Sports equipment manufacturers meet with medical experts in Chapel Hill Thursday to consider ways to prevent sports concussions. The conference is meant to address research connecting concussions to dementia in retired athletes. A recent Wake Forest University study of football helmets says there is no helmet that can fully prevent concussions. But manufacturers have made progress in producing helmets that reduce the odds of a head injury. Robert Parish is the President and CEO of Jarden Team Sports, which owns the Rawlings brand of sports equipment.
Robert Parish: "I think there were a lot of concussions happening probably more in the past than there are now, but they were going unrecognized. And so the more we learn, the more we realize the seriousness of this matter and also that is it something that can be reduced."
Parish will join doctors, coaches and other equipment manufacturers at Thursday's conference at UNC-Chapel Hill. The meeting comes as North Carolina lawmakers consider a bill that would keep high school athletes on the sidelines if they show signs of a concussion.