Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents (The Praeger Series on Contemporary Health and Living)

Written by an expert physician, Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents offers a thorough understanding of concussive brain injury, its symptoms, its potential long-term effects, and the current prevention options. Equally important, it provides insights into how this injury is treated and what parents and athletes can do to facilitate recovery.

In addition to explaining in simple, clear, and complete terms what a concussion is and how it can alter the brain function of children and youths, this guide discusses new technologies and equipment that may help prevent concussion. It looks at the incidence of concussion in football, hockey, cheerleading, skiing and snowboarding, soccer, basketball, and equestrian sports, and it explores related issues, such as the movement to have soccer and rugby players wear helmets. A final chapter focuses on emerging research designed to facilitate better treatments and on safety measures, including testing for a genetic predisposition to concussion.

William P. Meehan III, MD, is Director of the Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Director of Research for the Brain Injury Center, and Director of the Sports Concussion Clinic in the Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA.  He is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and has authored many scientific and medical journal articles.  He served as guest editor for the January 2011 issue of Clinics in Sports Medicine, which was entirely devoted to concussion in sports.  He holds grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Football League, and the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, which allow him to conduct both clinical and scientific research on concussive brain injury.