Basically, a concussion is a brain injury that changes how the brain normally works. A person can get a concussion from a direct hit to the head or an indirect jolt to the body. Even a minor hit can be serious. Concussions are common injuries in contact sports like football, hockey, soccer and basketball. They can also occur during non-contact sports like skiing and snowboarding. Concussions are not always identified immediately so it’s important to know the signs and symptoms of head injuries.
Symptoms of Concussion
Person appears dazed or confused
Forgetful
Moves clumsily
Difficulty answering simple questions
Seems more emotional (sadness, irritability, nervousness)
Can’t recall events before or after the hit or injury
Symptoms that athletes may report:
Headaches
Balance problems or dizziness
Double or blurry vision
Sensitivity to light or noise
Difficulty concentrating or remembering (especially in school)
The most important step in managing concussion is to get the correct diagnosis as soon as possible. During sporting events, the team physician or sideline athletic trainers will remove the athlete from participation if they show any signs of having concussion. The injured athlete will undergo both physical and mental tests looking for a concussion injury. If you think your child has suffered from a concussion, have them stop playing immediately and get evaluated by a healthcare professional as soon as possible. Medical providers can perform several office tests to determine if that individual has had a concussion.
Medical studies show that the best concussion treatment combines bothphysical and mental rest.
Physical Rest includes avoiding any sports, gym or recess activities.
Mental or Brain Rest: Since it’s the brain that’s been injured, it’s vital to
let your brain rest too. The following are a sample of cognitive activities
that should be avoided until your doctor approves:
Working at your computer
Playing video games
Watching TV
Texting
Reading, writing or studying
Avoiding bright lights and loud music
Sometimes driving and school limitations
Dr. Fornetti will oversee how quickly your child can return to normal activities. The new concussion law in Wisconsin says that an athlete cannot return to play unless cleared by a health professional trained in sports concussion management. It’s important that your child gets the treatment they need. Children and young adults often experience more symptoms and take longer to recover than adults.
At the Kennedy Center, we develop sports concussion management plans that involve a team approach with athletic trainers, coaches, teachers, parents, and athletes. This will ensure that your child receives the proper medical treatment while working with the school system to help to coordinate an effective transition back to normal activities and sports.
(The following is a testimonial provided by and written by a patient’s parent)
This past summer I was at Mercy Medical Center and noticed a poster announcing that Dr. Willa Fornetti was joining the team at the Kennedy Center as an Orthopedic & Sports Medicine doctor. What drew me to the board was the photo of figure skates. I learned from the information on the board that Dr. Fornetti was a former competitive figure skater. Before I left Mercy, I stopped into the Kennedy Center to pick up Dr. Fornetti’s bio-card in case I needed her in the future for my daughter who is also a competitive figure skater.
My daughter (pictured to the left) has had several injuries over the years due to this sport – as you can imagine. Most recently, in the summer of 2013, we visited her orthopedic doctor at St. Elizabeth regarding recurring knee pain. X-rays, physical therapy and a brace were ordered, which helped somewhat, but the pain continued. We revisited her ortho again this past summer who ordered another round of X-rays and physical therapy. Nothing was helping, so we had an MRI done and thankfully, no surgery was needed. Her ortho suggested follow up with an orthopedic sports medicine doctor.
I immediately thought of Dr. Fornetti in Oshkosh. My daughter’s orthopedic surgeon didn’t know Dr. Fornetti, but said, sure – go for it. And we’re glad that we did.
Dr. Fornetti knew all the questions to ask about my daughter’s sport. Coincidentally, Dr. Fornetti once coached in Lansing, MI with my daughter’s current coach. So Cool! Anyway, she suggested physical therapy again, however it would be advanced physical therapy (like a sports personal training program.) For a regular person who sustains an injury, regular physical therapy does the trick. For people like my daughter who are competitive athletes, regular physical therapy doesn’t push them enough.
Dr. Fornetti called around to make sure we got the right therapist who could help us. We were put in touch with Advanced Physical Therapy in Appleton and on the first visit the therapist said they could tell that my daughter was doing all the right things. Her previous PT’s were giving her the correct exercises, but to get her back to her competitive level, her therapy needed to be kicked up a notch. They identified new stretches and strengthening exercises. They made the following goals: no knee pain and skating without a brace. Within two weeks, my daughter could tell a difference. She came home from skating practice beaming about her double loops! I still don’t know the difference between all the figure skating jumps, bit was relieved and excited for her.
