Athletes' Brains Reveal Concussion Damage

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."

Comments

Really?

[bFusion]

"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.

This was a legitimate idea that people actually believed?

Re:Really?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The "Just suck it up and be a man" theory of sports medicine is surprisingly persistent. As are its close relatives the "Stay strong and positive" theory of oncology and the "Pull yourself together" theory of psychotherapy.

Re:Really?

[MyLongNickName]

if I had to choose between the two extremes, I would choose this over the "lets remove all risk from a child's environment" philosophy. Fortunately, this is a false dichotomy.

Re:Really?

[chill]

No, not really. I mean a quick look at ex-boxers, like Muhammad Ali, would tell you otherwise. The phrase "punch drunk" has been in the English language for some time now.

Re:Really?

[causality]

if I had to choose between the two extremes, I would choose this over the "lets remove all risk from a child's environment" philosophy. Fortunately, this is a false dichotomy.

If our public schools were worthy institutions, they would teach critical thinking so that people could learn the concept of a "false dichotomy" or "excluded middle" once and for all. I'd much prefer that to having to debunk myriad instances of the idea each time they are found.

If you'll permit a fanciful image, it's like the hydra with a thousand heads. Debunking the myriad instances is like trying to cut off each head, one at a time. Learning the concept involved and moving on is like going straight for the heart of the beast and taking it down in one stroke. I know which one suits me.

If this is true...

[scubamage]

If this is true, then why do schools insist on giving money to sports programs while starving arts and sciences budgets? Not only do they not do their job, they're effectively making kids dumber by causing brain damage.

Re:If this is true...

[mdarksbane]

Yes, because there's a much higher earning potential for artists than football players... they're both disciplines where a few people make it big, and the rest scrounge or go into something else while talking about their lost dreams.

In high school, I resented the attention that the jocks and the athletic department got at our school. But then I got to college and went into engineering... and saw dozens of young men who couldn't run a mile, who were obese and unattractive and unable to be self-sufficient when it came to anything physical. Moreover, I saw the inability to work as a team, to work within a command structure or to lead others, to communicate, to deal with stress and confrontation.

Deifying athletics is ridiculous - but so is ridiculing it. Music, art, athletics, hell, even math and science for the vast majority of high schoolers, are not things we teach our children because we want them to spend the rest of their lives painting or playing guitar. They are ways to grow the whole human body and mind into a stronger, faster, smarter, more social, more responsible, and just pure *better* adult.

We should support better safety in sports - but as others have pointed out, concussions are something that are only recently well understood. There was a general idea of a correlation between too many head injuries and brain damage, but no one knew how often, or how bad, or anything it would take to do serious damage. Sports medicine isn't the only area where there have been bad knowledge or just plain lack of knowledge, especially at the high school level.

We should fund art, and music, and science, and everything else in schools better, and many schools do have more priority than they probably should on athletics. But then, how often do you see the whole community energized and supportive in physical presence and monetary donations to watch a science class. Maybe we should be hitting that angle before we complain about schools spending on athletics.

Re:If this is true...

[mdarksbane]

Define personal fitness. I'd say it includes running and jumping around. PE teaches team sports because they're a lot more interesting (to most people), and keep a lot more people involved, than running on a treadmill. I guess it's a bit of a philosophy thing - if you're uncoordinated, do you give up or push harder. Some people were never taught (or never had - we could argue that all day) that kind of physical competitiveness.

Team sports may seem like they teach worthless things... but throwing, catching, dodging, all build agility and coordination better than most pure drills you could do, especially when you add that you're trying to do it over the head of someone else.

Unattractiveness is 90-95% body weight and muscle mass. A guy can have one of the ugliest mugs you've ever seen but he will still beat out every over or underweight nerd you know if he has a six pack. Are football players generally naturally attractive? Not their faces, but ask most women and they'd love it if their husband had their bodies. How much depression and disorders are directly linked to poor fitness? How many nerds do you know with major psychological issues due to their inability (or perceived inability ) to attract women (or men, although that is generally less of an issue in our discipline).

And finally... no one is forced to hit their head with a ball. You're encouraged to play, but if you don't go for that header, they aren't going to fail you for the class.

I get tired of this false dichotomy in our society between physical and mental pursuits. There is no reason to ignore any aspect of your personal development. Being smart does not give you and excuse to be weak, nor being athletic an excuse to ignore your math studies. You may not start on the football team or win the nobel price, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't play the game.

Re:It's not that surprising

[Darth_brooks]

It's not surprising, but it's also a bit of a slight to the way concussions are being handled today. These artciles give the impression that concussions are treated today the same way they were 30 years ago.

Ten years ago was the point where things really started to "click" when it came to concussions. Jim Everett's case in particular. He was an NFL quarterback who spent several years as a veritable punching bag for some god-awful teams, including the St. Louis Rams. Everett had actually taken to keeping his phone number in his wallet, since he frequently got lost on the way home (a 15 minute drive) from the stadium, and couldn't remember his address or phone number. At that point, a lot of NFL teams began taking notice. The tissue samples we're seeing are from guys who, for the most part, played in the 70's and 80's, back when "shut up and play you pussy, you just 'got your bell rung'" was a way of life. Now, concussions are handled with considerably more care. Is it enough? I don't know that anyone is sure yet. But at least they're being treated like the legitimate, serious injury they are.

But what's really waking up pro sports teams? Money. With teams investing over 100 million dollars over ten years in some players, the risk is losing not only what you've invested in development, but what you stand to earn in terms of marketing and merchandise revenues. What do you think a Peyton Manning-level players is worth to his franchise over his career? a quarter of a billion dollars? Half a billion? Do you think it's any different in the NHL? Or EPL?

It's interesting that Chris Nowinski is mentioned in the article. As a former pro-wrestler, hearing him talk about concussions is like hearing about gang violence from someone who lives in Compton. The WWE has an absolutely abysmal record of handling athlete injuries, especially concussions.