Nearly half of all traumatic brain injuries happen to young adults

With high school football season in full swing, ABC 17 News looked into what is being done in mid-Missouri to keep players as safe as possible from concussions and other injuries.

A study released earlier this year by the Journal of Neurosurgery showed 44 percent of all traumatic brain injuries over a nine-year period in the U.S. happened to those ages 18 to 29.

Concussion awareness has heightened in the U.S. in recent years.

Concussion reports in the NFL increased more than 30 percent from the 2014 to 2015 seasons. And this week, the NFL commissioner announced a $100 million initiative to support medical research and advancements on concussions.

But officials at the local high school level told ABC 17 News they were also aware and take measures to treat any possible concussions quickly.

Cole County EMS is on site for every Blair Oaks, Jefferson City High School, Helias as well as Lincoln University football games.

Certified athletic trainers are also on standby looking for signs of any injuries.

“The key thing we’re looking for, it’s a huge difference in the eyes,” Hallsville High School’s Certified Athletic Trainer Aidan Haas said. “That’s when I know that something is amiss. And then if we watch the hit, if we see a hit that looks suspicious, then we go and talk to them and check to make sure everything’s okay.”

“We’ll do an initial neuro-assessment, the trainers on staff also do very similar neuro-assessment,” Kevin Wieberg with Cole County EMS said. “But if we find any deficits in the patient, we’ll either take them to a local hospital depending on the assessment we might take them to the University Hospital which is our Level 1 trauma center for this region.”