The Fragile Teenage Brain; An in-depth look at concussions in high school football

Oh my!!! I ran across this article today and you must read it!! It is a long educational piece on concussions, but if you have to save it and read it later do so.

 

I have also posted the article website at the bottom of the article to save as your favorites.

 

Since this is a bit overwhelming I will post a follow up tomorrow or Friday.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

Grantland

 

The Fragile Teenage Brain

An in-depth look at concussions in high school football

By Jonah Lehrer on January 10, 2012

 

Charles LeClaire/US Presswire

If the sport of football ever dies, it will die from the outside in. It won't be undone by a labor lockout or a broken business model — football owners know how to make money. Instead, the death will start with those furthest from the paychecks, the unpaid high school athletes playing on Friday nights. It will begin with nervous parents reading about brain trauma, with doctors warning about the physics of soft tissue smashing into hard bone, with coaches forced to bench stars for an entire season because of a single concussion. The stadiums will still be full on Sunday, the professionals will still play, the profits will continue. But the sport will be sick.

The sickness will be rooted in football's tragic flaw, which is that it inflicts concussions on its players with devastating frequency. Although estimates vary, several studies suggest that up to 15 percent of football players suffer a mild traumatic brain injury during the season. (The odds are significantly worse for student athletes — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 2 million brain injuries are suffered by teenage players every year.) In fact, the chances of getting a concussion while playing high school football are approximately three times higher than the second most dangerous sport, which is girls' soccer. While such head injuries have long been ignored — until recently, players were resuscitated with smelling salts so they could re-enter the game — it's now clear that these blows have lasting consequences
.
The consequences appear to be particularly severe for the adolescent brain. According to a study published last year in Neurosurgery, high school football players who suffered two or more concussions reported mental problems at much higher rates, including headaches, dizziness, and sleeping issues. The scientists describe these symptoms as "neural precursors," warning signs that something in the head has gone seriously wrong.

This research builds on previous work documenting the hazards of football for the teenage brain. In 2002, a team of neurologists surveying several hundred high school football players concluded that athletes who had suffered three or more concussions were nearly ten times more likely to exhibit multiple "abnormal" responses to head injury, including loss of consciousness and persistent amnesia. A 2004 study, meanwhile, revealed that football players with multiple concussions were 7.7 times more likely to experience a "major drop in memory performance" and that three months after a concussion they continued to experience "persistent deficits in processing complex visual stimuli." What's most disturbing, perhaps, is that these cognitive deficits have a real-world impact: When compared with similar students without a history of concussions, athletes with two or more brain injuries demonstrate statistically significant lower grade-point averages.

What causes these long-term mental problems? Why are concussions so dangerous? The answer returns us to the mechanics of head trauma. Because a concussion is not a bruise. It is not a sprain. There is no bodily metaphor for what happens when the Jell-O of cortex accelerates into the skull. Although the brain is surrounded by a cushion of cerebrospinal fluid, a severe impact or abrupt change in head speed can push those three pounds of meat straight through the fluid, so that it crashes into the cranium. (The brain has no pain receptors, which means the impact can only be perceived indirectly, as a throbbing headache or loss of consciousness.)

In recent years, it's become clear that the severity of a concussion is only indirectly related to the physical force of the impact. Sometimes, players walk away from savage hits. And sometimes they are felled by incidental contact. While data compiled from the Head Impact Telemetry System, or HITS, captures the extreme physical forces at work during a football game — it's not uncommon for a player to sustain hits equivalent to the impact of a 25 mph car crash — there is no clear threshold for injury. The mind remains a black box; nobody really understands why it breaks.

But we do know what happens once it's broken. In the milliseconds after a concussion, there is a sudden release of neurotransmitters as billions of brain cells turn themselves on at the exact same time. This frenzy of activity leads to a surge of electricity, an unleashing of the charged ions contained within neurons. It's as if the brain is pouring out its power.

The worst part of the concussion, however, is what happens next, as all those cells frantically work to regain their equilibrium. This process takes time, although how long is impossible to predict: sometimes hours, sometimes weeks, sometimes never. (The latest guidelines suggest that most concussed subjects require at least 10 days to recover, with adolescents generally needing a few days more.) While the brain is restoring itself, people suffer from a long list of side effects, which are intended to keep them from thinking too hard. Bright lights are painful; memory is fragile and full of holes; focus is impossible.

The healing also has to be uninterrupted. In the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, the brain remains extremely fragile. Because neurons are still starved for energy, even a minor "secondary impact" can unleash a devastating molecular cascade. All of a sudden, brain cells that seemed to be regaining their balance begin committing suicide. The end result is a massive loss of neurons. Nobody knows why this loss happens. But the loss is permanent.

