Members of Congress continue to push for stronger restrictions on returning to play after athletic concussions. NFL players have agreed to donate their brains to brain injury researchers to further advance knowledge and treatment. Colleges and high schools are changing the way they handle concussions. A study we reported on last week suggested renaming concussions as mild traumatic brain injuries.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently met for a third time to address the issue of concussions in college and youth football. The first two meetings addressed head injuries in the NFL. Representative Stephen Cohen, D. Tennessee, expressed concern that college football leagues have not done enough to go beyond the NCAA regulations regarding concussions.
Cohen told the Times, ‘Don’t you think that’s an indictment of each of the conferences, that they accept the minimum that the N.C.A.A. mandates? Shouldn’t conferences and schools get together and have some stricter regulations?’ He noted that health care must be taken into consideration to help prevent, properly diagnose, and treat concussions in youth and college sports.
The NFL has promised to assist scientists with the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at the Boston University School of Medicine in studying football-based brain injuries. The Times reported that the NFL promised to give at least $1 million to the center. Dr. Robert Stern, co-director of CSTE said, ‘The only way we will truly understand the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma in football is to study a large group of athletes throughout their lives and then examine their brains following death,’ the article said.
Fortunately, 60 former football players have agreed to donate their brains to CSTE for the sake of brain injury research. Mike Haynes, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Zach Thomas, Kyle Turley and Conrad Dobler are a few of the players who have dedicated their gray matter to research. Scientists at Boston University have previously found correlations between repeated head injuries and long-term brain damage in football players, boxers, and even an NHL hockey player.
References:
Associated Press. (February 1, 2010) ‘More NFL players pledge to donate brain after death for concussion study.’ Retrieved on February 2, 2010 from the Los Angeles Times Web site:http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/wire/sns-ap-fbn-nfl-concussio…
Associated Press. (February 1, 2010) ‘Congressman Chide College Conferences’ Concussion Policies.’ Retrieved on February 2, 2010 from the New York Times Web site:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/sports/football/02concussions.html
Solomon, Jerome. (February 1, 2010) ‘Direct football head injury protection at youth.’ Retrieved on February 2, 2010 from the Chron Web site:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/6846505.html