she can return to play. Parents and athletes can get more information on concussions on the school district website (http://www.mesa.k12.co.us/).
Kenagy’s first concussion happened more than a year ago in Fruita Monument’s game against Grand Junction.
He spent the night in the hospital for observation, and had trouble digesting food and keeping water down.
The symptoms didn’t subside quickly after he got out of the hospital.
“After I was out of the emergency room, I had some pretty bad headaches,” Kenagy said. “Also, I had to go to the chiropractor to get my neck adjusted because it twisted my nerves. When I would lie down, I would almost black out, because the room would spin really fast.”
He had the near blackouts for a couple of weeks, until the chiropractic adjustment.
Kenagy was sidelined until the Wildcats’ first playoff game, nearly two months later. He couldn’t help but think about hitting his head again.
“Sometimes it would go in the back of my mind, ‘What if this happens again?’ But once the game started I didn’t really think about it,” he said.
A few weeks before the start of his senior season, five months ago, he had his feet taken out from under him again and split his head open when he fell to the floor.
“We were running some full-court drills and did the same thing, went over the top (of a player) and fell on my head again,” Kenagy said. “When I opened up my eyes, I could see Coach Fox over the top of me holding up my head.
“I looked over and his son, Andy Fox, had blood on his hands and I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ I didn’t know.”
Kenagy missed the first few weeks of his senior season before returning to the court.
“You can’t think about it,” Kenagy said of the concussions. “Our family is strong Christians and we believe in God. We totally believe He will take care of me.
“We didn’t have any worries. Whatever happened, happened. It’s like a sprained ankle, it’s going to happen again, but you’ve got to keep playing again and not worry about it.”
He still has headaches on occasion, though.
“It’s not something you take lightly,” Kenagy said. “I had an A in chemistry. When I went back to school after the first (concussion), at the end of the semester, I had a C-minus.
“It affects your school life. It’s hard to think in classes. It can affect your life. You really do have to be careful.”