OT: brain damage in football article

[benb]

There are a lot of other sports with an issue too.

Women's Lacrosse drives me nuts every time I see them. The men wear helmets. Women have different contact rules, and someone thinks helmets aren't sexy. (I bet this came from a man, not a woman deciding this.)

They say the contact rules mean no need to wear helmets.

My wife played Lacrosse through College and had... wait for it... 4 Concussions.

At least one of those concussions she was going to class for a week or more confused with obvious brain injury symptoms.

She totally buys into the whole "Sports are everything" mentality on campus so she brushes this all off. It does make me wonder what happens when we're 70 years old though. She already forgets a LOT more stuff than I do. She can't necessarily do anything but brush it off anyway cause if something is lurking the damage was done a long time ago.

[RFC]

During the symposium I mentioned above, one of the pros described his symptoms and his thoughts of suicide. He was a nine time all pro defensive back. He said that he now works out harder than he did when playing in order to keep the blood flowing through his brain.

In the New Mexico study, the cheerleaders where included because of all of the pyramids and throwing they do resulting in elbows hitting heads. Yes, they also showed brain damage.

[el cheapo]

Watch the movie...Concussion...staring Will Smith. When I was a freshman in high school went out for spring football and soon found out that I was going to get killed by these bigger guys. So just before practice began I pulled all the equipment out of my locker and walked up to the coach and handed it to him. The entire team turned on me yelling insults. Never looked at football the same again. A week later a good friend of mine broke his leg in two places (compound fracture). When he came back to school the following year he told me he wished he would have had the guts to quit. The lessons learned in life.

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by benb

There are a lot of other sports with an issue too.

Women's Lacrosse drives me nuts every time I see them. The men wear helmets. Women have different contact rules, and someone thinks helmets aren't sexy. (I bet this came from a man, not a woman deciding this.)

They say the contact rules mean no need to wear helmets.

My wife played Lacrosse through College and had... wait for it... 4 Concussions.

At least one of those concussions she was going to class for a week or more confused with obvious brain injury symptoms.

She totally buys into the whole "Sports are everything" mentality on campus so she brushes this all off. It does make me wonder what happens when we're 70 years old though. She already forgets a LOT more stuff than I do. She can't necessarily do anything but brush it off anyway cause if something is lurking the damage was done a long time ago.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6094348/

I think Florida FHSAA is the only state requiring helmets HS GLAX. I think Brown was experimenting with helmets last year in practice, but it looks like the women decided to remain traditional.

The study above says wlax is second only to football. (although I find this hard to believe )

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

When I was a freshman in high school went out for spring football and soon found out that I was going to get killed by these bigger guys. So just before practice began I pulled all the equipment out of my locker and walked up to the coach and handed it to him.

I never really made it to tryouts in 8th grade, so no equipment to hand in. I went to practice and decided to quit when we were running through tires and the guy next to me threw up. I had felt okay up until then. I owe that guy. It was really hot. I don't think they even had water, that was considered bad form. At that point, I was one of the larger people there. I never got any bigger though.

[campy man]

Not a big fan of 'Pete' but give some credit for trying a different approach. I have read where a concussion can happen without helmet to helmet contact.

https://www.sbnation.com/2016/9/6/12...ahawks-falcons

https://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...lege-football/


Football has a lot more to offer than just 'big hits'.

[berserk87]

I played football for 14 years, through college. I also played lacrosse and tried my hand at boxing.

I've had a few minor and one major concussion (from boxing). The major one included double vision several days, and it felt like my head was filled with syrup.

I never sought treatment because back in the day we just called it "getting your bell rung". There was no actual treatment that could be done. You just rested.

I was afraid to point out my issues during football because it would mean potentially losing my spot in the playing rotation.

When folks ask "do you have problems now?" due to the concussions, I can't provide an answer. There is no alternate baseline "me" that I can refer to, whose life did not include the head injuries. So not knowing life without the injuries, I don't know how I would have been otherwise.

I have some memory issues here and there, but it doesn't seem uncommon for folks my age to start experiencing these. I've had issues with anger and depression occasionally, but again, many folks without head injuries have these. My pre-concussion baseline was me at about 15 years old. Again, hard to compare how I am at 50 to how my behaviors were at 15.

[benb]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6094348/

I think Florida FHSAA is the only state requiring helmets HS GLAX. I think Brown was experimenting with helmets last year in practice, but it looks like the women decided to remain traditional.

The study above says wlax is second only to football. (although I find this hard to believe )

Everyone think you would be insane to hit in baseball without a helmet.. a Lacrosse ball is at least as hard, gets thrown even harder (stick leverage) and you're in way more chaotic situations where people are waving sticks around.

My wife wasn't bad at Lacrosse, she was an All American.. but she still found a way to get hit in the head or with sticks. Not sure what the mix was, I know it wasn't all one or the other. That was a long time before we met.

[Hawker]

I'm no expert, but I have read several articles that indicate the brain damage can also occur to soccer players who have "headed" the ball quite often. Yikes!

And then there are the women soccer players who believe they have contracted cancer from playing on artificial turf that uses a lot of loose rubber particles obtained from old tires. This seems to affect goalies more than other players due to the amount of time they are on the ground. There are lawsuits but I'm not sure of the final results.

And then there is the Classifieds section here. Some definite brain damage has occurred.

Sorry for the thread drift.