When in Doubt, Sit Them Out: A Review of State Return-To-Play Legislation and Concussion Mitigation Efforts in Youth Football

Abstract

Having played football throughout my childhood and all the way through high school, I was exposed to a number of injuries, both to myself and to my teammates. When considering the prevalence of injuries, especially those with ramifications as serious as concussions, I became interested in the ways in which they could be prevented or reduced. This thought process led me to the discovery of different concussion prevention mechanisms such as return-to-play legislation. I then backtracked and examined just how many concussions are suffered in youth football. Upon realizing the enormous rates of concussions in this area, I wondered what power lawmakers had in combating the issue and described the legal foundations for public health law. My next goal was to analyze the framework and determine the effect of the first piece of return-to-play legislation, the Zackery Lystedt Law. Examination of nationwide trends in concussion prevention led me to focus in on two states, Texas and Arkansas, and their different approaches to the issue. Finally, I briefly inspected the validity of other concussion prevention strategies. My conclusion was that return-to-play legislation has been effective in raising awareness about concussions, but that far greater data collection methods are necessary to increase the effectiveness of future intervention.