Teenagers are especially susceptible to these mass cellular suicides. This is largely because their brains are still developing, which means that even a slight loss of cells can alter the trajectory of brain growth. Football concussions are also most likely to affect the parts of the brain, such as the frontal lobes, that are undergoing the most intense development. (The frontal lobes are responsible for many higher cognitive functions, such as self-control and abstract reasoning. The immaturity of these areas helps explain the immaturity of teenagers.)

In recent years, neuroscientists have documented the effect of these blows over time. The worst possible outcome is a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.¹ Although CTE is often clinically indistinguishable from Alzheimer's — patients suffer from memory loss, mood disorders, and depression — this degenerative illness has a very different cause. CTE is a disease of violence. It is what happens when the brain is smashed into the skull again and again.

How common is CTE among former football players? Nobody knows. At the moment, CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem, after the cortex is dissected. However, there is disturbing evidence that CTE is occurring among players at rates many times higher than normal. For instance, a 2009 study commissioned by the NFL found that former players between the ages of 30 and 49 were being diagnosed with severe memory-related diseases at approximately nineteen times the rate of the general population.

Another disturbing clue comes from the initial results of an autopsy analysis led by Ann McKee at Boston University. Over the last five years, she has autopsied the brains of fifteen former players who suffered from various mental conditions, including memory loss and depression. Fourteen of these players had CTE.

Although McKee has only studied a single teenage brain, she found that brain damage was already detectable, with the multiple-concussed 18-year-old football player showing irreversible signs of CTE in parts of the frontal cortex. According to McKee, this is the earliest evidence of CTE ever recorded.

Needless to say, this disturbing data has not dissuaded anyone from playing in the NFL: The tremendous rewards offered to professional athletes help compensate for the potential risk. We understand why they play on Sunday.

But this same calculus doesn't apply to high school athletes, that pipeline of future talent. Although these teenagers are suffering concussions at higher rates and with worse consequences — the head trauma of football targets the most vulnerable areas of the developing brain — the overwhelming majority of these kids will never play the sport competitively again. They are getting paid nothing and yet they are paying the highest cost.

BU Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy

Can the Sport Be Saved?

Mater Dei High School is a football powerhouse, with two national championships and nine California state titles. Set amid the suburban grid of Orange County, the school has drawn talented recruits for decades, including two Heisman trophy winners. (In 2008, Sports Illustrated ranked Mater Dei as the second best high school athletic program in the country.) All this success has generated a loyal fan base: It's not unusual for Mater Dei football games to draw 25,000 fans on a Friday night. The school is regularly forced to rent out Angels stadium.²

Because of its national reputation — and extremely well-funded athletic department — Mater Dei has been on the leading edge of concussion prevention and treatment for high school football players. The coaches are vigilant; the equipment is top of the line; the latest medical recommendations are exactingly followed.

And yet, even when a football program does everything right, it's still not clear if it's enough. This uncertainty haunts the Mater Dei coaching staff, who struggle on a daily basis to effectively manage the risk of concussions among their players. The new research on concussions has allowed them to prevent many of the worst injuries, but it has also made them increasingly aware of the ubiquity of injury. They know better than anyone that if an elite program like Mater Dei can't solve the problem of head trauma, it seems unlikely the problem can be solved. The sport may simply be too dangerous for teenagers.

The first thing you learn when you ask high school football coaches about concussions is that the single biggest challenge is honest reporting. Although more than 60,000 concussions are diagnosed among precollegiate players every year, it's estimated that the true incidence is approximately 50 percent higher. "These kids want to fight through it," says Mike Fernandez, the full-time trainer for the Mater Dei football team. (Fernandez previously worked as a trainer for the U.S. Track & Field team.) "They want to be brave for their friends. They also want to stay in the game."

The Mater Dei coaches deal with the problem of underreporting by insisting that players monitor each other and, if necessary, tell the staff when they suspect a teammate has suffered a concussion. "I'm not going to be able to see every hit," Fernandez says. "It's a crowded field with lots of contact. That's why we make it clear that monitoring concussions is the responsibility of the entire team. If a buddy is out of it and you don't tell us, then that's on you." Although the "team responsibility" approach hasn't eliminated underreporting, it has reduced it. According to the Mater Dei staff, the varsity team averages three to four concussions a month; the JV squad a few more.

Once a concussion is diagnosed, the team has an elaborate protocol to ensure proper treatment amid the chaos of the game. The medical staff on the sideline immediately performs a quick assessment using the second version of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT), which consists of a checklist for a wide variety of symptoms. Players are asked, for instance, if they feel "as if they are in a fog," and whether they know what year it is. They are told to balance on one foot and repeat a random list of numbers backward. The protocol takes about ten minutes and provides a rough assessment of concussion severity. "Once you've seen a few concussions, you know pretty quickly when it happens," Fernandez says. "You can see it in their unfocused eyes. When they come to, their first question is usually: 'When can I go back in?' That's why we take away their helmet. They need to know that their night is over."

