NFL, Players Reach Concussion Deal

Agent_286 · Aug 30, 2013

NFL, Players Reach Concussion Deal

ESPN.com news services | August 29, 2013, 7:46 PM ET
Excerpts:

The NFL has reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims, pay for medical exams and underwrite research.

A federal judge announced the agreement Thursday after months of court-ordered mediation. It came just days before the start of the 2013 season.

One of the principal terms of the settlement is that the agreement "cannot be considered an admission by the NFL of liability, or an admission that plaintiffs' injuries were caused by football."

According to the settlement, $675 million of the $765 million would be used to compensate former players and families of deceased players who have suffered cognitive injury, including the families of players who committed suicide after suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Other money will be used for baseline medical exams, the cost of which will be capped at $75 million. The NFL also will fund research and education at a cost of $10 million.

Players lawyer David Frederick accused the league of concealing studies linking concussions to neurological problems for decades.

read more:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9612138/judge-nfl-players-settle-concussion-suit
......

IMO: We can throw out those football helmets because they are no good; we need a doctors advice on how to invent headgear that will make the game safe from illness developing from too many concussions in the game of football.

How cowardly of the NFL not to take more of a responsibility toward their players that are doomed to become early vegetables because they played professional football.

But it is not only football; it is soccer, with head-butts, it is boxing, with blows to the head; it is baseball, with head injuries; and it is hockey with their injuries. But are sports worth having long-lasting injuries, loss of mental acuity, and early dementia over?

The many millions of dollars the NFL gross at each game for public entertainment, and the many billions of dollars they gross each year, it seems that the NFL could have used some of that money trying to make the game safer.

As it is now it appears to be the American version of Spains bullfights...sure the bull dies...it just takes a professional football player a little longer.

Or are our professional football players sacrificial lambs to the NFL ...one of the robber barons of the 21st Century?

waltky · Sep 11, 2014

Concussion 'breathalyser' test proposed...

Sports concussion 'breathalyser' proposed
10 September 2014 ~ Experts who want tighter regulation of concussion in sport are trialing new medical tests that could provide rapid, pitchside diagnosis.

The "return to play decision" after a head injury is a serious problem that has caused tragedy and controversy. Among the new proposals is a breath test, which successfully detects key chemicals in early laboratory trials. Produced by the damaged brain, these chemicals are known to indicate a brain injury when found in the bloodstream.

Further trials will establish whether the same markers can also be detected in athletes' breath, and whether such a breath test would pick up the kind of brain injuries commonly seen in sports like rugby, football and American football. "These biochemical compounds from the brain can be measured in a number of different fluids - for example, saliva and breath," explained Prof Tony Belli, a neurosurgeon and medical researcher from the University of Birmingham. "At the moment a breathalyser is tuned to detect alcohol - but you can reengineer it to detect other things. And you need to refine the technology at the same time, to detect very small amounts."

The dangers posed by concussion are currently the subject of considerable scrutiny in several sports

If breathalysers could be adapted in this way, Prof Belli said that the tell-tale chemical signature of concussion could potentially be detected within five or 10 minutes of the injury. Prof Belli and his colleague Dr Michael Grey presented their work at the British Science Festival in Birmingham.

Objectivity called for

Currently, different sports use a variety of psychological tests and waiting periods before making a decision to send a player back onto the field. The reliability of these tests is controversial and it has been suggested that players can fudge them or even "sandbag" the results, by deliberately underperforming in the pre-game tests that are used for comparison. Among the tests is a five-minute assessment introduced by the International Rugby Board in 2012, which attracted criticism.

Can heading the ball cause brain trauma in footballers?

Former Ireland full-back and rugby medical adviser Dr Barry O'Driscoll was also speaking on the subject at the British Science Festival. He said: "This was basically the reason I resigned from the International Rugby Board. I'm afraid that five-minute test was unscientific - it didn't prove anything, really." The Birmingham researchers want to bring more science to bear on the situation. They are also anxious to raise awareness of "second concussion syndrome", which they say is not as widely understood in the UK as it is in North America.

