HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Investigates the New Epidemic of Head Injuries Among Today's Student Athletes

HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Investigates the New Epidemic of Head Injuries Among Today's Student Athletes

"Dan Rather Reports: Knocking Heads" shows the depth of this problem and how simple changes can save lives - Tuesday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET

DALLAS, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- This Tuesday, "Dan Rather Reports" will present a special investigation into what The Centers for Disease Control is calling an epidemic among children in sports - head injuries.

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It is believed that an alarming 41% of high school athletes who suffered an initial concussion are returned to active play too soon.

Last year, five high school football players died during games, or at practices, from getting a concussion on top of another concussion -- a condition known as "second impact syndrome." Countless children also suffer the very serious side effects of second impact syndrome.

One of those children is Zack Lystedt of Seattle. With his parents watching in the stands, Zack suffered two concussions in the same football game. As a result of these injuries, he was airlifted from the football field to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center where he spent a week in the ICU, three months in a coma and had surgeries on both sides of his brain.

"Most of what we know about concussions we've learned in the last five years," said Dr. Mark Lovell the Founding Director of the Concussion Program at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the leading sports concussion experts in the country. "You know, the CDC has called it an epidemic, and has put forth major effort over the last five or six years into getting the word out to coaches, parents, athletes. That definitely needed to be done. Because there's still people out there, even in the medical community, who don't see this as being a serious issue."

While football has the highest rate of concussions by far, athletes in baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, hockey, wrestling, gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball and cheerleading all have more concussions than are generally realized.

"Dan Rather Reports - Knocking Heads" premieres on HDNet on Tuesday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET with an encore presentation at 11:00 p.m. PT to accommodate West Coast prime time.

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