Hardwick has concunssion

[oneinchpunch]

http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2014/01/09/did-chargers-try-to-pull-a-fast-one-with-nick-hardwick/24875/

Did Chargers try to pull a fast one with Nick Hardwick?

Posted by Mike Klis

Apparently, I diagnosed Nick Hardwick’s concussion much faster than the San Diego Chargers.

I was watching the Chargers-Cincinnati Bengals playoff game Sunday when CBS showed a replay of Hardwick, San Diego’s veteran center, clearly staggering, much like a boxer who has been knocked woozy in the ring. I immediately said to myself (there was no else in the living room with me): “The Chargers can’t deny a concussion after that replay.”

And then come to find out, the Chargers tried denying it. The Chargers announced Hardwick suffered a recurrence of a neck stinger. He didn’t come back in, so no big whup. But it wasn’t until Wednesday that the Chargers came clean on Hardwick’s concussion.

I know Chargers coach Mike McCoy. He oozes integrity. He’s honest. And as the Broncos well know, he’s a heckuva coach. But this disconnect with the medical staff cannot happen. Not with concussions. Not in today’s watchdog NFL world it can’t.

“He’s working through the normal protocol like everybody does when you get (a concussion),” McCoy told the Denver media during a conference call Wednesday. “During the game he had his stinger, so he was working with that the whole game. Then after the game in the locker room and doing everything they diagnosed him with a concussion.”

How the Chargers confused Hardwick’s stagger with a stinger, I’m not sure. Earlier this season, in a game Nov. 17 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the Broncos’ medical team was treating a neck injury to slot receiver Wes Welker only to take him out a couple minutes later for a concussion. But Welker didn’t stagger, and as he lay on the field he was referring the medical team to his neck.

And the Broncos announced the concussion before the next series. Still, the Broncos received some guff for not immediately diagnosing Welker with a concussion.

It took the Chargers’ medical team a couple more days to determine Hardwick’s concussion. Based on the stagger I saw, Hardwick’s concussion was not mild. It was obvious.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Bottom line is that Hardwick was not allowed back into the game. I don't much care what Acee or anyone else was told or believed during the game. I'm not a doctor (and neither are Kevin Acee or Jay Posner)and as such, I don't know the procedure for diagnosing a concussion. But as an intelligent human being capable of doing a Google search (hey, I'm not even as adept at this as say, a reporter) I was able to go to the Mayo Clinic website to see if I could find out how concussions are diagnosed. And lo and behold, I was. here's what I found:

If a blow to your head, neck or upper body has caused symptoms such as a headache, dizziness, nausea or loss of consciousness, you've had a concussion. Signs and symptoms of these injuries may not appear until hours or days after the injury. Brain imaging may be required to determine whether the injury is severe and has caused bleeding or swelling in your skull.

Or how about the NFL's actual Concussion Protocol?

NFL regulations require a player diagnosed with a possible concussion to leave the field for the locker room. Medical personnel remain with the player for the remainder of the game. Team physicians determine whether the player's condition is stable enough to send him home -- with instructions that include physical and cognitive rest, avoiding certain medications and alcohol, and a plan for follow up care including phone numbers to call if there are any questions or concerns.

DAYS AFTER THE GAME

The initial treatment is rest, and the team doctors and athletic trainers begin monitoring to see when a player appears to have returned to baseline functioning. Do symptoms return when a player watches practice or when he watches film? Is there return of symptoms with physical activity?

Once symptoms have completely subsided, the player again performs more comprehensive neuropsychological tests interpreted by the team neuropsychologist. There are no pass-fail grades, only additional data for physicians to consider.

If the player is progressing, he would be become eligible for increased physical activity. The workouts would ramp up over a few days if no symptoms occur.

A player feeling normal one day after the game might pass cognitive testing Tuesday and begin a light exercise program, intensify their exercise routine Wednesday, participate in non-contact aspects of practice on Thursday and return to full practice Friday. But if a player has a history of concussions or isn't progressing as quickly as planned, the process moves accordingly.

The medical team increases the exercise regimen to full speed as the player proves he can handle the escalation without incident. Some teams stage controlled contact drills featuring, for example, one lineman blocking another the way they would in an unpadded practice.