The next day, the player is assessed using the imPACT method, a tool invented by the psychologist Mark Lovell and neurosurgeon Joseph Maroon in the early 1990s. (The imPACT method is currently used by every team in the NHL and most teams in the NFL. Lovell and Maroon originally developed the test for the Steelers.) The concussed subject is set in front a computer and, for the next twenty minutes, run through a battery of cognitive tests. Because every player is also assessed before the start of the season — this is the baseline metric — the medical staff is able to measure the decline in performance triggered by the injury. (It's not unusual for scores to fall by 40 or 50 percent in the days after a concussion.) In many instances, the decline is dramatic enough that the medical staff will inform a player's teachers about the injury. "We tell the teaching staff what to expect," Fernandez says. "[Concussed players] probably aren't going to ace their math tests."

The imPACT test also allows the Mater Dei coaches to estimate when a player is ready to return to "contact status." According to Fernandez, the minimum a concussed player is going to be out is one week, even if their imPACT scores return to normal.
Unfortunately, not every high school football program is as strict about secondary impacts as Mater Dei. According to a 2009 survey of 1,308 concussion incidents reported by school trainers, more than 40 percent of athletes return to the field too quickly. What's worse, the most severe concussions are often ignored: The same survey found that 16 percent of football players who lost consciousness after being hit returned to the field the very same day.

While Mater Dei has radically altered its response to concussions — "I look back and I can't believe the way it used to be," Fernandez says — the school is increasingly focused on concussion prevention, if only because there is little to do in the aftermath of a brain injury but wait. "I think there used to be an attitude that concussions were an inevitable part of football, like ankle sprains," Fernandez says. "And maybe they are. But we still need to do everything possible to keep them from happening."

This drive to prevent brain injuries has dramatically reshaped football at Mater Dei. The first thing that changed was practice. There's a scene in the pilot of Friday Night Lights in which a hungover Tim Riggins is battered relentlessly during warmups, repeatedly exposed to helmet-on-helmet collisions. That would never happen now.

"Heck, we don't even wear pads in the summer anymore," says Bruce Rollinson, the head football coach at Mater Dei. Rollinson looks like a coach from central casting — his skin is leathered from afternoons on the field and his thick, wiry mustache has gone white. Because he's been coaching at Mater Dei for the last 22 years — and was a player at the school in the 1960s — Rollinson has personally witnessed the ways in which the specter of concussions has changed the high school game. "Without a doubt, practice has gotten a lot less physical," he says. "More soft helmets, less tackling. You can see these boys wanna go at it, but we tell them to save it for the game." The only downside of this approach is that the players get less experience learning how to tackle, which means they are more likely to tackle the wrong way. "It's not an ideal solution," Rollinson admits. "But what else can we do? The doctors tell us there have to be fewer hits."³

The Helmet Paradox

When people talk about concussions in football, it doesn't take long before they start talking about helmets. There is an unmistakable optimism to such conversations, a persistent hope that technology will somehow save the sport. Nobody knows what this technology will be — a harder plastic cap, a softer foam, a better chin strap — but everybody knows what it will do: keep the brain from slamming into its shell. The violence will continue, but the carnage will stop, because players will finally be protected from head trauma.

This faith is rooted in history. In the 1960s, the sport of football faced a similar crisis, as dozens of high school players were dying every year of skull fractures. These deaths led to the formation of NOCSAE, an agency in charge of establishing guidelines for athletic equipment. In 1973, NOCSAE issued their first football helmet requirements, insisting that every helmet had to buffer the skull from the impact of a 60-inch free fall. The standard worked, helping to reduce head-injury fatalities in high school football by 74 percent.

But here's the bad news: These old regulations provide scant protection against concussions. While a hard plastic helmet lined with cushioning can protect the skull from fracturing, a concussion occurs on the inside of the head, when the brain quickly decelerates and impacts bone. This means that helmet designers face an inevitable tradeoff: If the head isn't shielded from the strongest physical impacts — and this is best done with soft, pliable materials — then it can break and bleed. But the very act of protecting players from those severe collisions means that the head will bounce around the cushioned helmet, thus allowing the brain to move within its bony cage. The worst impact will be internal.

The compromises of helmet design help explain why there will be no quick technological fix for football concussions. Last October, Jeffrey Kutcher, chairman of the American Academy of Neurology's sports section, told a committee of United States senators that all of the current concussion-prevention products being sold were largely useless. "I wish there was such a product [that could prevent concussions] on the market," he said. "The simple truth is that no current helmet, mouth guard, headband, or other piece of equipment can significantly prevent concussions from occurring … It is extremely unlikely that helmets can prevent concussions the way they prevent skull fractures." He went on to criticize numerous claims by helmet manufacturers suggesting otherwise, noting that even Riddell's specialized anti-concussion helmet has only been shown to reduce the rate of concussions by 2.6 percent.

