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A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness; memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, or balance; nausea; blurred vision; dizziness; sleep disturbances, and mood changes. Any of these symptoms may begin immediately, or appear days after the injury. Concussion should be suspected if a person indirectly or directly hits their head and experiences any of the symptoms of concussion. Symptoms of a concussion may be delayed by 1-2 days after the accident. It is not unusual for symptoms to last 2 weeks in adults and 4 weeks in children. Fewer than 10% of sports-related concussions among children are associated with loss of consciousness.
Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. was an American professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a six-time first-team All-Pro, twelve-time Pro Bowl selection, and named to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. He was elected posthumously to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Christopher John Nowinski is an American neuroscientist, author and former professional wrestler. After extensively researching concussions in American football, Nowinski co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, where he is currently the CEO, and co-founded Boston University's CTE Center. As a professional wrestler, he is best known for his tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Chris Harvard and later under his real name.
Health issues in American football comprise a large number of health risks associated with participating in the sport. Injuries are relatively common in American football, due to its nature as a full-contact game. Injuries occur during both practice and games. Several factors can affect the frequency of injuries: epidemiological studies have shown older players can be at a greater risk, while equipment and experienced coaches can reduce the risk of injury. Common injuries include strains, sprains, fractures, dislocations, and concussions. Concussions have become a concern, as they increase the risk of mental illnesses like dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In individual leagues like the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a public injury report is published containing all injured players on a team, their injury and the game-day status of each player.
Post-concussion syndrome (PCS), also known as persisting symptoms after concussion, is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, years after a concussion. PCS is medically classified as a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About 35% of people with concussion experience persistent or prolonged symptoms 3 to 6 months after injury. Prolonged concussion is defined as having concussion symptoms for over four weeks following the first accident in youth and for weeks or months in adults.
Sean Joseph Morey is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Brown Bears. He was selected by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft. Morey also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks.
Alan Schwarz is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and author, formerly at The New York Times, best known for writing more than 100 articles that exposed the National Football League's cover-up of concussions and brought the issue of brain injuries in sports to worldwide attention. His investigative and profile pieces are generally credited with revolutionizing the respect and protocol for concussions in youth and professional athletics. Schwarz's work was profiled in The New Yorker and several films, including the Will Smith movie "Concussion" and the documentaries "Head Games" and PBS Frontline's "League of Denial". The Columbia Journalism Review featured him on the cover of its 2011 Art of Great Reporting issue and wrote of his concussion work, "He put the issue on the agenda of lawmakers, sports leagues, and the media at large — and helped create a new debate about risk and responsibility in sports." The impact of the series was described by Hall of Fame sports writer Murray Chass as "the most remarkable feat in sports journalism history."
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse over time and can result in dementia.
Second-impact syndrome (SIS) occurs when the brain swells rapidly, and catastrophically, after a person has a second concussion before symptoms from an earlier one have subsided. This second blow may occur minutes, days, or weeks after an initial concussion, and even the mildest grade of concussion can lead to second impact syndrome. The condition is often fatal, and almost everyone who is not killed is severely disabled. The cause of SIS is uncertain, but it is thought that the brain's arterioles lose their ability to regulate their diameter, and therefore lose control over cerebral blood flow, causing massive cerebral edema.
The fencing response is an unnatural position of the arms following a concussion. Immediately after moderate forces have been applied to the brainstem, the forearms are held flexed or extended for a period lasting up to several seconds after the impact. The fencing response is often observed during athletic competition involving contact, such as combat sports, American football, Ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football. It is used as an overt indicator of injury force magnitude and midbrain localization to aid in injury identification and classification for events including on-field and/or bystander observations of sports-related head injuries.
Riddell Revolution helmets are a line of football helmets. The helmet brand is the most popular model in use in the National Football League, used by 83% of the players in the league as of 2008. The most recent model in the Revolution line is the Speedflex helmet. This model can come equipped with Riddell's HITS Technology, which consists of a sensor in the helmet that relays data regarding the severity of each hit to a computer system. The Speedflex also features a built-in hinged panel located on the front near the top. In head-on collisions, this panel gives by up to a quarter of an inch, helping to absorb the impact.
Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a Nigerian and American physician, forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players while working at the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh. He later became the chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County, California, and is a professor at the University of California, Davis, department of medical pathology and laboratory medicine. He is currently the President and Medical Director of Bennet Omalu Pathology.
Concussions and play-related head blows in American football have been shown to be the cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has led to player deaths and other debilitating symptoms after retirement, including memory loss, depression, anxiety, headaches, stress, and sleep disturbances.
Michael L. J. Apuzzo is an American academic neurological surgeon, the Edwin M. Todd/Trent H. Wells, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics at the Keck School of Medicine, of the University of Southern California. He is also editor emeritus of the peer-reviewed journals World Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery. He is distinguished adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Yale School of Medicine, distinguished professor of advanced neurosurgery and neuroscience and senior advisor, at the Neurological Institute, Wexner Medical School, The Ohio State University, and adjunct professor of neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery & Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center.
Concussions, a type of mild traumatic brain injury, are a frequent concern for those playing sports, from children and teenagers to professional athletes. Repeated concussions are known to cause neurological disorders, particularly chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which in professional athletes has led to premature retirement, erratic behavior and even suicide. A sports-related concussion is defined as a "complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces". Because concussions cannot be seen on X-rays or CT scans, attempts to prevent concussions have been difficult.
A sports-related traumatic brain injury is a serious accident which may lead to significant morbidity or mortality. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in sports are usually a result of physical contact with another person or stationary object, These sports may include boxing, gridiron football, field/ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, rugby, soccer, wrestling, auto racing, cycling, equestrian, rollerblading, skateboarding, skiing or snowboarding.
League of Denial is a 2013 book, initially broadcast as a documentary film, about traumatic brain injury in the National Football League (NFL), particularly concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The documentary, entitled League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, was produced by Frontline and broadcast on PBS. The book was written by ESPN reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru. The book and film devote significant attention to the story of Mike Webster and his football-related brain injuries, and the pathologist who examined Webster's brain, Bennet Omalu. The film also looks closely at the efforts of researchers led by Ann McKee at Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, where the brains of a number of former NFL athletes have been examined.
Concussion is a 2015 American biographical sports drama film written and directed by Peter Landesman, based on the exposé "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas, published in 2009 by GQ magazine. Set during the 2000s, the film stars Will Smith as Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fights against the National Football League trying to suppress his research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration suffered by professional football players.
Joseph Maroon is an American neurosurgeon, author, and triathlon athlete. He is the professor and vice chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and is the current medical director of WWE. He is particularly known for his work studying concussions and concussion prevention as well as his hypothesis on the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Most documented cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy have occurred in athletes involved in contact sports such as boxing, American football, wrestling, ice hockey, mixed martial arts, rugby and soccer. Other risk factors include being in the military, prior domestic violence, and repeated banging of the head. The exact amount of trauma required for the condition to occur is unknown. Below is a list of notable cases of CTE in sports.
References
- ↑ "NFL picks new co-chairs of updated concussion committee". NFL . Associated Press. March 16, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- 1 2 Fainaru-Wada, Mark; Fainaru, Steve (October 3, 2013). "Head-on collision". ESPN . Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ↑ Ezell, Lauren (October 8, 2013). "Timeline: The NFL's Concussion Crisis: 2007". PBS . Frontline . Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ↑ O'Keefe, Michael (January 6, 2010). "Experts: Former NFL doctor Ira Casson should have head examined on brain disorders issue". Daily News . Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ↑ "NFL Concussion Expert Is Biased, Union Says". Huffington Post . Associated Press. March 18, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2015.