A small group of specialists recently convened for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) two-day concussion conference — and they suggested that the gold standard of concussion treatment might be anything but. [NOTE: This conference was sponsored and paid for by the NFL] “People may underestimate the impact of this, but on a global basis, every single person who sustains a concussion is told prolonged rest,” Dr. David Okonkwo said. “Now, you have 37 of the best and brightest minds in the field saying, ‘That’s wrong’ and, in fact, concussions are treatable and active treatments are superior to doing nothing.”
Whether it’s rest or exercise, one thing is clear: the high rate of concussions sustained by football players needs to be addressed, especially if it turns out that the protocol and resources experts and doctors have been adhering to is doing a disservice to players’ recovery and healing process. “This is not a one-size-fits-all injury,” said director of the UPMC sports medicine concussion program Dr. Michael Collins. “There are different profiles and problems that we see. Now that we understand that and we have treatments that can actively treat those different profiles, we are very confident that progress can be made.”