Energy and Commerce Committee Plans to Review Causes, Effects of Concussions

The Energy and Commerce Committee in the United States House of Representatives announced Tuesday it will examine the causes and effects of concussions, starting in 2016.   

Fred Upton, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, made the announcement in a statement released on the Energy and Commerce website:

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We often hear about concussions in the context of service members and athletes, but this problem goes well beyond the battlefield and the gridiron. It’s a matter of public health as these injuries are prevalent in all ages and across the population. Unfortunately, there’s a lot we don’t know about head trauma - how it effects different subsets of the population, the short and long term effects, and other details critical to developing effective diagnostics and treatments. 

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Upton also said the committee plans to "bring together experts from across the medical spectrum" that will help with the examination of concussions and head injuries to help better understand how they occur and what the potential long-term effects could be. 

Concussions and the after effects have become a hot topic in all sports, particularly the NFL. Jason Breslow of PBS' Frontline reported in Sept. 2014 that a study of 79 deceased former NFL players found 76 suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is the result of repetitive brain trauma. 

United States youth soccer leagues have established new guidelines that ban players aged 10 or under from heading the ball as a precautionary measure against concussions and brain trauma. 

Information about concussions and the danger caused by the injury is more prevalent than ever, though there is always debate about how and when they occur. Symptoms can be felt immediately or gradually progress after the fact. 

The Energy and Commerce Committee's involvement in studying the problem is only good for the progress in helping to find some consensus understanding of how they happen and what can be done to help prevent them in all walks of life.