While a hard plastic helmet lined with cushioning can protect the skull from fracturing, a concussion occurs on the inside of the head, when the brain quickly decelerates and impacts bone.

Coach Rollinson echoes the skepticism. "Every year, we get more and more parents showing up with some fancy helmet and telling us that this is the one their kid has to use," he says. "I'm sure they spent a lot of money on that helmet. I know it makes them feel better. So we always say, sure, your kid can use that helmet, but we have to do the fitting. And you know what happens? The helmet doesn't fit. They spend a thousand dollars on it because the manufacturer makes some crazy claim, but it's way too big. And then when you fit it properly, the kid always says it's too tight, that it's not comfortable anymore. But that's the way it needs to be."

This is a recurring theme among the coaches and trainers at Mater Dei. According to the football staff, the most important helmet factor has little to do with the helmet itself. Instead, it has to do with the way the helmet fits the head. In theory, this is an easy problem to solve: Every NOCSAE-approved helmet is fully adjustable. Teenagers, however, make the fitting process surprisingly difficult. "Most of the time, the problem is forgetfulness," says Fernandez. "That's why we are always reminding the players to check air levels.⁴ We tell them that before every single game. But sometimes they leave it loose on purpose, just because it can get hot and sticky in there."

Rollinson tells a story about a former running back on his team that illustrates the problem. "This kid was real bright, a really good player," he says. "And he gets whacked during a game. Just laid out. So I run out on the field and I see those glazed eyes. I know immediately what happened. And then I go to help him out of his helmet and as we take it off I see this sock fall out. At first, I'm totally confused. Where the hell did that sock come from? Well, it turns out the kid had removed the front cushion from his helmet and replaced it with a tube sock because he thought the cushion was giving him pimples. Can you believe that? He took out the thing that was protecting his brain because of pimples."

But even if a better helmet were technically possible, and even if the high school players were forced to use it properly, it's still unclear whether it would significantly reduce the risk of concussions. That's because people typically react to improved safety gear by increasing the riskiness of their behavior, a peculiar phenomenon known as the risk compensation effect.
Consider the long-term impact of antilock brakes. While the technology should make cars much safer to drive — the computerized system automatically controls the speed of each tire, helping to prevent uncontrolled skids — it has not resulted in any measurable improvement in road safety.
Why not? Numerous studies have demonstrated that drivers with antilock braking systems drive faster and brake later. A similar pattern has been observed for ski helmets — skiers wearing the protective gear ride more difficult courses, which is why ski deaths have not fallen — and skydiving equipment, which has become much more reliable without reducing fatalities. (Divers now open the parachute closer to the ground.) The frustrating lesson of the risk compensation effect is simple: When people feel safer, they take more chances. As a result, the total level of safety remains constant.
There is already suggestive evidence that the risk compensation effect applies to football. Despite tremendous improvements in football gear and helmet technology, the rate of concussions among high school athletes has not significantly decreased in recent decades. There are many factors behind this lack of improvement, but the most important variable is the dramatic increase in both the size and speed of players. "I've seen these changes firsthand," Rollinson says. "The players I'm coaching now have muscles that you almost never saw fifteen years ago. They work out more, they drink their protein shakes, they know how to bulk up. This also means that these kids are dishing out some very big hits."

The coach continues: "Look, this is always going to be a rough sport. I played this game for a long time and I played it when nobody worried about head injuries. I know it can hurt. Now I'm 62 and I'm still hurting. The game sticks with you like that. Sometimes, when I can't remember where my keys are, I wonder if I can't remember because of the way I played. I don't want these kids to be thinking the same thoughts when they're my age."
Rollinson then leans forward in his chair, as if he's about to tell me a secret. "Look, most of my players aren't going to play ball for a living," he says. "I know they don't want to hear that, but it's the truth. So there's really no reason they should risk messing up their brain."
If the sport of football ever dies, it will die from the outside in. The only question now is whether the death has begun.
Jonah Lehrer is a contributing editor at Wired and the author of How We Decide.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7443714/jonah-lehrer-concussions-adolescents-future-football

---

Previously from Jonah Lehrer:
The Physics of Grass, Clay, and Cement

 

 

 

• 

  College Football, Week 9: You Wanna Live Forever?

• 

  Dr. Phil's Unlikely College Football Career

• 

  Career Arc: Ridley Scott

• 

  The WWE Midseason Awards

• 

  Jerry's Broken Toy

• 

  How They Built It: The Cardinals

 

1.  

