concussions

[greybeard58]

Monica McAlister
"I'd love for more attention on real issues. Concussion. Post playing transition. Women's hockey. Etc."
https://twitter.com/MonicaMcAlister/sta ... 1466300416

[greybeard58]

Women's ice hockey players Josephine Pucci & Bray Ketchum join us to talk concussion in their sport.
Troy Parla: "I caught this randomly. Would like to have heard of long term effects. Great info on prevention/diag/recovery”
https://twitter.com/NYUDocs/status/834743511316516865

[greybeard58]

Zoe Claire
“Will women's hockey stand the test of time without concussion protocol?”
https://twitter.com/hockeytweetbot/stat ... 0124869633

[greybeard58]

Jessica Marie Ballard

Bourne High School Senior Jessica Marie Ballard knows a great deal about struggling and coping; about perseverance and bouncing back from being knocked down, literally.

Ballard across five years of interscholastic athletics suffered four concussions, coming in ice hockey, field hockey and lacrosse.

...Concussions slowed her down. No question. She took longer to complete exams. She studied more for classes. She participated in yoga and took massages to deal with her trip back along the concussion-rebound highway. Stressed but never dispirited.

Ballard as such is a competitor. But she can size up her drawbacks with a smile and touch of humor that incorporates teen-aged reality.

“I guess I’m accident prone,” she said. “Broken ankle. A hurt knee. Just a klutz. When I was following the (concussion) protocol, I got discouraged. I couldn’t finish what I started. I couldn’t do a full day of school. I was frustrated. Long days.

“I can understand some athletes won’t report a concussion,” Ballard said. “They don’t want to go through the process from the diagnosis onward. It takes a few weeks away from competition. The routine can be frustrating. It’s a draining process. But it’s also about the brain healing.”

Ballard could feel herself slowing down. It remains difficult to describe in the aggregate.

But she suffered “bad headaches.” Her vision was strained. She could not concentrate on issues that mattered. Had to leave school early most days. She was emotional. “I cried a lot,” she said.

Concussions never stopped BHS senior
Read more: http://bourne.wickedlocal.com/news/2017 ... bhs-senior

[greybeard58]

Concussion management

"We all sit around and talk and talk about concussion management. Then it's the playoffs, someone suffers an obvious loss of consciousness and is back playing in less than 48 hours."

..,While the hockey rink is a unique workplace, the governing principles, employer duties and rights of its workers transcend the sport. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of workplace safety, the duties of employers and the rights of workers. Whether one is seeking to hoist the Stanley Cup, build a house or facilitate any transaction, it must not be done at the expense of workplace safety.

In The Rink Or At The Office, Workplace Safety Is Always The Priority
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/david-mast ... 10058.html

[greybeard58]

Protect youth from brain injury

"The risks are too great. A 2014 study of Ontario teens who have suffered concussions and other traumatic brain injuries found they are more likely to lead troubled lives marked by suicide, criminal behaviour and bullying."

All provinces must act to protect youth from brain injury: Editorial
Rowan Stringer died because there was no system in place to deal with brain injuries among young athletes. It’s long past time that all provinces acted to protect kids and youth.
Read more: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editori ... orial.html

[greybeard58]

Goalie Stephanie Pascal

"The team’s strong points this year came from veteran goaltender Stephanie Pascal and forward Addi Halladay.

Pascal spent a year on the sidelines due to a serious concussion from a point shot to the mask. During her first season back she’s been a consistent strength for the team in the net. She was ranked ninth in the OUA this year with a save percentage of .924 in the regular season — impressive even without considering she spent 377 days off the ice."

Winter Varsity Sports Power Rankings
Read more: http://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2017- ... -rankings/

[greybeard58]

We can do better. Minnesota ranked 47th out of 51 for High School Sports Safety Policies


Preparing for an emergency should be the top priority for schools to ensure the safety of their athletes. Through the implementation of required policies and procedures, schools can be well prepared in the unfortunate event of a catastrophic injury.

At the Korey Stringer Institute, we have established a series of policies developed from best practice documents related to the top causes of sudden death in high school athletes. These polices are relevant to the best practices developed for the top causes of sudden death in sport. Based off the “Inter-Association Task Force Document Preventing Sudden Death in Secondary School Athletics” document, the policies outlined on this website were evaluated directly from publicly available resources such as state high school associations and legislative websites.

Ranking of states regarding the implementation of evidence-based best practices for preventing and managing the leading causes of sudden death in secondary school athletics.

