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  • Cubs' Ross says concussions were consideration in leaving baseball

    Last night’s historic, 10-inning World Series Game 7 ended with the first Chicago Cubs championship title since 1908. The team’s 8-7 win over the Cleveland Indians is significant in baseball history for many reasons, but for catcher David Ross it also signaled the end of his career.

     

    At 39, he has decided it is time for him to move on, and it’s hard to imagine a better note on which to end. Not only did his team win the World Series, but they won it in a terrific Game 7 during which he hit a home run. He’s reached the top of the mountain.

    But that’s not why he’s leaving the sport. He wants to spend more time with his family, for one thing. But he’s also starting to consider what years of balls to the facemask (including one last night), and more than a few resulting concussions, could cost him.

     

    Ross has described the symptoms of his past concussions, and their effects on his behaviors, as “miserable” and “a nightmare,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He’s also beginning to consider the long-term effects the multiple head injuries could have on him. Given everything he’s experienced and learned, he’s bowing out of the sport.

     

    Ross has had a long career with a successful end, and he has much to be proud of. But as he moves forward, he is making his head a priority, and that’s never a bad call.

     

    *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.

  • Youth players' brains show damage after only one football season

    Youth football players’ brains undergo measurable changes after only one season, even a concussion-free season, a new study published in the journal Radiology has found.

     

    Researchers evaluated 25 boys, ages 8 to 13, both before and after a football season using neuroimaging techniques, and they recorded head impacts during the season with the Head Impact Telemetry System and video cameras.

     

    They players’ head showed healthy function in the white matter of the brain before the season, but, despite not a single concussion symptom being experienced among the group, at the end of the season there were abnormalities in their brains. The severity of the problems was proportionate to the number of sub-concussive hits a player sustained during the season.

     

    Further study would be required to discover how long these changes in the brain will last, how they will affect the players, and whether the effects intensify over years of football. But if a few concussion-free months are enough to harm a player’s brain, coaches and medical personnel should be that much more cautious with young players’ heads going forward.

    *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 single concussion can affect a person's health for life

    A person doesn’t have to suffer seven concussions throughout life to be adversely affected by head injury. Even multiple subconcussive hits aren’t necessary for there to be serious consequences. Sometimes all it takes is one moment to change a child’s brain for years into the future.

     

    New research indicates that a single concussion in youth and teens could adversely affect a person’s mental and physical function far into adulthood. Of course, the chances of long-term issues increase with multiple concussions, but lone concussions are still far more dangerous than most realize.

     

    In a study of 104,000 Swedish head injury victims and their families, researchers found that those who had suffered one concussion before the age of 25, when compared to their siblings and to the nation’s average citizen, were disadvantaged. They were significantly more likely to receive disability payments later in life and to seek mental health care, were much less likely to be high school graduates or college attendees, and had a much higher risk of dying prematurely.

     

    Given the ramifications, don’t wait to worry about head safety until your first concussion gives you a wake-up call. That first concussion may be all it takes to harm you for life.

     

    *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.

  • Troops with concussions more likely to get PTSD, study says

    Concussions could give military members a greater chance of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, a new study concludes.

     

     

    Research on both rats and humans indicates that a head injury damages the part of the brain responsible for controlling fear responses, leaving victims susceptible to PTSD. Mingxiong Huang, a biomedical physicist at the University of California, San Diego, described it as driving a car with the brakes not fully functioning.

     

    According to the findings, service members who have suffered a traumatic brain injury are twice as likely to develop PTSD. The combination of concussions caused by IEDs and trauma suffered in combat causes thousands of cases of the condition in troops.

     

    PTSD causes anxiety, flashbacks, and nightmares and has long been a problem for those who have had traumatic experiences, both military and civilian. Now that the connection between concussions and the disorder has been identified, new treatments can be researched and developed to help PTSD sufferers to heal.

     

    *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.

  • Study says bike helmets reduce risk of serious head injury by 65%

    A new study says that helmets reduce the risks of serious head injury for cyclists by about 65%.

     

    The Australian statisticians who conducted the study of over 64,000 bicycle riders were looking for answers for the critics of Australia’s compulsory helmet use law. The argument against the law – that helmets discourage potential future riders from cycling – pales next such a safety statistics.

     

    If this new study is accurate, then common sense should prevail, not just for Australia but for every cyclist the world over. Heads are too precious a commodity to risk them unnecessarily, and bike helmets are an easy way to protect them against harm. Nearly 70% less chance of serious harm is definitely worth the inconvenience.

     

    *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.

  • Torii Hunter Jr.'s comments about his concussion very concerning

    No matter how far we’ve come in concussions awareness, there’s always far to go still.

