Montgomery Neurologist Testing Cutting Edge Technology to Help Assess Athletic Concussions
Player safety is a concern for every football coach and especially the danger of concussions and CTE-a rare condition caused by repeated trauma to the brain.
In football, a hard hit can help the team but a seriously injured the player could be tragic. Doctor Rosa Bell is a certified neurologist who has been spending time on the sidelines at Alabama State University games.
Bell has created a way to monitor players brain waves. She quickly attaches a series of brain monitors to the player, to see if they have been seriously injured She is calling it a game-changer.
“We have done a 111 baseline studies and we have a cohort of 22 players and we have been doing it since the beginning of the season,” says Bell.
Bell says there are over 3 million sports and recreational related concussions each year, half of them un-diagnosed.
“Once you have a concussion if that concussion is not diagnosed there is a high probability that you’re going to get another concussion,” says Bell.
She says, in the past, concussions could only be assessed by doing tests on the sidelines.
“Now if we have the athletes brain waves within five to fifteen to twenty minutes after the hit we can look and see objectively if a concussion has occurred,” says Bell.
Bell says that could make all the difference in a players life.
“The players are excited because they want their brains to be safe. They want to go back and play games at their full level,” says Bell.
Bell says some of the data will be shared with the NFL, who is very interested in learning about the technology.
