Athletes' Brains Reveal Concussion Damage 328
jamie found a story on research about what concussions do to athletes, with the insights coming mostly from the study of the donated brains of dead athletes. The NFL has the biggest profile in the piece, but other sports make an appearance too. Turns out that repeated concussions can result in depression, insomnia, and the beginnings of something that looks a lot like Alzheimer's. "The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," said [retired wrestler] Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."
Simple... give 'em ganja (Score:0, Interesting)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/27/1354225 [slashdot.org]
If it works for Alzheimers... maybe it'll work for Football
It's not that surprising (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember an ESPN interview of a retired NFL linebacker. He'd had multiple concussions in his playing days. He was quite mentally damaged, at the ripe old age of 45.
One day he went out for a drive, and when he got to his block, he couldn't recognize his own house. So he decided to just keep driving around the block, over and over. More than an hour elapsed before one of his family members spotted the car out the front window and went outside and flagged him down.
It wasn't the first time seemingly simple things/memories just completely escaped him
Re:If this is true... (Score:4, Interesting)
Unless making kids dummer is their job [johntaylorgatto.com].
Re:If this is true... (Score:3, Interesting)
It honestly depends. At my old college, the sports stuff fell under an entity completely distinct from the school. It was initially set up this so that what you were describing couldn't happen. The school was one thing, and the sports were another, so that the school _couldn't_ give money to sports. And it turned out, the sports teams (well, specifically football) actually ended up turning _huge_ profits. Since they can transfer this to the school, the extra money ends up getting spent on new buildings and equipment.
The point I'm making here, in an admittedly roundabout way, is that sports actually tend to pull in a decent amount of money, so that the funding usually isn't that major.
Beyond that, 'starving' art and science budgets isn't exactly common, and the schools that do it are generally lacking enough money to even manage the basics (e.g. requiring HS students to share books) and usually have minimal sports programs. The rest of the time, it's usually only for lack of interest that arts and sciences don't get much funding; if kinds started a robotics club (or the like), they wouldn't have a hard time getting funds. But they rarely do, and for that, we should blame the parents.
The sports will always stay, the game must change (Score:2, Interesting)
Where there just as many concussions when people wore the thin leather helmets vs today's super helmets? Players dressed up in all that protective gear feel invincible literally throw themselves around and taking more hits and risks. You don't see near as many concussion injuries in a sport like rugby. While similar in nature those players aren't spearing others with their head to make a tackle.
Re:If this is true... (Score:5, Interesting)
As for TFA, for us sedentary desk-jockeys, we think of "exercise" as healthy, but anyone who has played a sport in some sort of serious way has probably noticed that athletics at this level is not healthy, it's damaging to the body, it doesn't surprise me that the brain is no exception. I played competitive ultimate frisbee on a regular basis for several years and I was beginning to get knee trouble. Looking at the health problems some of the older players had was enough to make me quit. I'd much rather still be able to walk when I'm 50 thank you.
fencing coaches beware! (Score:1, Interesting)
I remember discussing this with fellow fencers and coaches. The consensus was that after receiving literally thousands of blows to the head every day during practice and lessons, coaches would eventually show signs of brain damage in their (not so) old age. Basically, the younger coaches looked at the old ones and figured that perhaps it was better to hold a mask in the unarmed hand as a target instead of using their own mask/head to prevent micro-choc from debilitating them.
Not only football. (Score:3, Interesting)
Since the times of the ancient Romans . . . (Score:2, Interesting)
. . . crowds of plebes have gleefully enjoyed watching folks, bash the shit, out off other folks. It keeps the populace's minds of other social problems.
I wouldn't be surprised if the next government economic stimulus act funds "Ben Hur" style Roman warship battles in the Washington Monument Reflecting pool. With free bread for the spectators.
If this is true, then why do schools insist on giving money to sports programs while starving arts and sciences budgets?
Such programs don't bring out the crowds on the weekends to the stadiums.
Hmmm . . . maybe Stem Cell experiments, with cheerleaders would work.
Enraged wacko-physicists hurling cold fusion experiments at each other, maybe.
You just need to have plenty of vendors with cheap booze and fast food on hand.
How is this different from being 'punch drunk'? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is nothing new, and has been described and studied for decades as 'Dementia pugilistica' [wikipedia.org], and ..."first described in 1928 by Harrison Stanford Martland in a Journal of the American Medical Association article..."[from the above linked wiki article]
Having watched the changes in both George Foreman and Cassius Clay(AKA Mohammed Ali) over the years in interviews, this was pretty obvious even to a medical layman.
Re:If this is true... (Score:4, Interesting)
but anyone who has played a sport in some sort of serious way has probably noticed that athletics at this level is not healthy, it's damaging to the body
This has actually been a big thing for me. I do martial arts and have experienced a wide range of styles and schools. When I go to a school and see a master in his 30s with knee problems, I move on.
