Katy McCaffrey, Special to The Denisonian

Denison softball player Andie Care ‘28 remembers arriving at John Carroll University last spring, taking her place in right field, and running toward a pop fly hit into foul territory. After that, Care’s memory of the game ends. The next thing she remembers is waking up at the Cleveland Clinic awaiting a CT scan of her brain. 

Care had collided with the leg of a teammate in an effort to get the ball during a game on April 11. As a result, she sustained a head injury that left her unconscious on the field. She laid there for minutes before an athletic trainer came to assist her. 

“My dad and another parent made it out to the field before the John Carroll trainers ever stepped onto it,” Care said. “They had a very delayed response.” 

Without the advocacy of her dad, Care would have not received the time sensitive care she needed. 

“[He] was very adamant that I be taken to the hospital to make sure that there was nothing super serious underlying,” said Care. “And so he took me to the Cleveland Clinic.” 

Physicians at the Cleveland Clinic diagnosed Care with a concussion.  

Although concussions are one of the most common injuries in collegiate athletics, they can be difficult to recognize and diagnose. Symptoms may not appear for days or weeks following an impact. 

For student-athletes, the effect of a concussion extends far beyond that initial impact. A concussion can disrupt academic performance, social life, and mental health. How these injuries are recognized and treated throughout recovery play a critical role in a student-athlete’s return to everyday life.

At Denison University, the athletic training staff is responsible for recognition and treatment of concussions in student-athletes. They work closely alongside physicians at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center to maximize a student-athlete’s recovery. 

The team of athletic trainers is made up of Trish Harris, Scott Enneking, Kyle Groves, Gracie Barney, Elyssa Labine, and Sydney Nadal. Each trainer oversees three or four of the 28 varsity sports teams at Denison. 

Trish Harris, who serves as Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer at Denison, said that concussions are not uncommon among student-athletes.

“Most teams have at least one person per season that sustains [a concussion] either during varsity athletics participation or outside of it,” Harris said.

When an athlete is suspected of having a concussion, Denison’s athletic trainers jump into action. 

“It takes a really good [athletic trainer] to be able to know your athletes and [recognize] when they are different,” Barney said. “A lot of people like to think that ‘if I don’t tell you, it doesn’t exist. You can’t see it, you don’t know.’”

Athletic trainers rely heavily on their professional experience to make quick decisions on behalf of their athlete, even if a student tries to deny it in an attempt to keep playing their sport. For Barney, it is always better to err on the side of caution, especially in those situations.

Harris echoed the importance of caution when approaching suspected concussions.  

“If we suspect that you have a concussion in a game or practice, we are required to remove you for the rest of the duration,” Harris said. “Oftentimes, concussion symptoms may take a full 24 hours to really flare up, so we need your body to slow down in order for those symptoms to [kind of] kick in.”

According to Harris, concussions vary greatly between individuals in regards to symptoms, duration, and severity. She also notes that recovery is also heavily influenced by a student’s history of head trauma. 

“Ideally for someone, especially if it is the first or second concussion, resolution in seven to ten days is pretty normal,” Harris said. “[But] concussions are cumulative in nature. The more you have, the longer they take to recover from.”

Care recovered in just over two weeks. 

“The fact that it was my first concussion and that I had never really experienced any head trauma prior, I think, was a huge blessing,” Care said. “[That] really helped me heal from it [the concussion] quickly and bounce back soon after.” 

Even with her quick recovery to the field, Care continued to face academic challenges as a result of her injury. 

“The first week [of recovery] was hard and I wasn’t able to go to class,” Care said. “Then that next week in class, I kept spacing out. It was really hard to understand what was going on.”

Not only did Care feel behind in her classes, but the timing of her injury made navigating commitments outside of class more challenging. 

“I had fallen behind in my schoolwork, it was exam season, and it was more difficult for me to study,” she said.“[Studying] took a little bit longer for me to grasp material.” 

As a result, Care had little time to continue her internship at the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce. Just weeks before its conclusion, Care sent an email to her coordinator explaining the impact of her concussion and how she would have to step down.

According to Eric Winters, former athletic trainer and current associate professor of Health, Exercise and Sports Studies, the academic challenges Care faced are not uncommon among students who have experienced a concussion. 

Winters uses his background in athletic training to guide him as a professor and advocate for his students. When asked about how he approaches concussions in the classroom, Winters raised the “I am” question he poses to all Denison students. 

“Denison students are Denison students,” said Winters. “They might also be an athlete, but ultimately they are active learners, and any injury to the brain is going to be a disruption of their learning.

“A concussion will intrinsically affect a student in their capacity to comprehend what is happening in the classroom, what is happening during the studying, and getting thoughts into memories that can be drawn on and synthesized.” 

As part of their diagnosis, student-athletes opt to sign a medical release form. The form allows communication between a student’s faculty, medical care team, and Academic Resource Center (ARC) in order to facilitate the academic side of recovery.

“It gives us permission to communicate with your faculty members, your advisor, and anyone else who might be pertinent to your care so that they understand that the academic modifications needed for the athlete are being requested for medical purposes,” Harris said.

Care said that when notification of her concussion was sent out, her faculty members showed an outpouring of support, taking the time to speak with her outside of class and learn about her situation. 

“My professors were very understanding,” Care said. “There was a lot of ‘What can we do to make this better for you?’”

The approach taken by these faculty allowed Care the time to catch up in her academics while also taking the time she needed to heal. Care said the support of her faculty made a big difference in her recovery. 

Winters encourages all professors at Denison to take the time to learn about concussions so they can support their students through recovery. 

“We need to be part of that therapeutic approach and altering the stresses that students are subjected to,” said Winters. “You never want to put more stress on [the brain] than will help healing.”

Even with appropriate care, concussion recovery is not always as simple as returning to the classroom or athletic competition. Barney emphasized that while students may resume their academic and athletic responsibilities, it does not mean they have regained the same level of functioning they had before their injury. 

While a student may appear to be physically fine, academic difficulties and other lingering symptoms can continue to affect their daily lives, often going unnoticed by those around them.  

“That stuff kind of lingers; it’s an invisible injury,” Barney said. “And that’s the thing that some people forget about.”