Concussion, depression and the NFL

[jgmacg]

A new study out today links concussion with higher rates of depression among retired NFL players.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/sports/football/31concussions.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Any chance the NFL and the NFLPA institute better follow-up programs for former players?

 

[zagoshe]

Mike Webster is probably the poster child for this

 

[cranberry]

Any chance the NFL and the NFLPA institute better follow-up programs for former players?

The better question is whether the NFL will find ways to make the sport safer for the current and future players. It's a violent, dangerous sport that needs to be thoroughly reviewed from a standpoint of health and safety. The union would be wise to commission a study by an independent body (that won't have the economic conflict). It could review everything from training through game day and make recommendations.

 

[silvershadow1981]

Mike Webster is probably the poster child for this

Along with Andre Waters, who of course committed suicide not too long ago.

 

[Bill Horton]

I know in my own case from taking several shots to the head and suffering multiple concussions as a baseball catcher and rugby player, doctors have told me those injuries have exacerbated my depression and ADD beyond what it would have been at my age.
I can only imagine how much worse it is for football players who take on so many violent collisions over such a long period of time. While people tend to think rugby players play a violent game - and they do - football players wear armor and tend to be bigger, stronger and faster, making them armored missles.
When I was younger we didn't take head injuries seriously because you couldn't rely define them like you can a sprained ankle, a torn ligament or a separated shoulder - things you can see because they swell and they cause you to limp or grow weak in an area. Brains don't swell, limp and grow weak in such an obvious way and my coaches and teammates often dismissed my head injuries as just "part of the game."
I'm thankful when I see doctors, teams and coaches starting to take these things more seriously. It's vital for the long-term health of these men.

 

[The Big Ragu]

A new study out today links concussion with higher rates of depression among retired NFL players.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/sports/football/31concussions.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Any chance the NFL and the NFLPA institute better follow-up programs for former players?

This info has been out there for so long, jgmacg, and the league and the union couldn't have given a ****. For a while, I believe the union was even taking the tact that it needed to be studied better because they didn't want to deal with more claims to their disability fund. It has gotten so much attention in the last year, though, with Ted Johnson and now with Andre Waters dying, that I think they are going to address it--but only because they have to. As the story points out, one of Roger Goodell's new initiatives is to have players have a brainscan done now before they start playing in the NFL so there is a basis for comparison later on. It's a small positive, at least.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Wouldn't a simple thing such as improving the design of the helmets help?

 

[The Big Ragu]

Riddell introduced their "Revolution" helmet 5 or 6 years ago, and I believe all the players wear it now. It really is a huge improvement over what the players were wearing. Research showed that a lot of concussions happen because of upward blows to the jaw and the side of the head, not to the top of the head, which is what a lot of people think causes all concussions. So they made the helmets project out farther on the side, kind of like a race car driver's helmet. The thing is, even the best helmet can't stop a concussion caused by incredibly large, fast men colliding with each other at top speed. It's comes with the contact.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

For some reason I saw a segment on 60 Minutes when I was a kid about how a couple of players had come to start putting what was like a foam wrap around their helmet. Same color and logo and all that as on the helmet and blended in pretty well, but it wrapped around the outside. There was a lineman for the Niners who wore one, and he said while he got a lot of **** from other players, it seemed to help. I guess it turns out it wasn't much of a help either?

 

[93Devil]

Mike Webster is probably the poster child for this

Or Justin Strelzyk

NFL players earn every penny of their salary.

 

[buckweaver]

I seem to recall a compelling article in ESPN The Mag a couple summers ago about the dueling NFL doctors on this issue ...

One was a former Jets team physician who regularly dismissed the medical warnings about concussions in favor of NFL-sanctioned research that essentially kept players on the field.

The other doctor resigned his league-appointed post because the NFL wouldn't pay heed to his much different conclusions about players' tendency toward depression and mental illness as a result of their concussions.

Anybody else read that story?