1 North Carolina 78.75
2 Kentucky 71.13
3 Massachusetts 67.40
4 New Jersey 67.03
5 South Dakota 60.58
6 Missouri 60.00
6 Washington 60.00
8 Hawaii 59.13
8 Wisconsin 59.13
10 Georgia 56.98
11 Arkansas 56.03
12 New York 55.75
13 Mississippi 55.25
14 West Virginia 54.33
15 Oregon 53.59
16 Illinois 53.38
17 Tennessee 52.73
18 Arizona 52.00
19 Texas 50.80
20 District of Columbia 50.55
21 Virginia 49.40
22 Pennsylvania 49.00
23 Florida 48.25
24 New Mexico 48.08
25 Alabama 47.20
26 Maine 47.10
27 Rhode Island 46.73
28 Indiana 46.00
29 Nevada 45.00
30 Utah 44.00
31 Ohio 43.93
32 Delaware 43.73
33 Alaska 43.40
34 Vermont 42.38
35 Louisiana 41.00
36 Maryland 40.63
37 Oklahoma 40.50
38 Connecticut 40.01
39 Idaho 40.00
40 South Carolina 39.80
41 Michigan 38.73
42 North Dakota 38.00
43 Nebraska 37.75
44 New Hampshire 36.00
45 Kansas 35.75
46 Wyoming 35.00
47 Minnesota 33.35
48 Montana 33.25
49 Iowa 33.00
50 California 26.00
51 Colorado 23.00


Links:
State High School Sports Safety Policies
http://ksi.uconn.edu/high-school-state-policies/

Inter-Association Task Force Document Preventing Sudden Death in Secondary School Athletics
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3718357/

The study with these findings is published by the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine
http://ksi.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads ... ersion.pdf

Video of press conference announcing the results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHQ8ra8 ... e=youtu.be

[greybeard58]

Bad Brains: Inside football's concussion crisis | WTOP


http://wtop.com/nfl/2017/08/whats-happe ... #pq=MolY29

[greybeard58]

Former Olympic Coach Katey Stone concussion

Former Olympic Coach Katey Stone
WATCH: Legendary Harvard women's hockey coach Katey Stone on the role coaches play in a team's concussion culture:
#TeamUpSpeakUp
https://mobile.twitter.com/ConcussionLF ... 04/video/1

[greybeard58]

All the terrible things a concussion does to the brain

Watch video at: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-hap ... rts-2017-9

[greybeard58]

Brain Injury Force to host expo on Sept. 11
Kay Johnson 15 hrs ago (0)
brain
The Minnesota Brain Injury Force will conduct a free "Brain Expo" from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11, at Jake's Stadium Pizza, 330 Stadium Road in Mankato.

The evening will begin with a presentation titled "You Received a Brain Injury! What now?" by Sharon Gieseke, director of the Minnesota Brain Injury Force. Next up will be Margo Imdieke Cross, an accessibility specialist at the Minnesota State Council on Disability. She will speak about emergency preparedness for people with disabilities as well as other issues. At 6 p.m. Gieseke will talk about what foods brain injury survivors eat and she will also share recipes.

The event will also feature a silent auction, plus awards will be presented to the 2017 MNBIF volunteers.

Admission is free and the public is welcome. Food will be available for purchase. Registration is recommended by calling 507-228-8161, or visiting www.mnbif.org.

http://www.crowrivermedia.com/big_fish_ ... user-share

[greybeard58]

September is Suicide Prevention Month

"The mortality rates are like a reverse-iceberg -- they're the most awful outcome, but the rates of depression and anxiety are huge in the brain injury population,” Huw Williams, co-director of the centre for clinical neuropsychology research at the University of Exeter who was not involved in the study, told the BBC. "People with head injury need monitoring all the time in case they become suicidal.”

Traumatic brain injury triples risk for early death, study says
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/traumatic- ... death-risk


The “Out of Darkness” walk scheduled for Sept. 23 in Sioux Falls already has drawn interest from more than 400 people on Facebook.

Angela Drake, one of the event’s organizers, lost her daughter to suicide last year. Brittany Corcoran was 17, beloved by classmates and fellow hockey players.

Touched by grief, South Dakota families raise voices on suicide prevention
http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2 ... 619970001/

[greybeard58]

9/12 is Team Up Speak Up Day -- Concussions

Angela Ruggiero wants coaches to know that it's their job to create a positive concussion culture on their teams.
Watch video at: https://twitter.com/ConcussionLF/status ... 4580439041

[goldy313]

I listened to a speaker this summer talking about the alarming increase in deaths to to opiod overdose. An interesting point he made was that for most people their introduction to opiods comes from 1 of 2 places; the dentist after having wisdom teeth pulled or from an injury....usually sports (including "extreme" sports) related. Dentists are far less likely to overprescribe while that isn't true for MD's. Some if the medical records he showed were starteling, getting back in the game sooner rather than fully recouping is a normal treatment method........the same way we used to treat concussions. Chronic opiod use among the healthy many times leads to opiod abuse which generally ends in recovery or a premature death from overdose, suicide, and many other things that shouldn't lead to death of someone in their mid 20's to 40, there is no middle ground, opiod addicts usually don't die in their expected age rangeof 75-82.

