The mandatory postinjury sideline concussion assessment tool, instituted for the 2012 season along with a baseline test done during physicals at the start of preseason, will now be used in app form by all 32 teams, a method that was tried by a handful of teams in a pilot program last season.
Coaches around the state had until Sept. 1 to complete two hours of training on how to identify concussion symptoms and to institute new rules about when an athlete could return to play.
Their bill, the NCAA Accountability Act, requires all NCAA member schools to institute improved concussion testing for athletes playing contact sports, enhance due process rights for athletes and schools accused of breaking NCAA rules, and provide four-year scholarships for athletes to replace the year-by-year agreements many schools offer now.
All hits delivered with the shoulder are now legal in the N.H.L., but they have resulted in a high number of concussions since the league instituted new rules after the 2004-5 lockoutoto add speed to the game.
Thanks, in large part, to the groundbreaking work of Alan Schwarz of The Times, the National Football League has gone from minimizing the lasting damage that repeated concussions can cause to instituting rules about how soon a player can come back after suffering a head injury.
Under the league's policy, instituted in December 2011, a player who exhibits concussion symptoms must be removed from athletic participation immediately.
Their failure to check him for a concussion on the field or sideline at Heinz Field prompted the league to institute a policy of having an independent certified trainer in the press box at games to monitor for head injuries and help identify players who need to be tested.
They also instituted mandatory baseline neuropsychological testing for players suspected of having a concussion, standardized procedures for diagnosing the injury and steps for how players can be cleared to return.
Last year the NFL instituted new guidelines for when a player could re-enter a game after a concussion.
"Concussion is not an NFL issue," said Dr. Vernon Williams of the Sports Concussion Institute.
