{"id":66930,"date":"2016-08-22T20:11:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T02:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-mancos-and-m-chs-utilize-baseline-concussion-test\/"},"modified":"2016-08-23T02:11:59","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T02:11:59","slug":"dolores-mancos-and-m-chs-utilize-baseline-concussion-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-mancos-and-m-chs-utilize-baseline-concussion-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores, Mancos and M-CHS utilize baseline concussion test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Dolores football program purchased 13 new Schutt Air XP Pro VTD II helmets \u2013 the highest rated five-star helmet in the STAR Rating System \u2013 this season. But Dolores head coach Chris Trusler said that even the best helmet can\u2019t totally prevent a concussion, so the Bears are utilizing the baseline concussion test just in case.<\/span>Jardyn Angell\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As the Dolores football team gathered on the field to begin practice last Wednesday, sophomore Logan Fuller was in the computer lab.<\/p>\n

Fuller, like each of the Dolores players is required, was taking his baseline concussion test, administered by athletic trainer Nick McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

The online test provides questions and prompts to test athletes\u2019 short- and long-term memory and reaction, which can later be used to identify wheter a concussion has occurred. And it\u2019s important that the Bears concluded the assessment prior to contact to ensure that the results provide an accurate baseline. Full contact practices began on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re taking their cognitive levels,\u201d said McLaughlin, who splits his time between Mancos and Dolores. \u201cSo we run them through a bunch of short-term and long-term memory tests to get an idea of where they sit right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo later on in the season, if they get a concussion, we can do the same exact test again and compare the results,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives us an idea how bad the concussion is, and it also allows us to track it to see when they are ready to return to sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times with concussions it\u2019s just clear and present,\u201d said head coach Chris Trusler. \u201cSo this is more for when a kid gets whacked and thinks his bell just got rung, but the next day he still has a headache, or blurred vision or is dizzy or nauseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado High School Activities Association does not require the test, but Trusler said that it\u2019s best to be proactive when it comes to matters of the mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tell the kids that their brains will take them further in life than their legs will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second year that Trusler has had his football team complete the assessment, and now serving as athletic director, he also hopes to get the basketball, wrestling and baseball squads involved as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n

Dolores is not the only local school hoping to advance in its concussion protocol.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin proctored the test for members of the Mancos football team the day before, and Montezuma-Cortez provided the assessment for its athletes for the third consecutive year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second year that the Blue Jays football team has undergone the assessment, and Mancos athletic director Heath Showalter said that he\u2019s planning to have the volleyball and cross-country squads tested as well, just in case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to get all of our athletes tested so we have guidelines on where they are now,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut hopefully they never get a concussion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

schools are being proactive when it comes to concussions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,38,37],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-66930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-mancos-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66930"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=66930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}