My daughter was hesitant about trying physical therapy again. She had put so much time and effort into PT before and she was still in pain. We were both so frustrated that we could not get rid of her knee pain and I was seriously considering making her give up a sport she loves. Now we are hopeful once again. I will be sharing Dr. Fornetti’s contact information with Valley Figure Skating Club in the Fox Cities, Great Green Bay Figure Skating Club in DePere and Green Bay and with Blue Line Figure Skating Club in Fond du Lac. As a unique group of athletes, it’s so important that they know someone like Dr. Fornetti is out there who understands their special needs and may be able to help them – like she helped my daughter.
If I hadn’t seen that poster at Mercy, I know that we’d be in a very different place today.
Thank you so much!
It’s time to take out your golf clubs, stretch your shoulders and hips and get ready for golf season.
If you’ve had hip replacement or knee replacement surgery at the Kennedy Center in Oshkosh, you might want to think about the following tips from Golf Digest before you take that first swing.
Don’t golf in wet weather – slipping and falling while swinging your club could be disastrous.
Any golfer with a joint replacement should learn to play more “on the toes.” Don’t listen to the golf pros who tell you to swing with your feet flat on the ground. Swinging flat footed puts a lot of stress on a joint replacement. On the backswing, the left heel should come off the ground and on the downswing, the right heel should come off the ground.
Golfers with total hip replacements should learn to play with bigger hip turns. Hip movement is triggered by the lower back. By turning the trunk more, the muscles around the hip are stretched less and therefore take stress off the hip replacement. Be sure to rise up on your toes while attempting a bigger hip turn or the stress of the trunk rotation will be transmitted to the hip or the knee.
Right handed golfers with a total right knee replacement may benefit from “stepping through” their shots with their right leg. In this movement, the right leg comes off the ground during the downswing and follow-through – it actually steps toward the target. This helps the weight shift and will take some stress off the right knee. Golfers with a left knee replacement should never try this technique- it will not help your swing and could be dangerous.
Right handed golfers with a total left knee replacement will probably benefit from an open stance. This will make the backswing a bit more difficult but if the left heel is allowed to come up, a full turn should be possible. An open stance has the golfer facing the target more and the hips don’t need to turn so drastically to the left in the impact zone, therefore taking stress off a left knee replacement.
And finally, a tip from the sports medicine doctors at the Kennedy Center, make sure you do warm up stretches for your back, shoulders and hips before hitting that first ball. Simple exercises like holding a golf club in two hands and stretching overhead and backwards several times will loosen the shoulder, arm and back muscles.
Have Fun!
From the Team:
Dr. McLaughlin, Dr. Tsai, Dr. Hausserman, Dr. Schaufelberger and Dr. Fornetti
Dr. Bob Hausserman, an orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon who practices at the Kennedy Center for Hip and Knee at Mercy Medical Center, has created a 2 and a half acre botanical garden on his riverside property. With 14 separate flower and “woody” beds, Bob Hausserman’s garden is a riot of color even during the late Wisconsin autumn.
Everywhere you look, there are exotic bushes and shrubs. The landscape includes more than 20 varieties of Japanese maples, ten different varieties of beech trees and red bud. And then there are enormous flower beds – one dedicated only to rhodedendron, azalea and miniature hosta, all acid loving plants. And this doesn’t include the heath and heather garden or the bog garden or the waterfall or the dwarf conicals, or the rocks or garden sculptures that add texture and balance to the whole.
When asked why he transformed a once ordinary yard into an extraordinary botanical experiment, his answer was simple: “I’m a farm boy. I grew up growing things and I love it.
“I served as a general medical officer when I was in the army. During my overseas tour of duty, I visited some of the great English gardens. In France and Germany I had the chance to view both public and private estate gardens. It became a challenge for me to see new plants and plant varieties and see if I could grow them here in Wisconsin.”
It’s not easy maintaining this massive undertaking: lifting rocks, transplanting overgrown beds and all the various tasks required for the serious gardener can be hard on backs and knees. But for Bob Hausserman, he says he feels the best when he’s outside working. “The benefits to gardening are both physical and psychological.
“I had a car accident in 1983 and broke my neck. I had to wear a halo for three months so I can empathize with patients who have pain. Today, I have all the typical aches and pains of someone my age, but the benefits of being active are great.”
