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Thursday, March 01, 2012

This is your brain. This is your brain after concussions. Any questions?


http://marie-renee.hubpages.com/hub/American-Football-Playing-Despite-Concussion-Risks

A picture is worth a thousand words? I just saved y'all a thousand words. The picture above shows your brain and your brain on football (or any sport with a high risk of repeat trauma to the head. Any questions.

From ESPN:
Players still willing to hide head injuries

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7388074/nfl-players-say-hiding-concussions-option

Ask Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew whether he would try to play through a concussion or yank himself from a game, and he'll provide a straightforward answer.

"Hide it," the NFL's leading rusher said.

"The bottom line is: You have to be able to put food on the table. No one's going to sign or want a guy who can't stay healthy. I know there will be a day when I'm going to have trouble walking. I realize that," Jones-Drew said. "But this is what I signed up for. Injuries are part of the game. If you don't want to get hit, then you shouldn't be playing."

Other players say they would do the same: Hide it.

Results of AP's Concussion Survey
The Associated Press recently interviewed 44 NFL players -- at least one from each of the league's 32 teams -- to gauge whether concussion safety and attitudes about head injuries have changed in the past two years. Results

In a series of interviews about head injuries with The Associated Press over the last two weeks, 23 of 44 NFL players -- slightly more than half -- said they would try to conceal a possible concussion rather than pull themselves out of a game.

Changing the Culture of the Game or the Mind-Set. I'm not sure what it is going to take, but something will have to give.

The NFL likes to say that views about concussions have shifted from simply accepting they're part of the sport to doing what's possible to lessen impacts. Commissioner Roger Goodell talks about "changing the culture," so players don't try to "walk it off" after taking hits to the head.

Yet the AP's conversations with players showed there is room for more adjustments, which did not surprise Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, co-chairman of the NFL's head, neck and spine committee.

"The culture change takes awhile," Ellenbogen said in a telephone interview. "Why would these guys want to go out? They love playing the game. They don't want to leave their team. They want to win. I understand all that. And that's why we have to be on our toes with coming up with exams that are hard to beat, so to speak."


From Sports Vision Magazine:
Sports Vision and Sensory Training Coaching Community: "Sports Imperative: Protecting Young Brains
24-August-2009

The typical jock advice to suck it up and get back in the game is not only bad, it's potentially life-threatening.

"If in doubt, sit them out" is the strong recommendation of Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the nation's leading experts on sports-related concussions and their consequences. Dr. Cantu, a co-author of the National Athletic Trainers' Association position paper on managing sport-related concussion.

The consequences of a repeat concussion are often long-lasting and sometimes permanent: persistent headaches, fatigue, difficulty paying attention, memory problems, mood swings and personality changes. In some cases, the result can be death.

At least four American high school students died last year from football head injuries. Most suffered from what is called second-impact syndrome, a rare but catastrophic dysregulation of brain activity that can occur when a young player sustains another hit before the brain has recovered from an earlier concussion."

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