Author Archives: GelDefender

A British pediatric neurosurgeon has renewed the concussion conversation in England by publishing an editorial in the British Medical Journal about the dangers inherent in rugby, particularly among youth.

This is hardly the first time that the head injury dialogue has spread to international sports, but the pointed and thoughtful analysis of Dr. Michael Carter of the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children as a doctor and parent have revitalized the debate. Here’s an excerpt:

In UK schools where rugby is played, it mostly begins as a near compulsory activity from the age of 8 years. By 10 years, most players engage in some form of contact competition, increasing the potential for injury. Many players are relatively unskilled; avoidance of injury requires considerable skills that not all children acquire. Squads may contain children of similar age but vastly different physical stature.

Schools, coaches, and parents all contribute to a tribal, gladiatorial culture that encourages excessive aggression, suppresses injury reporting, and encourages players to carry on when injured. It is fascinating how rugby sidesteps many safeguards intended to ensure pupil wellbeing. Schools now require comprehensive risk assessments for seemingly innocuous activities, yet every Saturday teams of children square up against each other in contests that may result in severe injuries to some.

He said that by far rugby yielded the most injuries requiring neurosurgical consultation of any youth sport, and he gave some concrete, practical ways to improve safety. For instance, he called for changes in strength and conditioning training and even match scheduling to prepare children’s bodies better and for more safeguards during the phases of the game where head injuries are most likely, among several other suggestions.

He’s not the first to bring the dangers of head injuries in youth to the attention of the public, but we’d like to commend him for his honest and frank evaluation along with concrete suggestions on how to better the sport. Perhaps, thanks to him, young rugby players will be able to play it safer in the future.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The 2015 NFL Playoffs have begun, and with them a renewed level of intensity has entered the game. And while the high stakes and increase pressure can make the game more exciting for fans and teams alike, they can also cloud the judgment of game-day decision-makers.

This was brought sharply into focus over the weekend, when two Steelers players reentered the game a few short minutes after ugly-looking hits to the head. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and tight end Heath Miller left the field to be evaluated one right after the other with less than five minutes on the clock and the Steelers lagging behind the Ravens.

Less than five minutes of real time after his initial hit, Roethlisberger returned to the field and threw an interception. A short time later, Miller joined him on the field for a last attempt at scoring, only for the tight end to lose a fumble for only the sixth time in his 10 years in the NFL.

Now, did either of these two have concussions? We can’t know. Were they playing at 100% even after the hits and simply made mistakes? That is certainly possible. And coach Mike Tomlin insists that each of them were properly evaluated before returning to play.

However, it seems unlikely that the doctors would have been able to, in that short amount of time, implement the protocols the NFL requires after such hits to the head. Reportedly, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete all the necessary checks, and neither Miller nor Roethlisberger were on the sidelines for even close to that amount of time.

Even if the players and doctors were able to hurriedly complete all the protocols, it would appear that the priority was not with carefully assessing for a possible head injury but rather with clearing Miller and Roethlisberger as quickly as possible to return them to play. The short time they were off the field was not sufficient for any amount of real scrutiny.

Football engenders a passionate, thrilling, and charged atmosphere. The NFL Playoffs magnify that spirit for everyone involved, and that’s not a bad thing. But when those high emotions cause teams to put the game above player safety, it’s time to take a hard look at where that team’s priorities lie.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

As a recent mishap proves, athletes are not the only people at a sporting event who risk head injuries. Spectators should be wary as well.

In an early November game against the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers’ rookie K.J. McDaniels accidentally gave a fan a concussion by powerfully blocking a shot from Greivis Vasquez. The ball was propelled into the stands and hit a woman in the head. When McDaniels heard about her concussion, he reportedly sent her flowers.

Of course, as humorous as these circumstances are, head injuries are never funny. This incident should be a reminder that brain injuries are not just the afflictions of athletes but can happen to anyone. Protect your brains, and if a basketball ever comes flying at your head, duck!

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The concussion litigation that has plagued practically every college and professional sports organization has now reached the high school level. The Illinois High School Association has been sued by a former high school quarterback for allegedly not doing enough to protect former and current players from head injury.

To this point, there has been little legal action taken against governing bodies at the high school level, but Daniel Bukal, former player for Notre Dame College Prep in Chicago, is seeking to use his lawsuit change the way the IHSA handles concussions. He himself sustained a number of concussions while he played (from 1999-2003) and now suffers from migraines and significant memory trouble. He didn’t play at any higher levels.

The suit claims that when Bukal played, no protocols for hits to the head were in place. It also asserts that, while the association has made some improvements in the past several years, the protocols are still deficient. It calls on the IHSA, which oversees 800 high schools, to strengthen its rules about how to deal with head injury and to better monitor concussions, including using mandatory baseline testing.

