TO THE EDITOR:
From a public health perspective, The Daily Tar Heel headline that “schools devote resources to preventing concussions” is misleading. Yes, schools may provide baseline concussion testing, education about symptoms and even athletic trainers to oversee rehabilitation. These are, however, examples of efforts to lessen the consequences of concussions after they occur.
The most effective prevention is to harness the physical forces that cause brain damage before it occurs because our understanding of the long-term consequences of concussions is a field in its infancy.
Football accounts for over 50 percent of sports-related concussions in high school, so if we were truly concerned about prevention, eliminating football would be a good place to start.
Lewis Margolis
Department of Maternal and Child Health