Dr. Hausserman explains that he’d been an orthopedic surgeon in Appleton for more than 30 years. His relationship with the Kennedy Center began on a personal level with Dr. Bill Kennedy, the founder of the Kennedy Center for the Hip and Knee. “Because of my long association and friendship with the doctors at the Kennedy Center, I feel very comfortable working here. The Kennedy Center has a great reputation so I was honored when Jeff McLaughlin chose me to join the practice.”
As an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports injuries – from shoulder and knee arthroscopy to knee replacement – Dr. Hausserman finds his own best therapy outdoors, creating and maintaining his beautiful garden.
If you’re like most people, you probably think of sports injuries as football, soccer or even downhill skiing related.
Davis Tsai, MD, an orthopedic and sports medicine doctor at the Kennedy Center in Oshkosh, handles these fairly common injuries every day. But on weekends, this gentle man chooses to be a ringside doctor at cage fights - one of the more violent sports today.
In fact, Dr. Tsai was again tagged to be a ringside physician at the “Legendary” Ultimate Fighting Championship 164 at the BMO-Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee on August 31.
The UFC is being held in conjunction with Harley Davidson’s 110th anniversary celebration. This event has been compared to cage fighting’s equivalent of the Super Bowl and will be broadcast internationally on pay per view.
So if you’re looking for an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine doctor who has an interest in a wide range of sports and sports injuries, contact Davis Tsai, MD at the Kennedy Center at Mercy in Oshkosh. (He’s tougher than he looks).
Football players get most of the press coverage about concussion these days, but did you know that young athletes in other sports can also suffer from a concussion? Kids who play contact sports like soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, rugby can get a concussion but so can kids in non-contact sports like baseball, water skiing or mountain biking.
What is a Concussion?
According to the CDC, (Centers for Disease Control) “a concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury or TBI caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head that can change the way your brain normally works”.
Parents often don’t realize that concussion can also occur from a blow to the body that makes your child’s heads “snap” back and forth violently. The CDC cautions that even a “ding” or “getting your bell rung” – incidents that seem to be only a minor blow to the head can be serious.
Stand Up and Protect Your Child’s Long Term Health
Dr. Willa Fornetti, a non-surgical sports medicine and sports concussion specialist at the Kennedy Center in Ripon, WI encourages parents and coaches to have young athletes fully evaluated by a medical professional if they are thought to have suffered a concussion. As a parent, stand up for your child and have them pulled from the game or activity immediately and seek professional medical treatment. Any athlete who is suspected of having a concussion, at any level of competition- whether they are in professional, collegiate, high school or youth sports- should be immediately pulled from the game or practice. This is the current recommendation based on scientific research that is endorsed by multiple medical groups who specialize in sports concussion management.
There should be no “playing through pain” when it comes to a brain injury or a concussion. Playing smart and pulling any athlete who appears to have suffered a concussion is the best way to prevent further injury and potentially more serious long damage to athlete’s brains. Athletes have died after sustaining repeated sports concussions when they should have been taken out of the game.
Rest Athletes for Long Term Results
Concussion is a serious condition. Research shows that rest – both mental and physical – is the key to recovery after a concussion.
If your child has a concussion, their brain requires time to heal. The Wisconsin State Sports Concussion Law and the CDC advocate that coaches and parents not allow their athlete to return to play the day of the injury. Not “until a health care professional, experienced in evaluating for concussion, says they are symptom-free and it’s OK to return to play. A repeat concussion that occurs before the brain recovers from the first – usually within a short time period (hours, days, weeks) – can slow recovery or increase the chances for long-term problems.”
Our medical director Dr. McLaughlin is excited to announce the addition of Kenneth Schaufelberger, MD as the newest member of the Kennedy Center at Mercy medical team.
As one of the only Fellowship-trained hand, wrist and upper extremity surgeons working in the Oshkosh area, Dr. Schaufelberger truly complements the range of orthopedic services offered at the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center, home of some of the most dedicated orthopedic surgeons in Wisconsin, continues to lead the region in the highest quality surgeons and staff available. We have board certified and fellowship-trained surgeons in hip and knee replacement, orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, and now hand, wrist, and upper extremity care including full or partial shoulder replacement surgery.
Dr. Schaufelberger graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School, in Madison, where he also completed his internship and residency in general and orthopedic surgery in 2005.