Football controversies
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See also:

Blood group 'link to memory loss'
10 September 2014 ~ There may be a link between a rare blood type and memory loss in later life, American research suggests.

People with AB blood, found in 4% of the population, appear more likely to develop thinking and memory problems than those with other blood groups. The study, published in Neurology, builds on previous research showing blood type may influence heart risk. A charity said the best way to keep the brain healthy was a balanced diet, regular exercise and not smoking.

A US team led by Dr Mary Cushman, of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, analysed data from about 30,000 US citizens aged 45 and above. It identified 495 participants who had developed thinking and memory problems, or cognitive impairment, during the three-year study. They were compared to 587 people with no cognitive problems. People with AB blood type made up 6% of the group who developed cognitive impairment, which is higher than the 4% found in the general population.

Can your blood group affect your memory?

The study supported the idea that having a certain blood group, such as O, may give a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, which in turn protected the brain, the researchers said. "Our study looks at blood type and risk of cognitive impairment, but several studies have shown that factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increase the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia," said Dr Cushman. "Blood type is also related to other vascular conditions like stroke, so the findings highlight the connections between vascular issues and brain health. More research is needed to confirm these results."

Commenting on the study, Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said the research did not look at risk of dementia, and it was too early to say whether AB blood group might be linked to a higher risk of the condition. "Current evidence suggests the best ways to keep the brain healthy are a balanced diet, not smoking and regular exercise," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29142830
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waltky · Sep 5, 2015

Musta been a pretty rough pillow fight...

Report: West Point Pillow Fight Causes Concussions
September 05, 2015 | A nighttime pillow fight at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York left 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions according to a report in a leading U.S. newspaper.

The New York Times said Friday the pillow fight marked the end of a "grueling" summer of training for freshman cadets. The paper said the fight is "billed as a harmless way to blow off steam and build class spirit." According to the report, some cadets stuffed the pillow cases with hard objects, thought to be helmets, that "split lips, broke at least one bone, dislocated shoulders and knocked cadets unconscious." The newspaper account said "as the scope of injuries became clear" that "West Point staff members went door to door in the barracks giving quick concussion checks."

What was described as a "brawl" happened on August 20, but West Point did not confirm it to The New York Times until Thursday. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Kasker told The Times that first-year students, also known as plebes, use the annual fight as "a way to build camaraderie after the summer program that prepares them for the rigors of plebe year." Kasker said upperclassmen took measures to prevent injuries, including requiring cadets to wear helmets. He said an investigation about the cause of the injuries in under way. The newspaper reported no cadet has been punished so far.

The New York Times reported one upperclassman wrote on the social media forum Yik Yak that "My plebe was knocked unconscious and immediately began fighting when he came to. I was so proud I could cry." One female first-year student said about the fight and the resulting injuries, "I know it looks weird from the outside, but it really bonds us."

The Times reported the pillow fights have been an annual event at the U.S. Army's publicly funded academy since at least 1897, but reports of injury have only emerged recently. The newspaper reported that in 2012 after a cadet caused injuries by putting a lockbox in a pillowcase, the 2013 pillow fight was canceled.

http://www.voanews.com/content/west-point-pillow-fight/2948992.html
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waltky · Dec 24, 2015

Movie to have an effect on the NFL...

'Concussion' director says changes on horizon for NFL
24 Dec.`15 - The director of football head trauma film "Concussion" says the beloved American sport may already be in the early stages of "a seismic shift" as parents are dissuaded from letting their children play football amid safety concerns.

"Concussion," out in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, stars Will Smith as Nigerian forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who uncovered the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former Pittsburgh football players that died sudden and tragic deaths. The Sony Pictures film, garnering awards buzz especially for Smith's performance, comes at a time where head trauma is a hot button topic in the multi-million dollar NFL industry.

A change could be taking place at a grassroots level, however, as writer-director Peter Landesman said the numbers for Pop Warner football, a children's football league, are "down as much as 35 percent." "Those elite athletes at six, seven years old are not playing football; they're wrestling, they're running, they're playing lacrosse," he said. "Those kids will not show up in the NFL, that number is only going to get bigger. (There's a) seismic change coming for the sport," he added.