This could very well spark a trend among other high school athletics bodies. If so, high school sports would be heading for a more head safety guidelines and better equipment soon, as their accountability to parents and players increases.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Head injury has tragically robbed the world of many promising student athletes; in one week in September alone, three high school football players in the US lost their lives due to head trauma. One of them was injured in GelDefender’s own backyard, less than half an hour’s drive from our Raleigh headquarters.

Isaiah Langston, a 17-year-old lineman at Rolesville High School, died five days after being hit in the back of the head during practice on Sept. 24. After the initial injury, he was held out of practice due to headaches for two days before returning to play for a Sept. 26 game. He collapsed during the pre-game warmups, was rushed to the hospital, and died on Sept. 29 of a stroke.

The recently-released state medical examiner’s report listed the cause of death as “head trauma while playing football” and ruled the death an accident. According to the report, his stroke was caused by a clot in a major artery leading to the brain, which, through a medical chain of events, was most likely caused by the blow in practice.

It’s unclear whether he saw and was cleared by a doctor or athletic trainer to return to play (as is required by North Carolina state law for a student-athlete with concussion symptoms). But it’s reasonably clear that there was a mishandling of the head injury and that Langston’s death was the result. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and we hope this tragedy will inspire others to take head injuries seriously and play it safer in the future.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

A former player in the Canadian Football League has donated his brain to research, renewing dialogue about the long-term effects of head injury in professional contact sports.

John Forzani, former Calgary Stampeders offensive lineman, died last week at the age of 67 following a heart attack. His brain will go to the Canadian Sports Concussion Project to help with studies concerning head trauma in CFL players. Forzani had suffered several concussions throughout his six-season career, once even playing with a broken helmet after a hard hit to the head. The results of the study of his brain will made public in a few weeks.

Dr. Charles Tator, the neurosurgeon who heads the fifteen scientists and clinicians associated with the project, has asked more players to donate, saying that they need a total of about 50 brains of CFL players in order to come to definitive conclusions. As of now, they’ve only been able to study six, three of which had suffered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

According to friends, Forzani saw the need for more research about brain injury and CTE and therefore donated his brain in order to help players going forward. If more follow his example, perhaps future generations will be able to play it safer.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Despite the strides the NFL and other sports’ sanctioning bodies have made in recent years, it seems that some head injuries are still brushed off as trifles to be dealt with later.

When Detroit Lions offensive lineman LaAdrian Waddle banged his head on the field late in the game against the New Orleans Saints, he was not taken out of play as is the protocol for hard hits to the head. The team was aware that a concussion was a possibility, but the coaches put him in for one final play instead of having the team doctors evaluate him immediately.

Granted, the play only entailed the snap and quarterback Matthew Stafford’s taking a knee to end the game, so I’ll allow that there was little chance of a second impact. But small allowances like these so soon after the protocol was implemented does not bode well for future handling of head injuries. Similar lines of logic – “just one more play before he comes out” or “the game’s almost over; we’ll check him out then” – could have much more far-reaching consequences in other circumstances. Not only is delaying diagnosis and treatment risky, but it is also downright dangerous to put an injured player back on the field and gamble that he isn’t injured a second time.

So while this particular move seemed low-risk and innocent, it is the top of a slippery and alarming slope. Let’s hope the NFL and its teams don’t continue down it.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Another tragic head injury has the world holding its breath this week as Formula One driver Jules Bianchi remains in “critical but stable” condition after a crash Sunday.

The car the talented French 25-year-old was driving hit a tractor during the Japanese Grand Prix, and he suffered a diffuse axonal injury, a type of brain injury. His family has now arrived at the hospital in Japan where he is being treated, increasing concerns that his prognosis is bleak.

Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as he fights for his life. We wish him a full recovery followed by a long, successful career, even as his condition reminds us of how much is at stake where our heads are concerned.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Another high school football player lost his life this week as a result of an on-field head injury.

Tom Cutinella, a junior at Shoreham-Wading River High School, collided with a player on the opposing team during the third quarter a game on Long Island Wednesday and collapsed. He died in the hospital later that night.

Tom also played lacrosse and was a member of the Natural Helpers program. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and school, and we grieve his loss with them.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

FIFA is expected to change its head injury protocol today, allowing team doctors to stop play for the injured player to be assessed.

The new policy will allow referees to stop games for three minutes for team doctors to check an injured player. The doctor will then have to give authorization before the referee will allow the player back into the game. The doctor, not the player or the coach, will have the final say as to whether he stays in the game. FIFA hopes the new measures will reinforce the role of team doctors, giving them more authority in concussion management.

Following the high-profile mishandlings of concussions at the World Cup, FIFA has been under enormous pressure to regulate how teams respond to head injuries on the field. In response, a proposal for rule changes was to be brought before the executive committee to be confirmed this week. The two-day meeting began yesterday, so the final decision should be announced soon.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g-forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.