 

Average people with nowhere to go.

Here are some wacked out thoughts for the day.

The last week has been pretty draining. We sold our house, inspections, put an offer and accepted on a new house, the never ending struggles with banks trying to secure financing, on and on. Anyway. I have not posted anything on here because I have been drained. Everyday normal events take its toll on me. Why? Must be part of the big picture.

My wife has been on an endless mission. She is working overtime, coming home packing boxes, taking care of the laundry and many more tasks that are not conducive to my physical capabilities. It sucks to not be able to do that stuff, but she is my Angel from Heaven. I did something right in my life to get to share my life with such a great person. A guy I know posted some rules he lives by and I could not help but share them; When living our lives keep in mind these rules.

1. Have no fear
2. Look for meaning in what you do/say, even if it takes a bit longer.
3. Realize that it is all relative, and not a linear progression. There will always be better days, no matter what.
                                   
 “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon L. Alder

As I said the last week has taken a toll on me and I cannot help but notice that it feels most of my physical symptoms have progressed. When I say progressed, I mean advancing into a decline. I have been writing thank you notes to people that were part of the benefit that was held in August (I know, and I am sorry for the late response). I now have to write in cursive and I can hardly lift the pen up between words. My walking has declined to a mere baby step. It takes me forever to go a short distance. As I take much pride in my "has been" moments, I once could run the 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds, now, I am not sure I can walk 40 yards. Although my physical abilities are declining, my cognitive have not worsened with it. That I am thankful for. I am not whining, just documenting things for awareness.

My neurologist at KU Medical Center gave us strict notes as what to do if my conditions worsens........call immediately! I gave Tammi a little quiz on my progression last week and as we are both aware that I have gradually and steadily declined over the last year. I have felt a rapid progression recently and called them on Friday. Still waiting on the call back. My appointment is in the middle of December and I do not think knowing anything is going to change anything. Whatever, just got to keep on rolling!! I am looking for medical studies to try and get involved with. My problem is, I don't want a placebo. It sounds like I may want to control the study, huh? lol!

I am curious why there are not studies with people that have played at different levels of sports. You know, people that have just played at the youth level, or up to the middle school age level and so on. I think as much emphasis that is being put on the National Football League, the more I think it is just about the research funds. Why don't the researchers try to get the NFL, NBA and other sport leagues pay for the research to start this research ( in depth). If we know where the long term effects are starting, maybe there is a better chance of prevention than what is happening. As the competition increases at each level the chances of getting head trauma is greater.

I talked to a local college football player. probably one of the hardest hitting kids I have seen in a long time, about his hitting. I told him as hard as you hit I know you have seen stars when you hit people? He politely grinned and said no sir, I do not know what you are talking about. I had to laugh and I told him that you wouldn't say anything if you did? He grinned at me again and went back to the camp that he was working with youth. I did tell him to take care of his brain because you don't have a backup. Hopefully the research will advance and there will be hope for these kids if they are ever diagnosed with cognitive difficulties. I hope they never experience it though!!!

How many kids or young men have been incarcerated or committed suicide or have been diagnosed with a mental illness and thrown into a system and forgotten about? I think as this disease is coming to a heightened attention, It is time these people are reevaluated and get second opinions. Decision making, addiction, and many other symptoms are associated with mild head trauma. These are not excuses! It is a disease!  The wrong medications with a wrong diagnosis can mimic different mental illnesses. There are some traits that would be similar to a sociopath. The apathy is the crazy thing along with the lack of empathy. It cannot be helped. The only thing you can do is be aware of these and try to minimize the symptoms. I have lost most of my empathy and I really have to think about how I should feel in certain instances and when people don't understand me, I get angry. Apathy and loss of empathy are vital. It is our conscience and it is not that I do not give a shit, It is just impossible to give a shit! I work hard on this because I am always accused of not showing emotion. Well except anger.

Life is fair and life is good and there are many good people in it!!!

 

FTD Awareness and Football Helmets

I am curious about something that has been on my mind the last couple of months. My sister in-laws cousin died last year at the age of 51. He had a very tragic event take place in his life several years ago and from that point on he progressively worsened until his death. My brother told me he had depression and that is what he died from. I always found that to be odd because I have never heard of anyone dying from depression unless they took their own life. I wonder if he could have had some form of FTD?  I do not know enough about his history to know the circumstances, but depression is a symptom to a lot of diseases that are progressed with stress. FTD or maybe he had a head trauma as well at some point in his life. It is a shame for someone to pass without the dignity of a correct diagnosis. I always forget to ask the questions when I see them, so I thought I would document my thought to bring it up next time I talk to them. Read these stories and see how familiar it is with anyone you know? Not sure if you know anyone, but I shared some of Howard's same symptoms prior to my diagnosis. 

