Sports Concussion Safety

Last week's announcement that a foundation named in honor of the late Chicago Bear Dave Duerson had donated a King-Devick test kit to each of Chicago Public School's 80 high school football programs for use in assessing athletes for suspected concussion on the sports sideline, and that the foundation will work with CPS and the K-D Test manufacturer to implement system-wide testing, was welcome news.

So too was that the Dave Duerson Family Foundation, thru individual and corporate sponsors, plans to roll out its program in other cities in the U.S.

It seems that not a day goes by without news about a new product that supposedly reduces the risk of concussion.

Almost invariably, it turns out that the manufacturer's claims are not supported by peer-reviewed scientific evidence.  But that doesn't seem to stop most of them, until, at least, their claims attract the attention of the Federal Trade Commission.

For years, it seems, MomsTEAM has been getting e-mails from mouth guard manufacturers touting their products as reducing the risk of concussion, despite the lack of any peer-reviewed scientific studies to support their claims.