This article is well worth reading, especially if your kid has been concussed (as one of mine has).
As you likely know, there's been some research and publicity lately about the long-term effects of head trauma on NFL players. For example, Ted Johnson of the Patriots was concussed multiple times and has had many serious issues, while other retired players have descended into dementia at early ages.
This article discusses a 42 year old who played high school and small college football only, as a wide receiver. He died after years of depression and addiction and examination of his brain showed significant trauma injury, of the type that causes loss of executive brain function and thus leads to what killed this person. This quote is interesting:
"Ive looked at more than 1,000 brains, and Ive never seen this in any individual living a normal life its only through head trauma, said Dr. Ann McKee, an associate professor of neurology and pathology at the Boston University School of Medicine and co-director of its Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
His parents say he may have been concussed 8 or 9 times, but we don't know a lot about it, including the severity.
My comments are:
1. Make very sure your kid is fully recovered from a head trauma. There's a long checklist a school is supposed to go through but kids are often pressured to go back into a game or to practice or to return to competition way too early. Permanent brain damage is not worth it.
2. Push for more safety. A lot of work is going into better helmets, etc. Keep up with that and try to get your schools aware.
I remember one of my nephews was concussed during a soccer game - knee to the head - and he was not right for a year. A year. He was groggy for weeks and couldn't focus for long periods for months. My kid's concussion wasn't nearly as bad but it still took 3 weeks before the checklist was really right.
![bbtitle]](/images/misc/cc_logo.gif){kind=logo}
