Kids’ Brains Matter – Mac Parkman Introductory Video

As parents, we have minimal awareness of concussive and subconcussive trauma and we trust our network of coaches, trainers, and medical staff to treat our children when they are concussed. But as we found out this network is usually trained and very good at identifying concussions when they happen but are not aware of (1) the need to follow up on athletes after they have been cleared to ensure that athletes understand the importance of reporting concussive events, (2) communicate with coaches from other sports or other same sports teams or even (3) to follow up 30 days or more to check on post-concussive syndrome and more.

It is important that you are as informed as possible about the seriousness of concussions and subconcussive activity with your child and the effects they can have. Concussions may add to the likelihood of getting CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain disease that is degenerative and progressive. It occurs as a result of repetitive head impacts.

One of the largest concerns is the growing discovery of CTE in high school and college athletes and tragically athletes who only played sports at the youth level. Concussions may add to the likelihood of getting CTE, but the biggest factor seems to be the length of time exposed to sub concussive hits. Now it is being associated with athletes playing contact sports including American football, ice hockey, soccer, wrestling, and extreme sports. One of the biggest risk factors seems to be the length of time exposed to sub concussive hits.

The Mac Parkman Foundation exists to uncover the risks to our children through scientific studies and to educate parents and the community on how youth sports at an early age can have harmful or even fatal impacts on our children.