Stateline trainer weighs in on how she handles concussions in high school sports

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The concussion that Tua Tagovailoa sustained on Thursday night football once again brings brain health in contact sports to the forefront of our minds.

The Winnebago School District Athletic Trainer Lindsay Metcalf said they use a computer system to test for concussions.

“It could happen in any sport, obviously, some more than others,” said Metcalf. “We like to start off with a baseline approach, so we use the impact concussion software system.”

Her team follows the standard IHSCA concussion guidelines, which test athletes every two years through the system.

“We see what their function is like at that time and then we can use that to compare with their post-injury scores,” said Metcalf.

The Athletic Director of the District said they are prepping for Friday’s football game.

“Our school administrator and myself or AED and CPR certified, we have Lindsey, our athletic trainer. We have Doc John, who is a local doctor at Mercy Hospital, comes in,” said Winnebago Athletic Director Brock Schliem. “And then we also have a physical therapist locally in town from office therapy. So we all kind of collaborate as a team.”

Staff said at the end of the day, these are high schoolers who are ultimately there to learn. Concussions are monitored through testing, physical tests and more.

The more concussions an athlete gets, the more of a concern it becomes.

“Used to be if you had had one or two or three of this certain grade, you were out. That’s not the case anymore. We don’t grade concussions. We go very individualized based on each person,” said Metcalf. “Maybe they had what used to be called maybe a grade one concussion, and then they had another one that might have been a little bit more severe.”

If concussions reach symptoms for a certain amount of days or the severity is extreme school trainers will then send the athletes to specialists or doctors in the area.

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