 

[pseudo]

For some reason I saw a segment on 60 Minutes when I was a kid about how a couple of players had come to start putting what was like a foam wrap around their helmet. Same color and logo and all that as on the helmet and blended in pretty well, but it wrapped around the outside. There was a lineman for the Niners who wore one, and he said while he got a lot of **** from other players, it seemed to help. I guess it turns out it wasn't much of a help either?

Mark Kelso, FS for the Bills in the early 1990s, also went to the ProCap after a couple of concussions. Fans and some teammates used to kid him about it, call him "Gazoo"... but the last time I talked to him, he was doing well.

 

[pseudo]

I seem to recall a compelling article in ESPN The Mag a couple summers ago about the dueling NFL doctors on this issue ...

One was a former Jets team physician who regularly dismissed the medical warnings about concussions in favor of NFL-sanctioned research that essentially kept players on the field.

The other doctor resigned his league-appointed post because the NFL wouldn't pay heed to his much different conclusions about players' tendency toward depression and mental illness as a result of their concussions.

Anybody else read that story?

This one, buck?

ESPN.com: Doctor yes

"THERE'S GOING TO be some controversy about you going back to play."

Elliot Pellman looks Wayne Chrebet in the eye in the fourth quarter of a tight game, Jets vs. Giants on Nov. 2, 2003, at the Meadowlands. A knee to the back of the head knocked Chrebet stone-cold unconscious a quarter earlier, and now the Jets' team doctor is putting the wideout through a series of mental tests. Pellman knows Chrebet has suffered a concussion, but the player is performing adequately on standard memory exercises.

"This is very important for you," the portly physician tells the local hero, as was later reported in the New York Daily News. "This is very important for your career."

Then he asks, "Are you okay?" When Chrebet replies, "I'm fine," Pellman sends him back in.

Pellman has since stepped down as chair of the NFL's concussion committee.

 

[Oz]

Riddell introduced their "Revolution" helmet 5 or 6 years ago, and I believe all the players wear it now. It really is a huge improvement over what the players were wearing.

psuedo beat me to the Kelso post. I can't recall anyone else using that, though.

As for the Revolution helmet, I think it's still an option for players to wear it. Big Ben doesn't wear it; he got knocked out against the Falcons. The NFL ought to make the Revolution mandatory, stating player health.

 

[93Devil]

Doesn't Merrill Hoge also suffer?

I have heard some urban legends about the lights at the WWL when he tapes the shows. I also heard a story once about him hearing the ocean after a hit.

 

[Oz]

Doesn't Merrill Hoge also suffer?

I have heard some urban legends about the lights at the WWL when he tapes the shows. I also heard a story once about him hearing the ocean after a hit.

Yeah, concussions ended his career when he was with the Bears ...

http://www.birf.info/prevent/prev-articles/prev-nfl-cc.html

Former NFL fullback Merril Hoge won $1.55 million from a lawsuit against the Chicago Bears' team doctor following a career-ending concussion in 1994. Hoge claimed the team failed to re-evaluate him for symptoms of post-concussion syndrome or warn him of the danger of returning to play too soon after a major concussion. He suffered another major concussion and never played again.

... I wouldn't be surprised if those urban legends about him are true.

 

[Pancamo]

Real Sports had a segment where the NFL doctor emphatically states there is no correlation.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

HBO has been really on this issue on the program Real Sports. I think you're going to start seeing a lot of former players from the 80s and 90s have serious issues. If it gets ugly enough, you could have an exodus of interest away from the sport.

On a side note, the same thing happened in soccer in England, except instead of hits they studied headers. Older balls tended to pick up a lot of moisture and the weight of the balls ended up causing major brain trauma for many former players at every level of the game.

I do not know if this issue has been resolved.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

What you are going to see is a helluva lot of former NFL'ers developing Alzheimer's.

 

[93Devil]

What you are going to see is a helluva lot of former NFL'ers developing Alzheimer's.

Well hopefully we will have a cure for it soon.

I think it is on the radar as something that may be cureable down the road. Maybe?