I've developed a theory that there is a balance that one decide when picking a marital art. One one side, there are brutal styles with lots of sparing that will make you incredibly strong / effective. But the strain on the body will result in you only being strong for a limited number of years. Since I'm not a soldier and am not fighting for my life, there's no benefit in me studying one of these styles for an extended period of time. These would include Krav Maga, Jujitsu, and many Tae Kwon Do styles (depends on the round-house kicking technique).
There are gentler styles that still are effective martial arts but without stressing one's body to the point of failure after a few years. This includes Aikido (even though you fall, you fall gently), Iaido (just don't cut yourself), and possibly Kendo.
I can't say my observations are perfect, but I've seen a lot more old yet effective practitioners of these styles than of the first styles.
Re:Really? (Score:3, Interesting)
To "stay positive in oncology" (that is, if cancer patients have an optimistic/positive posture) has been confirmed multiple times to be effective. And it's not purely psychosomatic, either: patients with a positive attitude are much more likely to take an active role in their therapy.
I have quite recently read about a study that confirmed this very thing, again.
And this from a guy who is totally against stuff like chakra, "meridians", "energy flows" and other such horseshit.
Re:Really? (Score:1, Interesting)
I think the point of life is to live it. Not to try to stay alive as long as possible. I know there quite a few on here who would happily accept a one way ticket to Mars.
Re:Really? (Score:3, Interesting)
At least unlike the suck it up and be a man approach to concussion, a positive outlook is unlikely to cause harm. It may even improve quality of life for the remaining time.
Re:Really? (Score:3, Interesting)
Er, no, its been repeatedly shown to be completely bunk, as was discussed (with citations) in response to the previous response to GP claiming the same thing even before the parent was posted.
Re:If this is true... (Score:3, Interesting)
Then you missed his point. The point is that things like efficiency or this image of a great competition among nations are our goals, not healthy development of strong, mature minds that can think critically and are not easily deceived. I recommend that you read his book, The Underground History of American Education [johntaylorgatto.com] (the entire book is available for on the Web site, for free) in order to really understand the difference. Yeah it's a full book and no you won't be able to instantly read it, but believe me when I tell you that the subject is worthy.
Blame the gloves? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The sports will always stay, the game must chan (Score:1, Interesting)
There were fewer concussions in the 1910s.
Instead players died.
The NCAA was created because of the horrifying number of permanent injuries and fatalities being incurred on an annual basis by intramural football players. More people died of football injuries on a yearly basis in the 1910s than died on a yearly basis in the 2000s, despite an almost hundred-fold increase in the amount of competitive players today as compared to then.
Concussions were pretty common with the old leather and suspension helmets of the 1920s through the 1960s. They were good enough to prevent skull fracture, basically. The new wave of helmets, starting in the 1970s, largely prevented devastating head injury and most concussions, and moved the big injuries into the neck, as injuries became inertial instead of focal.
One reason you don't see as many rugby injuries is that rugby has a very small penetration in the American market, and their injuries just aren't noted. Cheerleading and soccer are also surprising dangerous sports that don't get as much coverage, because they are less viewed here and aren't perceive as as violent of sports.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Really? (Score:1, Interesting)
Bike Helmets good idea for kids (Score:1, Interesting)
All I will say is make sure your kid wears a bike helmet. Wouldn't be a bad idea for adults to wear one too. If you've suffered any type of brain injury, you'd know how much they can affect you.
I'm posting as AC, but I can tell you that I have a type of epilepsy likely due to a brain injury as a child. The condition became active an adult. Its not fun. Prevention is the best medicine. There's debate of the effectiveness of helmets. I'd say if its 10% better prevention than no helmet, choose helmet.
Re:Really? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, my understanding is that he suffers from Parkinson's syndrome [wikipedia.org], which is not the same as the disease proper.
-b
Head trauma *is* correlated with the onset of Parkinson's.
Past episodes of head trauma are reported more frequently by individuals with Parkinson's disease than by others in the population. A recent methodologically strong retrospective study found that those who have experienced a head injury are four times more likely to develop Parkinsonâ(TM)s disease than those who have never suffered a head injury. The risk of developing Parkinsonâ(TM)s increases eightfold for patients who have had head trauma requiring hospitalization, and it increases 11-fold for patients who had experienced severe head injury.
C.T.E. mistakenly called Parkinson's (Score:1, Interesting)
While he very well may have suffered from Parkinson's syndrome, this may have been just what was claimed (or known at the time) while he actually suffered from the histopathology of chronic traumatic encephalopathy from a career in boxing. It in fact is a more likely explanation of his early onset of symptoms than Parkinson's, given that this is so common among NFL players who have had post-mortem exams and that boxers intentionally sustain repeated concussions.
Re:If this is true... (Score:3, Interesting)
Marketing. It has everything to do with what's visible in the community. Parents and alumnis see sports scores in the local paper. You don't generally see as much about the arts and sciences as much in the media.
Re:Referencing to other article (Score:3, Interesting)
So, it must be two of these three things: illegal, good for you, and bad for you?
Considering that most things are either good or bad for you, and that nothing can be both really, they should have just said "we ban illegal drugs."