Studies reveal severe implications of head injuries
The ball in mid-air, the receiver has just one goal in mind: catching the football. He sprints downfield, arms outstretched, and reels in the pass.At the same time, a safety follows the ball and prepares to tackle the receiver. In the blink of an eye, he launches himself and the players meet in a head-to-head collision.
Such a hit will not typically dirupt the flow of the game. However, scientists and medical professionals are just beginning to realize that these types of hits may have serious health-related consequences.
“The list of long-term effects of severe head injuries includes personality disorder, post-concussion syndrome (chronic headache and vertigo), dementia, cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression and seizures,” Dr. Mario Nanes, a neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, said.
The long-term effects mentioned above all share a problem that increases their potency.
“To make things worse, there is no treatment for any of these diseases,” Nanes said.
Before the 2009 football season, a group of Purdue engineering professors, athletic trainers and graduate students fitted 23 helmets of football players from Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana with accelerometers. The researchers gave players both the ImPACT test – a computerized cognitive exam that tests memory and concentration – and tests of working memory while their brains were monitored with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The Purdue researchers figured that hits in excess of 80 times the force of gravity (heading a soccer ball produces around 20 Gs) would cause concussions. When they started seeing hits in excess of 100 Gs, the researches were stunned.
This data will play a part in the upcoming NFL labor negotiations that will take place in March. Disagreements over issues such as an 18-game season (which would cause increased risks of severe head injuries) may result in a lockout, which would put an end to any hopes of a full season next year.
