Know any health care providers who
2013年8月16日An Ode to Fall, Football and Brain Damage
You’re kind of numb after 50 shots to the head." (Jim Harbaugh, Chicago Bears)
in September 2009, a study commissioned by the N.F.L. reported that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
New York Times August 22, 2010
I interview applicants for my alma mater, Yale University. Parents frequently ask me what is the best way to get their sons accepted, and I answer unequivocally, "be a football star".
It is ironic that in promoting American football, these bastions of intellectual achievement are directly contributing to the largest organizationally supported legal cause of brain damage to the youth of America. Terry Bradshaw jokes aside, this is a real issue, and bears mentions at the start of the football season.
Today’s article in the NYT is about the problem of head trauma in the NFL, and the statistics are pretty grim. Former NFL players have a Alzheimer’s rate are increased 19 fold, as well as depression, cognitive loss and behavior changes. These statistics understate the problem dramatically.
Any head trauma, even if not enough to cause a concussion, can still result in irreversible damage to the brain. Minimal trauma is difficult to measure but accumulates over time. Occasionally actual lesions are seen in MRI’s of the brain, and I saw quite a few in my career as a Radiologist. The continued head blows, intrinsic to the game of football, can have a very negative long term cumulative impact.
More important than the several hundred NFL players are the 1.2 million high school players in America. There are an estimated 55,000 concussions yearly, but these represent only the tip of the iceberg. I played high school football, and had my "bell rung" many times(perhaps that explains things) There are millions of head blows every year, and every one causes some damage to cells of the brain. Developing brains of younger boys are more sensitive, and the damage may actually be more severe than that seen in the NFL. Rules designed to remove players with concussions may only make matters worse by discouraging motivated kids from reporting injuries. Better helmets may simply encourage more use of head blows, as hitting with the helmet hurts less.www.nflofficialtexans.com/Authentic-Jj-Watt-Jersey
This is not just an idle rant, the impact on America’s health care costs may be significant. Those head blows may result in thousands of more cases of Alzheimer’s every year, as well as increased rates of depression and other mental illness. Less evident brain damage could result in decreased intelligence, anti-social behavior and poor impulse control that only manifests on psychometric testing or crime statistics.
I enjoy watching football, and have no desire to see the game gone, but I wonder if a simple study doing MRI’s and psychometrics on one high school team before and after the year, would end the fall ritual of head blows delivered to the youth of America.
Maybe if we had saved those millions of IQ points lost playing football, we could have avoided zero-down mortgages, "Jersey Shore", and the passage of Obamacare.
Like Ancient Rome, we are still killing our gladiators, just a little bit more insidiously.
http://www.nytimes.com/info/concussions-in-football/ - http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_15854878
Know any health care providers who are concerned about shrinking reimbursements? Help them find winning Internet solutions for the modern payer-provider conflict at Vericle - Medical Billing Network and Practice Management Software ( http://www.medical-billing-systems.com ). For more articles by Doug Cassel, MD, inventor, and author, visit Vericle’s Blog ( http://www.medical-billing-blog.com ).
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?An-Ode-to-Fall,-Football-and-Brain-Damage&id=5351517 Russell Wilson Jersey
You’re kind of numb after 50 shots to the head." (Jim Harbaugh, Chicago Bears)
in September 2009, a study commissioned by the N.F.L. reported that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
New York Times August 22, 2010
I interview applicants for my alma mater, Yale University. Parents frequently ask me what is the best way to get their sons accepted, and I answer unequivocally, "be a football star".
It is ironic that in promoting American football, these bastions of intellectual achievement are directly contributing to the largest organizationally supported legal cause of brain damage to the youth of America. Terry Bradshaw jokes aside, this is a real issue, and bears mentions at the start of the football season.
Today’s article in the NYT is about the problem of head trauma in the NFL, and the statistics are pretty grim. Former NFL players have a Alzheimer’s rate are increased 19 fold, as well as depression, cognitive loss and behavior changes. These statistics understate the problem dramatically.
Any head trauma, even if not enough to cause a concussion, can still result in irreversible damage to the brain. Minimal trauma is difficult to measure but accumulates over time. Occasionally actual lesions are seen in MRI’s of the brain, and I saw quite a few in my career as a Radiologist. The continued head blows, intrinsic to the game of football, can have a very negative long term cumulative impact.
More important than the several hundred NFL players are the 1.2 million high school players in America. There are an estimated 55,000 concussions yearly, but these represent only the tip of the iceberg. I played high school football, and had my "bell rung" many times(perhaps that explains things) There are millions of head blows every year, and every one causes some damage to cells of the brain. Developing brains of younger boys are more sensitive, and the damage may actually be more severe than that seen in the NFL. Rules designed to remove players with concussions may only make matters worse by discouraging motivated kids from reporting injuries. Better helmets may simply encourage more use of head blows, as hitting with the helmet hurts less.www.nflofficialtexans.com/Authentic-Jj-Watt-Jersey
This is not just an idle rant, the impact on America’s health care costs may be significant. Those head blows may result in thousands of more cases of Alzheimer’s every year, as well as increased rates of depression and other mental illness. Less evident brain damage could result in decreased intelligence, anti-social behavior and poor impulse control that only manifests on psychometric testing or crime statistics.
I enjoy watching football, and have no desire to see the game gone, but I wonder if a simple study doing MRI’s and psychometrics on one high school team before and after the year, would end the fall ritual of head blows delivered to the youth of America.
Maybe if we had saved those millions of IQ points lost playing football, we could have avoided zero-down mortgages, "Jersey Shore", and the passage of Obamacare.
Like Ancient Rome, we are still killing our gladiators, just a little bit more insidiously.
http://www.nytimes.com/info/concussions-in-football/ - http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_15854878
Know any health care providers who are concerned about shrinking reimbursements? Help them find winning Internet solutions for the modern payer-provider conflict at Vericle - Medical Billing Network and Practice Management Software ( http://www.medical-billing-systems.com ). For more articles by Doug Cassel, MD, inventor, and author, visit Vericle’s Blog ( http://www.medical-billing-blog.com ).
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?An-Ode-to-Fall,-Football-and-Brain-Damage&id=5351517 Russell Wilson Jersey
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