If Tua Tagovailoa wants to return to the field this year after suffering a concussion on Thursday night, he’s going to have to go through the NFL’s five-step process before he can be even think about being cleared.
For Tua, this could take weeks or even months and that’s because this is the third concussion that he’s suffered in his NFL career. When a player is trying to return from a concussion, there’s no set timetable for when that return might happen. The team’s medical staff will take into account the player’s concussion history as part of the process for possibly clearing the player for football activities.
Tua actually thought about retiring in April 2023 after suffering two concussions during the 2022 season, so it’s impossible to know what his mindset might be about his future after suffering this third concussion in two years. The injury happened during the third quarter of Miami’s 31-10 loss to the Bills.
If Tua does want to keep playing, he’ll have to go through the league’s five-step process, which looks like this:
1. Symptom limited activity
In the first phase, players are basically expected to rest. They’re supposed to avoid activities — both physical and cognitive — that might aggravate their symptoms. At this point in the recovery, the player can do limited stretching and light aerobic exercises, but that’s about it.
2. Aerobic exercise
In phase two of the recovery, players can start going cardio exercises. Stretching and training is also permitted as long as the player is supervised by the team’s medical staff. Once this phase is complete, players can start working on balance testing.
3. Football-specific exercise
Once a player gets to the third phase, they can continue all the workouts from the first two phases with one addition: The player is allowed to practice with the team for up to 30 minutes in sport-specific exercises with the team’s medical staff…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/tua-tagovailoas-path-to-return-after-concussion-dolphins-qb-must-go-through-this-five-step-nfl-protocol/
Author : John Breech
Publish date : 2024-09-13 15:00:26
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