<p>HImom, I saw an athlete about a month ago for a concussion… suffered in the cafeteria. She hit her head on a chair at lunch…</p>
<p>Teriwtt, I was actually thinking of Muhammad Ali. H is participating in a study re: possible genetic links to Parkinson’s … that is what made me start to wonder about my FIL & football as a possible culprit. </p>
<p>I am absolutely fascinated with the brain. The more we know about it, the better equipped we will be to do the things necessary to preserve, protect, and possibly even improve our lives.</p>
<p>There is also research out there exploring and having explored the link between concussions and ALS. We continue to learn and continue to evolve…</p>
<p>It’s not just football - I have a soccer goalie who has had 3 soccer-related concussions, including a direct kick to the head while in the goal. No penalties were called in the game. My S wound up with a permanent dent in his skull.</p>
<p>Yes, I am aware of the new studies looking for a correlation between concussions and ALS. Surprisingly, there are now theories out there that Lou Gehrig did not have ALS (often called Lou Gehrig’s disease), but chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but it was not known about back then.</p>
<p>I had three girls and they all went out for swimming. And Irish step dance – which has plenty of injuries but they are all the dancer ones — hairline fractures in feet, growth plate torn off hip bone, sprains, etc.</p>
<p>Maybe Americans should move towards rugby. It is plenty rough & has lots of action, but they don’t hit each other with their heads.</p>
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<p>And they have many of the same, if not more issues, than football. For one, rugby has lagged behind other sports with regards to concussion policies (if you can believe that!).</p>
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<p>I don’t think brain damage is common in gymnastics. The big issue in the sport is how common Achilles tendon and ACL tears are.</p>
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<p>See those two don’t bother me too much. Now talk about the back injuries… those are what concern me with gymnastics… It is amazing, though, the pounding gymnastics take on their bare feet and knees…</p>
<p>JRZMom, my son had his first concussion a week and a half ago. Rugby practice. It was mild thankfully. I am aggravated that he treated it so lightly. He was quite cheerful about it.</p>
<p>Bumping this back up as this was the topic of a Frontline show on PBS tonight. Anyone else see this?</p>
<p>They’re saying high school players are more susceptible to concussions than college or pro players.</p>
<p>Probably many reasons for this & the even young kids (e.g. middle school) are probably even more susceptible with even more serious consequences, as their brains are still developing. SCARY stuff!</p>
<p>This is a huge issue, and it is so wonderful that it is finally getting the recognition it deserves. I work as an occupational therapist in the school district here with athletes who are suffering from post-concussion syndrome, and having trouble getting back on track academically. All athletes have to now do the impact testing before their sport, and our state has passed laws mandating training for all coaches. In our school district of 16,000 and 5 high schools the fall concussion numbers were startling. Most of the numbers were 24, 28, 31, etc., one school had 46 concussions, just for fall sports! Most of these resolve themselves, but some take longer than others, especially those with 2 or more. Research shows it is much easier to get the second concussion after a first. They seem to be happening younger and younger, also. I worked with one young boy, a seventh grader, who just had his 4th concussion, and he is having a very, very hard time in school; decreased short-term memory, visual perceptual problems, headaches, dizziness. He has been told he can never play contact sports again in his life; never, and he is 12 years old. </p>
<p>Please give a shout-out to the athletic trainers in your school/school district. They have been on the front lines of this problem way before it became a hot topic. Our athletic trainers here are wonderful, and doing great work with our athletes in prevention, assessment, referrals to medical providers, and educating teachers and other school staff on the student’s progress and accommodations/modifications. If you want to know what your district’s or school’s policies are in this matter, talk to the athletic trainer.</p>
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<p>THANK YOU! I will definitely let my colleagues know… I work at a high school as an outreach athletic trainer and this became an issue last week. I had a coach who decided NOT to listen. It sounds egostical, but athletic trainers are only second to neuro physicians when it comes to concussion recognition, management, and education.</p>
<p>Keep it up, hops_scout!</p>
<p>This sounds like a very important project:</p>
<p>[Seahawk</a> Tatupu agrees to donate brain to science | Seattle PI](<a href=“http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2009/09/14/tatupu-agrees-to-donate-brain-to-science/]Seahawk”>http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2009/09/14/tatupu-agrees-to-donate-brain-to-science/)</p>
<p>The other interesting piece of information that Frontline mentioned is that it used to be thought that better helmet technology could prevent concussions. The biggest benefit to new technology is the reduction of skull fractures, which do not always necessarily result in concussions. One player sort of bragged that you could look at the number of marks on his helmet and get an idea of how many people he had hit with it. </p>
<p>wrldtravlr - seriously??? A 12-year old with four concussions? I almost hate to ask what kind of parent (or physician) allows that (continuation of the sport) to happen.</p>
<p>btw - did anyone else see Frontline tonight?</p>
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<p>That is one thing that people don’t understand. A football helmet is not designed to prevent a concussion. NOCSAE, which certifies the safety of helmets, does not test a helmet’s ability to prevent a concussion. Its standards require protection against a skull fracture. I think there’s two reasons for this. 1) When these standards were developed, a concussion was unheard of. A player “got his bell rung.” There are talks of changing the standards, but that won’t help the issue. 2) A concussion CANNOT be prevented by a piece of equipment. There’s a simple reason for that: NOTHING can prevent the brain from moving around inside of the skull. </p>
<p>I have not watched the show yet. I knew it would be on, but didn’t really know when and I had to work until 8PM tonight anyway. I may try to watch it in the morning or sometime tomorrow.</p>
<p>I didn’t see Frontline - I’ll try to catch it online.
In addition to the things mentioned by other posters, I would like to suggest that poor officiating at the HS/club level is another (overlooked) factor. This is true in many sports, not just soccer or football. Over the years I have noticed a deteriorating quality of officiating. There is a shortage of referees in our area. Consequently, HS and travel leagues are using less-experienced officials to call games that have become increasingly more physical at the HS level. Lack of experience often results in a lack of penalty calls. When refs do not call penalties on dangerous plays, offending players are more likely to make those dangerous plays again.
AMEN! I cannot say enough good things about the ATCs in our district. They are true heroes & advocates for our HS athletes. Interestingly, the ATCs administer the ImPact tests at our local schools. When I took my S to the concussion clinic at Children’s National Medical Center in DC for evaluation of multiple concussions, they were able to access the district HS databases with ImPact test results.</p>