"The thing that I think is important here is you don't manage concussions by a calendar," Dr. Herring said. "Some guys may come back in a week. Some guys may come back in six weeks. These steps don't have an expiration date on them. The player's history of injury and other issues come into play."

Once a team doctor signs off on a player's return, the player is evaluated in person by an unaffiliated concussion expert physician approved by both the NFL and NFL Players Association. This unaffiliated expert also must sign off on the player's health before he is allowed to return to play.

"The thinking is that we have done our best work, but an automatic second opinion is built in," Herring said. "We've never had a disagreement, but I would welcome it if we did because we could learn from it. This is a trust issue. We need assurances there is no rush to return to play for any reason."

The bottom line is that there is so much riding on the "C" Word that teams may not want to publicly classify it as such immediately, particularly when a firm diagnosis might not even be possible until hours or days after the event. Regardless of what it was called, the Chargers' staff appeared to follow the protocol as if the player had a concussion just to err on the conservative side. What they publicly called it and when for the benefit of Kevin Acee and Jay Posner is irrelevant. Sorry that Mike Klis is so anti-Chargers that he needs to speak about it with little information. I see nothing the Chargers did that is so outrageous.

[Mister Hoarse]

Is Acee really that much of an idiot? Any fool could see Hardwick was concussed. You could see it on his face. The team has no requirement to declare injuries during a game and clearly likes to keep information close to the vest.

Yes. Yes he is.

Time to F this Porkchops

[Boltx]

Who is the bigger opponent this week?

The Denver Broncos or the local sports"writers"?

[sandiego17]

Miles Kils is diagnosing players based on the stagger he saw. Obvious the guy is in the wrong profession, he should be a doctor that provides diagnosis based on video clips patients send him. That's one way to make the system more efficient. He's a problem solver.

[Charged up]

And donkeys have teeth.

Time to punch in some donkey teeth.

And foxes go ring ding ding ding dingeringeding!

Biggest WTF song ever....

[TABF]

Who is the bigger opponent this week?

The Denver Broncos or the local sports"writers"?

All of the above....

[Panama]

I guess my post in the other thread should've been more of a question. Are they allowed to call a concussion something else during the game? And wait until the are officially required to report injuries later in the week?

I don't think it's against the rules. The rules about reporting injuries are meant so that teams don't manipulate the reporting of injuries in order to gain a competitive advantage in gameplanning. By game time, it's too late to gameplan differently.

I have no idea what the team gains by lying about Hardwick's concussion during the game. You could see he was out on his feet.

Yes, *we* could see it on television. The opponents don't usually have that advantage. They rely on whatever's being reported. If they hear through some channel that the guy has one injury he might come back in the game from versus another that finishes him for the day, they might (emphasis on "might") play things slightly differently.

But then of course, they probably really don't gain anything. But we all know how paranoid coaches can be, and most will grasp at any advantage they can gain, no matter how seemingly inconsequential.

[Panama]

The "odd" thing about it is that if a player has a concussion, they are not allowed to speak with the media after the game. Hardwick was allowed to speak with the media which really makes me think they may be telling the truth when they said he was not diagnosed with a concussion right away. Of course, if they watched him stagger after his hit, I'm not sure how they could have missed it...

I didn't realise this. If that is a rule, that kind of blows my argument out of the water.

[Panama]

And foxes go ring ding ding ding dingeringeding!

Biggest WTF song ever....

WTF?!?

Reminds me of a song in my repertoire:

(Sorry, don't have a recording of me. This guy's probably better anyway.)

Last time I sang this was for a Tory conference, and every time I got to the end of a verse idiots in the audience kept shouting out, "Meow, meow!"

[oneinchpunch]

I didn't realise this. If that is a rule, that kind of blows my argument out of the water.

It is a rule.

It looks like the medical staff did not diagnose a concussion until after the game. Which I find odd. It looked pretty obvious to me.

[Viejo Bolt]

Question for all you doctors, can you get knocked out cold and not have a concussion? I always assumed it was the same thing, but if not, that could explain why Hardwick appeared "out on his feet" but not concussed.