Study Links Concussions To Brain Disease

60 Minutes Looks At Alarming New Research On The Longterm Effects Of Concussions And Head Trauma

(CBS)  You can't separate violence from football - it's part of the thrill of the game. Players know what they're risking when they hit the field, including injuries such as torn ligaments and broken bones. But what about a blow to the brain? According to the Centers for Disease Control, concussions from sports are an epidemic in this country.

As many as three million sports related concussions happen every year.

And new research shows that their effects can be frighteningly long-lasting, even leading to permanent brain damage and the early onset of dementia. While concussions happen in many sports, most happen in football. They can happen to kids, to the pros, and as we saw recently, to one of today's top college players.

Two weeks ago, everything was going right for Tim Tebow, the best college quarterback in the country. His team, the Florida Gators, was coasting to victory and Tebow seemed invincible, until he took a hit.

Tebow suffered a concussion, meaning his brain went slamming into his skull, causing a disruption in normal brain activity. He spent a night at the hospital and wasn't allowed back on the field for 10 days.

Multiple concussions have ended the careers of other star players, including NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers, Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys, and three-time Super Bowl champ linebacker, Ted Johnson from the New England Patriots.

Johnson was such a hard hitter, that in one play he ran into an opponent with so much power, he cracked the other guy's helmet in two.

By Johnson's own estimate, he suffered more than 50 concussions, but kept on playing even though he sometimes couldn't remember the plays and had trouble seeing.

"Lot of times, if I didn't get my vision back before the next snap, I'd have to have another linebacker call the plays. I couldn't see on the sideline. I couldn't see my defensive coordinator signaling in 'cause my vision was still blurred," Johnson told 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon.

But he kept playing, suffering a concussion and getting right back onto the field. Asked why he did that, Johnson said, "Well, I didn't know any better."

"But you weren't that worried about it at the time?" Simon asked.

"I wasn't as worried as maybe I could've been if I knew what the potential risks," Johnson replied.

Much of the information about those risks has come out only recently. The University of North Carolina studied retired NFL players and found a correlation between the number of concussions and the onset of dementia and depression, something Ted Johnson was suffering from when he retired four years ago.

"I was in bed with no contact with anybody, curtains drawn. I would get up, go eat, go back to bed. That was my routine for a long, long time," Johnson said.

Asked how long, Johnson told Simon, "Close to a year and a half."

Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon, who co-authored the University of North Carolina study, treated Johnson and says he believes Johnson is suffering from brain damage.

"A large segment of society thinks that concussions are innocuous and everybody recovers from them, and in life is gonna be merry ever after," Dr. Cantu said.

But Cantu said that notion is not true at all.

"When pro football players collide, how great is the impact?" Simon asked.

"The impacts can be tremendous, because athletes can run almost 20 miles an hour, and their size and their weight would be equivalent to crashing a car into a brick wall going 40, 45 miles an hour," Cantu explained.

Too much of that causes brain damage you can actually see.

Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University School of Medicine, has been working on a brand new area of research on the brain that has provided physiological proof of brain disease in athletes who have suffered concussions.

A brain sample she showed to Simon was from Walter Hilgenberg, a former Minnesota Viking who died last year of Lou Gehrig's disease at age 66.

His wife donated his brain to research because he had so many severe concussions during his career.

"We do have evidence that he did have trauma to his brain," McKee explained.

Dr. McKee says slides, cross-sections of his brain, show that Hilgenberg was suffering from a devastating, degenerative brain disease, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. It was first seen in boxers and can only be diagnosed after death, when the brain is dissected.

[Virgil-1]

I am told the Nazis also did brain studies during WW11.I see it's
still going on.

[krzeaz]

That's a heartbreaker. As popular as football is here in the US, there are many young people who are at risk of head injury.

[alston]

Disposable Heroes, HBO (1985). Football is not a ball game; it's a hitting game. I wish the report dealt with the multitude of other injuries football players at all levels suffer.

