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`I recently witnessed a friend slide for a catch in a flag football game, then flop backwards, hitting her head on the frozen ground.
After being helped to a sitting position, and unaware of her surroundings, she was taken to the local hospital and diagnosed with a severe concussion.
Many of us would say – “no big deal”- she was being aggressive and playing to her full potential. This is a line so often heard in athletic settings.
More often in males than females, the athletic demonstration, which often results in this form of “brain damage”, is briefly treated and ignored. New research, which should be kept in mind the next time you see your favorite athletic-superstar take the field, suggests these concussions have serious long term repercussions.
As a former New England Patriots linebacker, Ted Johnson won three Super Bowl rings. Unfortunately, he will never tell his grandchildren these memories because of the brain trauma he suffered while playing.
At age 38, Johnson has already been diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. “For three years, I went to doctors and got no answers,” Johnson told CNN in January 2009. “One told me, ‘You’ve reached a new medical threshold.’ What are you supposed to do with that news?”
Recent research has linked Johnson’s multiple concussions (866 tackles in 10 seasons) with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, which doctors have titled “post-concussion syndrome.”
Depression issues, sleep disorders, memory loss and mental fatigue are just a few of the symptoms. Researchers have not come up with a precise number of concussions which trigger these symptoms.
This needs addressing not only by the NHL, but also by athletic programs at the high school level on up!
As an athlete I find myself torn. On the field all of us, no matter the sport, are praised for “going hard”, giving all we have and literally injuring ourselves for the win.
As a part of a competitive team. It is so easy to forget one’s own health and safety for a team. Whether it is a surge of anger from a game going poorly, bad weather elements or the adrenaline rush of superb play, in the “moment” athletes continuously sacrifice themselves for their sport.
By the end of his career in 2005, Ted Johnson said the physical impact from practice and games was causing “two or three a week” and that he was never warned of potential long-term medical problems that would result from this abuse.
It has been predicted Johnson suffered from more than 100 concussions throughout his career. Sports are a huge part of our culture.
We idolize the greats on all levels of play, holding some professional athletes as heroes-of-the-decade.
So many of us can list factoids on famous athletes more readily than poets, writers, politicians, etc. For this reason, our society can not allow athletes to retire and be “mentally gone” by their 50’s. This treatment, I would consider, is unethical care of the players and very close to inhumane.
Just as any employer is responsible for the health and welfare of their employees in the workplace, the same should be for professional sports programs.
The American College of Sports Medicine recently reported that of the 595 players who are on record for sustaining three or more concussions on the football field, 20.2 percent have been diagnosed with depression.
That is three times the rate of players who have not sustained concussions. Recently Boston University medical experts announced a link between chronic traumatic encephalopathy (a degenerative brain disease caused by head trauma) and the premature deaths of six former NFL players since 2002.
This announcement should be embarrassing and eye opening for the NFL. Johnson, who is currently showing symptoms, is very aware what is happening to him as a result of his time in the NFL. Sacred and upset, Johnson has given back to his disease with the ultimate sacrifice: he is donating his brain to science.
To prove to everyone that athletes do care about their own health- he is not the only one!
A few former NFL players, both healthy and ailing, have donated their brain, upon their death, as an independent medical group continues research on a problem the league has ignored for far too long.
How then do we change our societal standards to accommodate this health hazard? I promise that will never happen. As a stadium of 100,000 fans cheer uncontrollably as the defensive lineman runs headfirst into the pileup, stopping the final drive, no one, not coaches, refs players, fans or league officials are going to say “NO! you can’t do that.”