Since 2006, Dr. Schaufelberger has been an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He was awarded the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Professor of the Year Award in 2009 for his work. In addition, Dr. Schaufelberger has been a practicing surgeon in the Fox Cities area since 2007.
Aside from his medical work, Dr. Schaufelberger also enjoys hunting, fishing, football, softball, weight lifting, carpentry and automobile restoration.
On behalf of everyone at the Kennedy Center, we welcome Dr. Schaufelberger and the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder expertise that he will bring to our team of experienced surgeons.
Over the past couple of years, Jeffrey McLaughlin, MD, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement, has twice attempted to scale the steep face of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. He turned back both times because of thunder, lightning and ice storms. In early August this year, Dr. McLaughlin and a guide successfully climbed to the 14,700 ft. summit, accompanied by stiff winds and temperatures hovering at 15 degrees F.
When asked how he trained for the climb, Dr. McLaughlin answered, “My wife and I have been climbing for the past three years. We train by hiking with 40 pound vests on to strengthen our legs and increase endurance. And I do wall climbing at the “Y” every week to help with upper body strength.”
Dr. McLaughlin describes his 2012 alpine adventure as “one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. We stayed in Chamonix in the French Alps and climbed three different mountains in order to get acclimated to the altitude. One day my guide and I traveled to Turin, Italy to climb the Grande Paradiso. As I was traversing a two mile glacier, a snow bridge gave way and I fell into a 150 foot crevasse.” He jokes about “clawing” his way up the ice wall using only crampons (climbing cleats) and an ice axe while being suspended by a thin nylon rope. Joking aside, Dr. McLaughlin felt it safer not tell his wife or 3 year old son about this adventure until after his successful summit of the Matterhorn several days later.
Future climbing plans include climbing the Eiger, a mountaineering challenge in the Bernese Alps; El Capitan, a sheer rock face located in Yosemite Park; and someday, the holy grail of all mountain climbers, Mt. Everest in the Himalayas.
Asked why he pursues such a perilous sport, Dr. McLaughlin responded, “I feel that it is essential to constantly challenge oneself. I choose endeavors that are barely within my reach yet so difficult they scare me witless.”
As the leader in Wisconsin orthopedics, The Kennedy Center for the Hip & Knee and Sports Medicine is justly proud of Dr. McLaughlin’s tremendous achievement in his outdoor endeavors. We’ll keep you up-to-date on Dr. McLaughlin’s future pursuits.
When you think of swimming, you probably picture summer days at the pool or lake. Swimming is more than just a fun summer activity, however. It can also be a natural way to strengthen your muscles and improve your health.
Exercise is necessary for anyone with arthritis, a recent ACL surgery, or a hip or knee replacement. Regular exercise helps keep weight down, reducing strain on the joints and ligaments. People who have had knee replacement surgery, ligament or joint injuries, or who suffer from arthritis, may have initial trouble with high-impact exercises. Swimming provides a chance to burn calories with minimal stress on your joints.
Swimming is a whole-body workout. Not only do you use your arms and legs, but your core muscles are constantly working to keep you afloat. At the same time, the water helps support your weight to lessen the impact of exercise on your body. Walking, aerobics, biking and running all involve repeated impact to the joints, which can cause more pain. For many people with arthritis, swimming and other low impact workouts are excellent ways to continue exercising without contributing to joint pain.
Swimming not only helps you get in shape, but it also improves joint mobility and range of motion. As you swim, you strengthen the muscles and tissue surrounding the bones and joints. As a result, you will have greater bone strength and improve balance and stability, reducing the chances that you will cause further damage to your joints.
Emily Kellogg, a recent surgical knee patient at the Kennedy Center, enthusiastically endorses swimming as wonderful, pain-free exercise: “I have arthritis in both knees and walking on hard surfaces like sidewalks had become too painful. Since I’ve begun swimming four to five times a week, my whole body feels better, not just my knees. My back, hips and shoulders feel stronger and the muscles are more relaxed. An added benefit is that I’m sleeping much better, too.” For many arthritis sufferers, swimming in a pool heated to at least 83 degrees helps reduce pain and stiffness. If you’re not a swimmer, you can still take advantage of the low-impact benefits of water by walking or jogging in the shallow end of the pool.
Doctors at the Kennedy Center advocate swimming as a great way to relieve your arthritis pain while burning calories. And the best thing about swimming is that being in the water is just plain fun, helping you reduce mental as well as physical stress.