[georgevisger]

Dear Larry Jameson;

You are so correct in assessing the fact that NFL players are gladiators on the field, not only for the amusement of the fans, but for the economic benefit of the owners, the NFL and the NFL Players Association (an absolute joke). It is true that the risks are known, and we gladly accepted them as part of the game, what is criminal, is the NFL's complete lack of accountability towards those who have given their all. Go to http://davepear.com/blog/2009/10/study-links-concussions/.

It is time the general public knows what goes on behind the lines, when it comes to how the NFL treats (or casts off), its injured, retired players. I have had a total of 12 NFL related surgeries and have never received a penny in compensation or disability from the NFL or NFL Retired Players Association.

I thank God I persevered to complete my biology degree while having numerous brain surgeries (while completing 4 semesters of Chemistry, Physics, Pre Calc with no short term memory to speak of). Even with a degree we still struggle.

There are many out there much less fortunate than I (not just NFL players), and I am trying to bring awareness to that fact.

I wish you and your wife the best in your journey. I am trying to bring down the stigma of brain damage, and show people that even us with brain damage can go on to lead productive lives and run businesses etc. I am fearful I am heading down the path of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy much like Mike Webster and Andre Waters did, and am trying to do all I can while I can, by conducting educational and motivational talks on head injuries.

Keep the Faith

George Visger
SF 49ers 80 & 81
[e-mail]

[Tonita7]

Excellent coverage of concussion! How about a story on the effects of sports-related concussion on WOMEN ATHLETES? Women have a more difficult time with recovery. Football players may loose their career, women athletes can have resulting cognitive limitations that can prevent them from developing a feasible career...
Look at Division 1 female soccer players...THANKS FOR AN AWESOME PROGRAM..

[LarryJameson]

Pro football players are our gladiators. We put them in an arena for our amusement, not caring about what happens to them. In exchange for the entertainment we elevate them in society, wear clothing with their numbers, etc. They ARE a number. Like the gladiators of old, they accept the risks, known and unknown, for fame and fortune.

It is we, the fans, who foster this nonsense. From Pop Warner leagues through high school and beyond, it's the think little boys do.

My wife and I recently began our 20th year living with her brain injury. What I did not see mentioned during the show is the fact that brain injury is a physical injury. They mentioned the bruising. Well, bruising is caused by bleeding. Bleeding is caused by ruptures capillaries - capillaries that supply oxygen to brain cells. Brain cells cannot live without oxygen, so they die.

That leads to memory, cognitive and behavioral problems. I applaud George for not giving up and reaching into a new future.

The basic problems are twofold. As shown by 60 Minutes, doctors do not agree and, sadly, do not work together.

Brain injury carries a stigma, and that stigma was furthered by the 60 Minutes episode that kept referring to brain damage and dementia. Who wants to step forward and say, "I've got dementia or I'm brain damaged?"

It is an injury - a physical injury not too terribly unlike a broken bone, except for the consequences. And, trust me, the consequences are as unwanted as they are longterm.

[staycalm]

I am appalled at what happened to Zachary, the 13 year-old boy. First of all, why was a 13 year-old even playing tackle football? Secondly, who is the coach that sent him back in with a head injury? Did he think this was the NFL and there was a lot of money on that game? Was he a complete idiot or just an overly competitive fool? I have found that many jr. high and high school coaches are failed athletes living vicariously through their players. I hope the family sued him and the school into oblivion.

[stevieboy777]

REDUCING THE RISK OF CONCUSSION is already underway with many NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA and NFHS programs. Soldiers in Afghanistan are wearing the very same device worn on Sunday's during NFL play. CHUBBS, the NHL's worker comp provider is providing a benefit to NHL teams to fit players who have had concussion history. The NFL can't ignore this fact, reducing the risk factors of concussion is paramount.