     

    Notre Dame’s Torii Hunter Jr. made that clear this week when he casually said of his recent concussion, “It was my first one that I've told them about, or that they've known about.”

     

     

    The implication, of course, is that there have been others but that he never bothered to do anything about them. Furthermore, his words imply that nobody else noticed any of his possible concussions before. The difference in this instance was that he actually lost consciousness on the field, so self-reporting was moot.

     

    That there are still players who ignore concussion symptoms, who speak of getting evaluated and treated for such as though it’s the exception rather than the rule, shows just how far we have to go in concussion awareness. Head injuries are incredibly serious matters, and impressing on players just how serious they are needs to be a priority for every league, team, and parent.

     

    *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.

  • NFLPA sends concussion education video to players

    The NFL Players Association has compiled a concussion education video and sent a copy to every player in the NFL in preparation for the 2016 season.

     

    The NFLPA, along with the American Academy of Neurology, made the video which details the effects of a concussion on the brain, typical symptoms, and the protocol that teams and players must follow in the event of a potential concussion. The responsibility of the player to report his own symptoms or suspicions and the consequences of failing to do so is particularly emphasized.

     

    This initiative, along with the NFL’s plans to penalize the protocol’s non-conformers, will hopefully help in curbing much of the league’s concussion problem. These steps and similar ones in sports organizations throughout the world are important elements in improving concussion prevention, detection, and treatment for 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.

  • Playing through a concussion could double recovery time

    Concussion victims could take twice as long to recover if they continue physical activity after the injury, a new study says.

     

    The study found that the average recovery time in student athletes who played through a concussion (for an average of 19 minutes) was 44 days, whereas those who left play immediately only took an average of 22 days to recover. Tests given both a week and a month after a concussion also showed that continuing play led to impaired mental function.

     

    While most athletes, parents, and coaches know about the long-term dangers of traumatic brain injuries by this point, concussions are still mishandled in many cases. But with this evidence that a mere 20 extra minutes in a game after a concussion could lead to more than 20 extra days benched, perhaps the players will be a little more cautious. If the long-term consequences of ignoring concussions aren’t motivation enough, hopefully the short-term play time loss will be.

     

    *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.

  • Football season's starting, so watch out for your heads!

    The NFL preseason is underway, and eight professional football players are currently in the league’s concussion protocol.

     

    The season hasn’t truly begun, but already these men (and quite a few others who’ve gone through the protocol and been cleared already) have suffered concussions. These are the first of the doubtless scores to come as the year progresses.

     

     

    Football is dangerous, and it’s particularly dangerous to your head. That’s not a secret, but it is worth repeating as a new season is getting started. So whether you’re playing football or another sport this fall, be careful, and be sure to look out for your brain. You only get one.

     

    *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.

  • Is Ellie Downie's perseverance really a success story?

    The first week of the Olympics is over, the second has begun, and the world’s eyes are fixed on Rio and the athletes that have congregated there. One of the defining characteristics of Olympians is their incredible drive to succeed, to win, to power through obstacles.

     

    That drive was never more apparent than when British gymnast Ellie Downie fell hard on her head and neck during her floor routine for the qualification round. Afterward, she got up and tried to continue for a few seconds before conceding that she couldn’t continue, stepping out of bounds and shaking her head with a dazed look on her face.

     

     

    She was helped off and evaluated, but she was supposed to be back in action almost immediately. Her symptoms were heavily indicative of some sort of head injury, and doctors recommended she not to do the two vaults she was due to complete.

     

    But she did anyway. She vaulted twice to help her team qualify, and then she competed again for the team finals.

     

    In most sports and at most levels, such fall would have immediately forced the athlete in question to be evaluated for a concussion, and an athlete who shared Downie’s symptoms would have almost certainly been taken out of competition. But even if the athlete was deemed fit enough to return, the decision would not have been made by the athlete; it would have been made by medical personnel.

     

    The stage doesn’t get any bigger or the pressure more tangible than at the Olympics. Downie has been praised for her determination and spirit, and her perseverance through the injury certainly was a testament to her mettle. Especially when considering the other women on her team counting on her performance to continue to the finals, her actions could be seen as noble.

     

    But should we be treating this as a success story? Downie was very likely concussed, and by now we know how dangerous continuing physical activity with a concussion can be. Even if she was healthy, she made the decision to continue against advice from her coach and medical staff. Is this the something we want the next generation of athletes to aspire to? Ellie Downie’s courage, while admirable, is not the point; the example she is setting for the rest of the world is.

     

    *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.

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