Chasing Life

Watching NFL games this Sunday felt a little different.   Over the weekend, the league – along with the NFL Players Association – agreed to update its concussion protocol, prompted by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s injury on September 25 and in the following game.   One of the points of the NFL’s concussion protocol that came into question was “gross motor instability,” which was on the “no-go” list if it was deemed to be neurologically caused. However, even when I spoke with  Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, after Tua’s injury, he said the process to make that determination can be tricky.   But at a news conference over the weekend, SIlls said the new protocols are meant to take a more conservative approach.   “Let’s just go ahead and assume it is coming from the brain, and we will hold someone out,” he said. “Because if we are going to be wrong, we would rather hold someone out who doesn’t have a brain injury but we are being cautious than to put someone out who might have a brain injury and we weren’t able to diagnose it.”   The updated protocol now includes ataxia, a lack of coordination caused by poor muscle control, as part of the “no-go” list.   “In other words, if a player is diagnosed with ‘ataxia’ by any club or neutral physician involved in the application of the Concussion Protocol, he will be prohibited from returning to the game, and will receive the follow-up care required by the Protocol,” a joint announcement by the NFL and the NFLPA said.   If this new protocol had been in place during Tua’s September 25 game, he would not have been allowed to continue to play.   We have already seen these new protocols in action.   This past Sunday, the Dolphins’ other quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, was pulled after taking a blow to the head during his first snap.   “Basically, what happened was, a spotter saw [Bridgewater] stumble, and under the new rules and changes, he is ruled out and placed in the protocol,” said Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins’ head coach. “He doesn’t have any symptoms, and he’s passed his evaluation, but he’ll be now, under the new regulations, in the concussion protocol.”   I wish these new protocols weren’t prompted by the injury of a young, talented player, but I believe they are necessary and will continue to help make a sport that I personally love safer for these admirable athletes.