One my kids went to the Hazelden by Cooper High School a few years ago, it was an inpatient program for young men, 18 - 28 or so with an opiod addiction. We would visit on Sunday afternoons, as we visited he would point out this person or that person sitting down or walking by, nearly all were athletes, many college and even a pro or two.

At the time it never really dawned on me the connection between sports and opiod abuse, and I had a prime example living under my roof. He was first chronically prescribed oxycodone to help with headaches he had from a concussion he suffered during his junior year, one that continued after a concussion early in his senior season. How much and how long he was on them I never knew, the law prohibited me from being told and the prescriptions were often doled out by a healthcare professional right at school. Once sports ended for him he couldn't get the opiods nearly as easily, he had to buy them on the street. The decreasing supply led to an increase in price, soon Heroin was a cheaper alternative. Luckily he was able to get help and things are at least somewhat better a few years later but it is always a concern now.

[greybeard58]

National Concussion Awareness Day 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nat ... 642e4a1432

[greybeard58]

How painkillers are turning young athletes into heroin addicts

While hard data for heroin use among young athletes are difficult to come by, the anecdotal evidence is abundant and alarming. A seven-month SI investigation found overdose victims in baseball, basketball, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, volleyball and wrestling—from coast to coast.

...Moreover, "sports that involve high levels of contact (e.g., football) tend to socialize youth to view pain, violence and risk as normative features," Veliz said, and these "may influence risky behavior both on and off the playing field. In other words, participants in contact sports learn to view their body as an instrument that can be easily gambled with, even if it would involve permanent damage.”

How painkillers are turning young athletes into heroin addicts
https://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/06/ ... in-addicts

[greybeard58]

12th graders who played ice hockey had “substantially higher” odds of non-medical opioid or heroin use.

A 2013 study at the University of Michigan found “adolescent participants in high-injury sports had 50 percent higher odds of non-medical use of prescription opioids than adolescents who did not participate in these types of sports.” A more recent study found that 12th graders who played ice hockey had “substantially higher” odds of non-medical opioid or heroin use.

Star athlete → injury → opioids → addiction → death
Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/news/star-athl ... 28371.html

[greybeard58]

Goldy,

Thank you for sharing your special story. I hope and pray that your situation keeps on improving. I hope that by you showing the courage to speak out, others will step forward and share their story.

[goldy313]

About all I can say.....and it is hindsight......is be involved in every aspect of your childs recovery from injury. Concussions are tough, the effects can linger and you don't want your kid missing school if at all possible. I did not pay enough attention to his medications and worse let a teenager be in charge of narcotics, powerful ones at that.

The work greybeard58 puts into this topic and the information he provides and cites is well worth a sticky on the main board as there is a lot of pertinent informatio. My hunch is most people don't even know it exists which is a disservice to us all.

[goldy313]

Aaron Hernendez was in jail for the murder of one person, he was accused but not convicted of the murder of two more people. He committed suicide in prison at the age of 27. Hernendez grew up in a two parent household in an upper middle class neighborhood in Connecticut. He played 84 games combined at Florida and in the NFL, yet at 27 his brain showed severe signs of CTE, a disease primarily attributed to former football players and soldiers their 70's. Since CTE, like rabies, can only be determined after death, this finding is starteling and against the prevailing science......flat earth society if you ask me.

This may be the death nail of football, participation numbers have already fallen off a cliff......538 did a statistical analysis showing participation rates, outside of Texas, have a direct corolation to your distance from an SEC school. This won't help.

The lawsuit filed has a very good chance of succeeding, meaning the NFL and University of Florida may be liable and will look to settle. Much like tabacco it will only take one court to rule and it s over.......I think this is the case.

[greybeard58]

The Big Six High-Impact, High-Contact Sports

“If a child plays football, there is a 100 percent risk exposure to brain damage,” he said. “No child under the age of 18 in today’s America should be playing any of the high-impact, high-contact sports, and the big six are football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts, rugby, boxing and wrestling. Let us keep our children healthy and make them play only non-contact sports.”

Dr. Bennet Omalu Says CTE Drove Aaron Hernandez to Violence, Suicide
Read more: http://davepear.com/blog/2017/09/dr-ben ... e-suicide/

[goldy313]

I sent Karl (east) a message saying this topic should be stickied on all forums as the information is both relevent and cited.

My hope is he hasn't noticed the PM, my fear is he is ignoring it.

As a football official I am having a terrible moral conflict about continuing.

[MNHockeyFan]

Interesting feature (video) aired on KSTP on last night's sports segment:

http://kstp.com/medical/ice-hockey-summ ... 060/?cat=5

[greybeard58]

http://www.kare11.com/news/hockey-concu ... /479349675

Another station report, one thought since girls hockey does not allow checking what rules changes will make it safer?