Please read these articles!!!

  http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2011/11/17/brain-ventures-a-businessmans-battle-with-a-rare-neurological-disorder/.

Here is a new article that really explains Howard and the disease through an article the Alzheimer's Association published;

http://earlydementiasupport.blogspot.com/2013/10/alzheimers-assoc-article-on-ftd.html

Howard is a friend of mine and he was misdiagnosed with several disorders before he finally was correctly diagnosed. But not before his life was ultimately destroyed by the misdiagnosis and prescribed medications. Howard is an avid advocate for FTD and administers many support groups via Facebook. The link on the bottom of my page will take you to his blog also.

I just finished watching Sunday Night Football and it reminded me of an article I read regarding football helmets. I am sorry I cannot reference the source, but it talked about the leather helmet being more safe than the current design. I think they were exaggerating some. But my thought is, why is there a hard shell on the outside of a football helmet? When the two solid objects collide, the head and brain are absorbing the impact of the hit. Shouldn't the hard shell be more of an inner layer and have a more pliable material on the outer shell that would absorb a majority of the impact? I saw a show and I think it was 60 Minutes. They were reporting on a new barrier for NASCAR that the University of Nebraska engineering students designed. They explained the details of the design and It was merely putting Styrofoam on the outside of concrete barriers covered to absorb the impacts of the cars and the barrier. Seems like it would work for noggin as well trying to be protected in a sport. Maybe there is already designs for a helmet that I am not aware of, but yesterday was not soon enough for such a transformation!!! I found the piece about the leather helmet;

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/04/old-leather-football-helmets-more-efficient-than-modern-ones-study-says/

And then the testing and design of the barrier wall. This is old technology and now there are less bulky material to absorb the impacts.

http://www.dynalook.com/international-conf-2004/06-1.pdf

Sundays make me lazy and I will start posting referenced articles.

If the National Football League is going to spend millions of dollars to only admit that they are guilty of not forwarding important information regarding concussions, one would think they could come up with a design to protect the health of the guys they will not take liability for!!! That was a long, run on, confusing sentence for a reason. Sometimes the simple resolution is the one that makes the least amount sense. What a complicated  corporate structure we live in!!!

Until we meet again. I will look for that design for the barrier rail design and post the link. There is a lot of links on here to read. I find it very interesting and I hope you do as well.

Does Karma have a G-Spot?

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.
Wayne Dyer

Karma, according to the Urban Dictionary is the belief that all of your actions will have equal repercussions, affecting you. This means that if you do something good something good will happen to you. And if you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. Pretty simple philosophy? My question is.............Does Karma have a G-spot? If so, I would like to find it. I think sometime we get a 2 for 1 reverse split on the karma stock and if we can locate the spot, we might get ahead.

As I have been following politics for so long, I can't help but wonder if it has made me a bitter man? I get so caught up into it that it consumes me. I post and talk about it. I have lost friends over it and for what? To get put on the naughty list at the NSA? I have not made one difference in this world over my political beliefs, but I have in my religious and moral beliefs! Helping other people and living a wholesome life with love and giving. That, I owe to my parents for raising me in a manner in which respect and forgiveness was lived in order to receive it one must give it. Although my actions, thoughts and vocabulary come across as rough or crude, I really do want to make a difference in this world. Leaving a legacy is something everyone should think about. That is like your trademark on life! Would your children be proud to tell your legacy? If I cannot influence anyone regarding my political views, then why should I express them?

Stress is the number one progressor of the FTD disease that I have. Work on something that will make people think.!Make people grow and make them AWARE!! While I can!!! Something that is going to relax me and not stress me the fuck out!! Self induced stress progressing a disease that thrives on stress? Doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that out!! Since I have started this blog, it really has given me the opportunity to organize thoughts and record them. It gives me the chance to reread what I forget that I write. I would hate to be repetitive with stories because I have a lot of them to tell and no time to repeat them. HA!

Shit is getting real here at the Hanika household. The wife sprung a big garage sale on my ass Thursday and said to organize all of my tools to get them sold. "TOOL SALE" She says. This is Saturday and she is making me sit down there and watch strangers walk away with the tools I used to pay for the food I fed my family with for a long time. Each tool has its own story and memory. Jobs that I have worked on and reminiscing of the time I was a productive working man. Now I sit in my wheelchair and people are wanting to give me more money than I am asking for them. I don't want pity, I don't really care just take the shit and leave. The only reason we are selling my tools is because we sold our house so we can move into a single level home that will accommodate future medical concerns. Our new home has less square feet so I understand.

I really enjoyed her (Tammi the wife) uncle coming by last night. Uncle Bobby and his best friend Doug. What a hoot, if you didn't know them you would think they were a couple the way they bicker at each other. Funny! I am glad he loaded up on things that he could use because him and his family have been great support for Tammi and I.