Experts agree, helmets are not the answer, just part of the solution. Even Riddell states on their homepage, the majority of concussions do not originate from the area of the head that a helmet protects. Military research has shown a link to eardrum rupture and MTBI. The link, chin strap forces on the mandible, similarities in helmet anchoring sytems may be this source of energy transfer. Securing the jaw with a proven medical device, used for two decades in the NFL and developed with Marvin Hagler. Why do some boxers or athlete become more susceptable to concussion than others, the answer may be in the "Glass Jaw" principle. Diagnostics to determine cause and effect are now being implemented in many high profile concussion cases. An Academy of Sports Dentistry peer study published in the Journal of Dental Traumatology, is the first ever publication linking MTBI reduction in an oral appliance.


http://www.mahercorlabs.com/news/article-20090831.htm

The latest research peer reviewed by the Academy of Sports Dentistry and a Harvard MGH specialist, suggests a retainer like Mouth guard used in the NFL and with such programs as the University of Texas and the Washington Capitals, should be considered as part of a preseason screeening or return to play protocol. One concussion and your six times more likely to have another, this protocol identifies and corrects a known link to the concussion and helps reduce the risk of further injury. www.mahercor.com

[bill0bob]

Dear George, (georgevisger October 10, 2009 8:13 PM EDT)

Thanks for sharing your personal story. It's quite revealing.

And congratulations, George, on beating the odds by surviving and continuing on to get a degree. I wish you continued success and improvement.
---

I don't know why we continue to hire people to turn themselves into giant slabs of beef and bash their heads in for our entertainment. It's not like lobbing bombs over the enemy's castle walls is a much needed skill in this world. If football is really were a "sport", it wouldn't be hurting those who play it so often. "Sport" is something we should do for fun; it should not a struggle for survival.

[melinblau]

I had the good fortune to interview Sylvia Mackey who will be featured in this segement this evening for my book, "Conseuqential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter." In the chapter about the importance of people outside family and close friends in the face of an illness such as dimentia, I showed how many consequential strangers now figure in the Mackeys' lives. More recently, I wrote a follow up for More magazine. bit.ly/4jcTl
Thank goodness, someone is finally taking notice and, hopefully, taking steps, to prevent such injuries in the future

[drseaster]

distancehealing.eu for John Mackey

[georgevisger]

I played football for 12 years total, including two years with the SF 49ers in 80 & 81, when I developed hydrocephalus are a result of numerous concussions I sustained during my career. I underwent an emergency brain surgery at Stanford hospital in September of 81 (during the first Super Bowl season), where I had a VP shunt inserted into my brain to drain spinal fluid from my ventricles to my abdomen. The 49ers Drs misdiagnosed my condition during the season, as high blood pressure, till I suffered focal point paralysis of my right arm, and a brain hemorrhage, when I underwent emergency brain surgery. This was kept quite during the season, and I was told they were looking at having a special made helmet produced to protect my shunt so I could still play.

My first shunt failed May of 1982 (just 4 months after we won our first Super Bowl), and I had back to back shunt surgery revisions 12 hrs apart, and was given last rites. I subsequently began receiving hospital bills for the last 2 brain surgeries (the 49ers then claimed my injury was congenital), and had creditors on me till I successfully sued the 49ers for Workers Comp in 1986. Since then, I have had a total of 9 brain surgeries, numerous grand mal seizures, and suffer from major short term memmory deficites and anger management issues, but despite these short comings, I returned to finish a wildlife biology degree in 1990 at the age of 32 after brain surgeries 4th - 7th.

My question is; Are there others like me out there? I just returned from co-chairing a Hydrocephalus awareness walk in Oroville, CA today, where I had Tom Goldman of NPR (National Public Radio) accompany me for 3 days while I conducted motivational, public talks.

[cinnycinn2]

I have an ex that used to play pro ball and then got into boxing. He is suffering from short term memory loss and some anger issues. The show that 60 Minutes did tonight was frightening to me in that they can't diagnos the brain disease CTE until after death where the brain can be examined through cross section views....