“It was the most traumatizing time of our lives,” Sharell Welch, the mother of a local high school athlete, says of the concussion her daughter sustained playing basketball last year. “The physical part of [the injury] is bad enough, but the emotional part of it is the most devastating. It took a toll on us as her family as well as her.”

With concussions on the rise among children and young adults — a study published in Pediatrics last year found that the number ER visits for concussions among those ages 5-18 in 2005 was more than twice what it had been eight years prior — traumatic experiences such as the one sustained by Aleighsa Welch and her family are increasing as well.

Efforts by lawmakers to reduce the risk of injury associated with youth athletics have become more critical than ever, so it’s a good thing that many states have passed or are considering passing “return to play” laws for brain-injured athletes. “The process generally starts after an athlete is symptom-free for at least 24 hours,” an article on youth concussions and “return to play” laws explains. “The protocol begins with light aerobic exercise and progresses through sport-specific exercise, non-contact training drills and full-contact practice before a return to games.”

Though this can be a painful exercise in patience for young athletes, it is one that doctors and lawmakers alike hope to see halt the rise in concussions among students, and one day, reverse the trend.