Speaking of support, I saw a lady this week that was at a benefit that was held in my families honor. A very good friend of ours who is also my old boss organized the benefit. But this gal was there and she said can I talk to you? I said yes. We sat down and she showed quite an interest in my health issues as she wanted me to explain it to her. Like my friend Howard Glick says if someone is willing to listen, let's make them aware of this disease. She worked for one of those death factories. You know the one that you go to for the end of your life places? No, not Via Christi, the hospice death machine!! I love Hospice and it has comforted many of my family and friends in there transition period. Anyway, this lady starts telling me of the different stages I am going to be going through and that I am not quite ready for their services...........yet. I am thinking if this gal is trying to give me a sales pitch or what? But, I am at a party having a good time and then she proceeds to tell me she is a nurse. Wow! I am thinking, what a career! A profession where you are always right with the outcome! Not sure, and I didn't want to make a fuss at the party and I don't remember much of all that she said. But, she did leave an impression............as the Grim Reaper!!!

Well it is time to go out and watch my things slowly disappear in the sale. I told Tammi I was going in to warm up as it is 30 something degrees here. Be well all!!

The Passion of the Game

I speak mainly about football when I am writing these because that is my passion. Well, I should say a passion of mine. I am not an expert by any means, but I have researched concussions, CTE, long term effects of concussions, FTD and preventative measures. I pick scholarly articles and other reliable resources when I research this subject. Concussions happen in all sports, basketball, wrestling, soccer, baseball and on and on. Football have more concussions than others due to the nature of the sport. There are many preventative measures that can be taken beside the fact of banning the sport. Which is not an option.

I recently posted an article regarding the research performed with less contact in football. As the rules are changing to protect players from unprotected hits and blocks, the research was conducted for less hitting in practice. The study was of youth league football teams. While one team had a no pad (helmets only) no contact policy, the other had full contact with pads. Through this study, they found that on game day, players hit with as much impact that had no contact practices than that of the team that had full contact practices. Research has also indicated that the repetitive hitting is as detrimental as a full blown concussion.

So, full contact practices that weaken the brain through repetitive hits during the week turns a hard hit into a full blown concussion on Friday night. this concussion is far worse due to that the brain is trying to heal the damage that was created through the week of practice. Second Impact Syndrome. Most players do not live through this one. Although it is a great minority that suffer this, it can be prevented. There are resources available that assist programs to implement these new policies, but people need to get on board. Parents need to demand that coaches and athletic directors and school boards are educated. School boards have no problem screwing a lunch program up for the sake of the kids. I see no reason they would balk on concussion safety.

There are football programs and I am talking about state powerhouses that have went to this type of program. Some national high school powerhouses despise youth football leagues. Heads Up USA Football, has regional trainers that come to your program, train and educate coaches to help safety in the game.



Injuries and accidents are going to happen and to take a proactive step towards preventative unnecessary injuries is a step in the right direction. As the lawyers are now involved in this new revenue stream, it would seem irresponsible to ignore the facts. Judges in these concussion cases are spreading the monetary penalties to the percentage of responsible parties. This includes helmet manufacturers all the way down to the coach.  I can see where in the future, extracurricular activities will be ranked right up there with skydiving for insurance purposes.

This is the picture of the helmet I was issued in college as a "test" helmet for Riddell. If you can notice the lack of padding in the middle of the forehead padding? That is where the knot on my forehead, or as I like to call it, the trophy I wear. Haha!! I did have a facemask, however this picture is only the helmet  obviously. And many friends of mine would question whether I wore a helmet. A kid asked me what kind of helmet I had in 1982. I asked him what he meant and he said was it leather or did they go to plastic by then? He was serious!  What a punk!!!

Have a great day! Life is good!!!! Remember in numbers, our voice can be heard!!! 

How did we get away with it when we were kids? We didn't!

As a kid, I can remember playing outfield (cf) in baseball and a high fly ball coming down and as I rose my glove to catch it, it went right over the top of my glove and smacked me in the forehead. Riding my bike and face planting into a car, house or the pavement. Playing tackle football in the yard and smacking my head against the house. And backyard boxing with my buddies. Those were the days. Not to mention the times I refuse to tell that were self induced head butts. Who would have known? That is just a normal active childhood.

Football from 7th to 9th grades were not that bad, but high school and junior college football, I think is where it took its toll on my brain. Too many concussions to really count. I know 10-15, maybe more. from minor to unable to move and spinning, several times. The fact is nobody really did know back then what the head trauma would eventually do. Shake it off and keep going. That's what we did and that is what kids today try to get away with. Kids that want to play sports, will hide illness to keep playing. That is why it is so important for coaches, parents, and the children be educated about head injuries and the potential ill effects that it has on everyday living.

