Dead athletes' brains show damage from concussions

[Diabeetus]

Scary but fascinating read on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Scary, but pretty much two-plus-two-equals-four math.... like the possible consequence of opening coffee on your lap.

This story .... I thought it was months old... perhaps I saw something else.

 

[hockeybeat]

Scary but fascinating read on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html

Nowinski was profiled several years ago--I think it was on Real Sports--for his work researching the effect of repeated concussions to Andre Waters' brain.

EDIT: Here's a NYT piece on Nowinski's work:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B06EFD81130F93BA25752C0A9619C8B63

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I've read similar stories from across the pond about soccer players. A lot of retired soccer players now face neurological problems because of heading heavy leather balls in their day. These groups studying these effects should really try to link their studies.

 

[JR]

CBC's Bob McKeown, himself a former CFL player, did an hour long documentary on this subject last fall.

I looked to see if I could find it on the CBC website but couldn't. If I do, I'll post it.

 

[outofplace]

Scary, but pretty much two-plus-two-equals-four math.... like the possible consequence of opening coffee on your lap.

This story .... I thought it was months old... perhaps I saw something else.

You linked a similar story about the research done on the brains of the dead former players. This one has more details and the parts on Johnson. The guy thinks he had over 100 concussions? That is just sick.

 

[AMacIsaac]

"I'd [leave to] go see my kids for maybe 15 minutes," said Johnson. "Then I would go back home and close the curtains, turn the lights off and I'd stay in bed. That was my routine for two years.

"Those were bad days."

These days, the former linebacker is less likely to recount the hundreds of tackles, scores of quarterback sacks or the three Super Bowl rings he earned as a linebacker for the New England Patriots. He is more likely to talk about suffering more than 100 concussions.

"I can definitely point to 2002 when I got back-to-back concussions. That's where the problems started," said Johnson, who retired after those two concussions. "The depression, the sleep disorders and the mental fatigue."

Check, check, and check.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Didn't Belicheat order Johnson back to practice like a day or two after suffering a concussion? That just makes the problem worse. At our school if a kid is concussed, he is out for a week no questions asked and can only come back if he's cleared by a medical doctor and our trainer.

 

[The Granny]

In other news, cows are known to moo.