The director said the film is meant to give audiences information so that they can make up their own minds about the safety of the sport. "I would never tell another parent or another teenager or adult what to do," he said. "The film embraces what a conflicting problem this is." "Concussion" explores Omalu's perseverance to make his CTE research known to the NFL, but the corporation, portrayed as a faceless, and at times, manipulative Goliath, tries to quash his findings - details that Landesman said he uncovered through his own sources at the organization. "I think that the film is a powerful indictment," he said, adding that "the movie's also an expose" of the NFL's early cover-ups of CTE research.

Sony this week said it will offer all NFL team owners, players and their families free entry to screenings of "Concussion." While the NFL did not respond for comment on the screenings, the organization has previously said regarding the movie, "We welcome any conversation about player health and safety." "I think the NFL is doing everything they can do on this issue," Landesman said. "They have concussion protocols and they let players talk about it. I think the problem is there's a very limited range of things they can actually do."

http://news.yahoo.com/concussion-director-says-changes-horizon-nfl-132523863--nfl.html
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waltky · Feb 11, 2016

Concussion increases suicide risk...

Concussion increases suicide risk
Feb. 8, 2016 - The risk increases for each concussion, researchers found.

Adults who have concussions are at three times greater risk for suicide if the injury is sustained on a weekday and four times greater risk if it happens on the weekend, according to a new study. University of Toronto researchers said the increased risk for suicide also increased with each concussion a person had, and that risk increased regardless of any other demographic factor.

The increased risk for suicide after concussion was present regardless of all demographic factors.

"We know that a concussion can cause lasting changes in the brain that can alter mood, perhaps resulting in behaviour changes including impulsivity," Donald Redelmeier, a researcher and physician at Sunnybrook Research Institute, said in a press release. "It's possible that we're seeing greater suicide risk linked to weekend concussions due to risk-taking associated with recreation or misadventure, whereas weekday injuries may be linked to employment hazards. We may also be seeing an effect of self-blame if the injury event was self-initiated."

For the study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers reviewed medical records for 235,110 concussion patients diagnosed in Ontario between 1992 and 2012. The researchers found 667 suicides during a median follow-up of 9.3 years -- about 31 out of 100,000 people per year, a rate three times higher than in the overall population. "Understanding how a history of concussion raises the risk of suicide, and supporting patients with better screening, treatment and follow-up for recovery may be important steps in preventing these tragic and avoidable deaths," said Redelmeier.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016...ses-suicide-risk/1651454962768/?spt=slh&or=12
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waltky · Mar 31, 2016

New blood test can detect concussion...

Blood Test Detects Concussions
March 30, 2016 - A new blood test has been developed to tell doctors whether someone has had a concussion up to a week after the injury. Head trauma symptoms can often be subtle, and even delayed, especially in children. Treatment in the form of rest is important in helping to heal the brain after injury.

The blood test, developed by physicians at Orlando Health system in Florida, detects a biomarker called glial fibrillary acidic protein or GFAP. GAFP is unique to the brain and nervous system and is released after a concussion. Researchers analyzing the blood of 600 patients found the biomarker was present in those who had sustained a head injury.

Concussion, without rest for a few days, can lead to long-term bouts of dizziness, headaches and insomnia. Memory loss, cognitive difficulties and even anxiety have also been reported in concussion patients who try to resume normal activities, like school or work, too soon.

Concussion is a common injury in contact sports, and a blood test soon after a head injury could help doctors detect the condition that might otherwise go undiagnosed. A study describing the blood test is published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

http://www.voanews.com/content/blood-test-detects-concussions/3261427.html
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Uber Lib · Mar 31, 2016

American pro football is soon to be fading as parents recoil from the bad news coming out and don't allow their small fries to play Pop Warner and such, thus depleting the ranks for good high schoolers, which then affect the colleges, and ultimately the NFL has few top selections that keep them in business. Once upon a time in the classic era the NFL was part of my DNA but I can't watch these cookie cutter players that are so similarly athletic and trained that they all seem identical on the field with no identifying styles and personalities which helped make the old guys so cool. The Rams are back in LA finally but I don't even care now :/

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