Yesterday was a good day. I started this blog and wrote my first one and the beginning of this one. Today is much more foggy and I had to force myself to come to the computer. But, that is why I am doing this to do something even when I am not comfortable doing it. It will keep me going. My thoughts are not nearly as organized as yesterday, but I will carry on!!

I had a neurologist tell me you can't have CTE because you did not play football in the NFL. How can someone so educated, be so closed minded and say something so asinine? Ego? Prior to me not being able to walk without the aid of a walker, another neurologist diagnosed me as someone that watches too much television and increased the medication I was taking for pain. He thought maybe it was neck issues. At the minimum, if they want a patient to waste all of their time to fill out their medical history forms, they should READ them!!! These stories are for nothing more than express the importance of second and third opinions. Egos are everywhere when dealing with males. Why? Not sure, but egos sure make a lot of smart men look pretty stupid!!! That is why doctors need to be aware of one of the most common injuries in life......head trauma.

Heads Up USA Football is an incredible organization that educates the fundamentals of the game. Here is the link for more information,; http://usafootball.com/headsup?gclid=CMG7pI-TnroCFUPl7Aod8gEAiw.

I emailed this link to our local youth football program that my son plays in for nothing more than to help and educate the president of the organization. He tells me yeah, I already know about it. Okay, then are your coaches being certified? Yes, I am going to have them go through an online test. Okay, whatever better than nothing. This guy is an ego maniac. He will not take advice from anyone. There is a section on Heads Up website about uniform fitting. My son comes home and tells me his helmet doesn't fit, it is too big. I get a tape measure the circumference of his head 10 times. Guess what he measures a medium every time I measure!! I look at his helmet, and it is a large...........I was pissed. I asked my son how and who sized his helmet? He said this guy (who happens to be a college equipment manager) and he handed it to me to put on and said it looked good. I emailed the video of how to properly size a football helmet!!! Then raised hell about it. My son was not the only one either. Many of the kids had helmet size issues. How dare they take our children's health so lightly!! I don't remember the full conversation, but when I finally caught the president of the football organization, I expressed my thoughts, politely. He said I was a troublemaker and I told him he may want to go to an organization to see how things are done right to learn. He gives me a long line of incompetent bullshit and I just shake my head and move on. There is no dealing with an ego maniac that knows everything.

I am not sure how often I am going to post a blog, but as I keep typing my thoughts, I will keep posting. My thoughts get so scattered that I am trying to stay focused on one issue at a time. Whatever, life is good and ego maniacs piss me off!! Carry on!!

BLOG by Mike Hanika: Long Term Effects of Concussions, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Frontotemporal Dimentia

I am creating this blog to help people understand the long term effects of concussions also known as 1000 different names or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD). They are very complicated diseases and come in many flavors. The dementia part is one of the last symptoms to hit, but until then there are many other cognitive, physical, and unknown symptoms that are relevant to the diagnosis. Stress is a major contributor to the progression of these diseases, so every doctor I have seen has emphasized to reduce it to manage it. As there is no cure for either or all of these, but the key is to slow it down. There are breakthroughs for positive diagnosis for live patients in stead of the brain donor and study post death.


I am part of a Support Group that is on facebook and is administered by Howard G. He is quite a guy that works diligently on many support groups and blogs for awareness of Frontotemporal Degeneration. He has inspired me to start this in hopes I can reach the people he doesn't or a different perspective than he gives. There are millions of people suffering the same symptoms and are going from doctor to doctor to try and figure it out. there are also very few doctors that know what the hell it even is. That is why awareness is so critical in this journey. I think Howard quoted a doctor that said, "If you've seen one case of FTD.....You've seen one case of FTD". Meaning not one case is the same as any other.

 

 

One of the key findings is that people cannot fake neurological damage!!! It shows up on the battery of tests that we go through. However, as much as people that have loved ones that suffer from it, think everything is OK, because the doctor couldn't find anything, think again!!! Concussions will not show up on brain scans unless there is significant damage that swells the brain or brain bleeds. Also, the protein (TAU) that builds up in the brain and causes the damage in the later years, is undetectable as well. This is also true in FTD. These are very similar.

Nothing will be consistent on this blog other than I will be writing it. Your comments are welcome and I will probably take you through a day in my life and how I perceive the world around me. There are good days and bad days and days in between, but one thing you can be sure of is there will not be any bullshit. It will be straight shooting and I will change the names of any examples I may use, GOOD or BAD. I think this is a fun way of venting, educating and most of all occupy some of my time.

As this is my first time blogging I will probably have changes or screw ups. Enjoy the read!!! I know I did not do much of anything on here today, but experiment how it works and think out loud. I will post many links for awareness that I find interesting.

Life is good!