Maine high schools have adopted new guidelines for athletes that have suffered concussions. The old rule stated that a player had to be knocked out. The new guidelines add headache, dizziness, confusion or balance problems to the list.

Bangor High trainer, John Ryan is a member of the Maine Concussion Management Commission.

"Coaches aren't aware of all the signs and symptoms and what the long term repercussions of putting an athlete back in play so this removes them from having to make those kinds of decisions and keep the health and safety of the athlete in the forefront.

Also if no trainer is at a game and the officials observe concussion signs they can take an athlete out of a game as well.

And what we have put in place now is that there is absolutely no way that the athlete is going back in the game that same day and in many cases they are out at least a week to give the brain a chance to recover fully."

Print this Story

Recent Stories