Raleigh, NC — Right now, concussions are at the forefront of conversations around sports. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had incidents in his last two games that have been scary to watch. One local sports medicine doctor says the NFL needs swift change.
“As a sideline doc you have an immediate concern that this is a gross motor instability, you have a brain injury at that point in time that needs to be assessed,” said Dr. Mike Harris, MD. Harris works with the Carolina hurricanes, NC Courage and he’s the on field doctor for NCFC.
It started back on September 25th when the Dolphins took on the Buffalo Bills. Tagovailoa struggled to walk off the field after seemingly hitting his head on the turf.
“I think if we look at the situation with Tua the very minute he had that gross motor instability that he displayed in the Bills game, that should’ve been a no go,” Dr. Harris said.
However, Dolphins doctors said Tagovailoa had a back injury and he was able to return to the game. Four days later, Tagovailoa played against the Bengals on Thursday night football, being stretchered off after hitting his head on the turf once again.
“Where do you say ‘no go’?,” Dr. Harris asked. “We have a saying in the sports medicine world, ‘when in doubt, hold them out’. You can’t take that injury back. You can’t get another brain, you have to protect the one you have.”
Right now Tagovailoa is out for Sunday’s game against the Jets in the NFL’s concussion protocols. Under those protocols, if players meet certain benchmarks they could be cleared to play in as little as a week after their diagnosis.
“The average time if everything goes perfectly for healing is probably closer to 10-14 days,” Dr. Harris said. “It’s not within a 6-7 day window that we normally see.”
Harris also believes there should be what he refers to as a ‘refractory period’ after the 10-14 days, used as a buffer to protect players. That buffer could be another day or two.
There’s also a concern for what’s called subconcussive hits or blows. That is an impact that may not result in concussive symptoms immediately but with repeated head trauma, could cause major damage over time.
“The repetitive insult to this process in the brain can lead to incredibly detrimental effects, both structurally and functionally in the long term,” said Dr. Harris.
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