Bobby Hosea Gives Young Football Players A Heads-Up On Tackling

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Posted on 27th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Former defensive back Bobby Hosea is a hero of sorts: He is running camps to teach youthful football players how to protect their heads when they tackle.

The New York Times did a Page One profile of Hosea Sunday that was headlined “Teaching Safer Way To Tackle: Not Headfirst, but Heads Up.”  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/sports/football/26tackling.html?ref=todayspaper

“As football careens through its dark cloud of head injuries, Hosea sees himself as saving more than the players’ ability to walk and think,” The Times said. “He sees it as saving the sport, one youngster at a time.”

Hosea has apparently won the faith of USA Football, the governing body of Pop Warner and other youth leagues, which has hired him as its tackling consultant.

Hosea’s gospel, for boys as young as nine, is for football players to tackle with their knees bent, heads up, butts out and chests up. They should not be doing what The Times called almost “instinctual”: crashing into a runner head down.

How does he instill his lesson? Kids that drop their heads for a tackle are forced to do pushups, and are also razzed by their fellow students.

Anyway, it’s refreshing to read a story that offers solid suggestions about preventing concussions. The NFL should hire Hosea.   

  

   

Here’s The Good News: NFL Concussions Are Up 21 Percent This Season

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Posted on 13th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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You wouldn’t think that an increase in reported concussions by pro football players this season is good news, but the National Football League does. Here’s why.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iFaaL7fvfaDwp1Mj6fvPKMUhfwJQ?docId=bb0508a8b5c4450ca7a759bc0bd7ade5

The NFL believes that concussions are being reported more often now because teams and players are taking head injuries more seriously, according to the Associated Press.

AP obtained data from the NFL that found that there have been 154 concussions reported, from practices and games, from the preseason through the eighth week of the regular season. That’s a jump of 21 percent versus the 127 concussions reported during the same time span in 2009, and a 34 percent increase from the 115 concussion that were reported during that span in the 2008 season, according to AP.

The wire service quoted Dr. Hunt Batjer, co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine medical committee, who said the increase in reported concussions is proof that “the culture is changed,” in terms of downplaying head injury, in the league and its players.

Anti-Psychotic Drug Seroquel Blamed For Veterans’ Deaths

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Posted on 13th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Here’s a disheartening question to ponder: Is an anti-psychotic drug being prescribed for troubled war veterans  killing them?

The drug in question is AstraZeneca’s powerful Seroquel. Recently two Marine corporals, Andrew White and Chad Oligschlaeger, both died in their sleep after being given a variety of drugs, Seroquel included, to treat their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to Natural News.

http://www.naturalnews.com/030645_veterans_psychiatric_drugs.html

Autopsies determined that both men were killed by “multiple drug toxicity,” meaning that a fatal interaction of their various medications did them in. Before he died, White took more than double the suggested maximum dosage of Seroquel recommended for those with schizophrenia, at his doctor’s direction, to help him sleep.

And now White’s and Oligschlaeger’s  families and veterans’ advocates are blaming Seroquel for the deaths of the two Marines, arguing that the government should change its protocol for prescribing the drug.

Make no mistake that Seroquel, the fifth-best-selling drug in the United States, is serious stuff. It is also increasingly being prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Seroquel is approved to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, but vets’ advocates charge that the military is giving it to service members for insomnia and other symptoms of PTSD, Natural News reported.

Seroquel has also been suspected of causing heart failure.

Our soldiers have suffered enough, both in combat and on their return home. The veterans’ administration should take a close look at Seroquel to ensure that we’re not killing them back on the supposedly safe home front.    

New Jersey’s Tough Concussion Law Signed By Gov. Christie

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Posted on 8th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Claiming that New Jersey will now have the most comprehensive consussion law in the nation, Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday signed the new legislation as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stood by and watched. 

http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/football/index.ssf/2010/12/gov_christie_signs_legislation_creating_concussion_awareness_and_prevention_program.html

The Garden State joined 10 other states that have passed consussion safety and awareness laws, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark.  Earlier this year Goodell wrote letters to the governors of states that don’t have concussion laws, uring them to pass such legislation.

 New Jersey’s concussion law has several parts. It mandates that student athletes that are suspected of having a concussion be removed immediately from play, and not be allowed to resume activity until an evaluation by a concussion specialist, The Ledger reported.

Under the law, the New Jersey Department of Education must create an interscholastic athletic head-injury safety program. It must be up and running by the 2011-12 school year and teach about concussion symptoms and regulations for athletes to return to the field.

This educational program will have to be taken by school doctors, coaches and trainers. And information about concussions will be also be distributed to athletes’ parents.

In addition, school districts will have to craft a written policy on concussion prevention and treatment, according to The Ledger. That policy will have to be approved by the state Department of Education yearly.

And the education commissioner, helped by the state’s medical sector, “will have a model for schools to follow established by March 31, 2011,” The Ledger reported. 

The new law also cracks down on training regarding concussions. Athletic trainers who are licensed by the state will have to complete 24 credits of continuing education, with some relating to concussions, in order to get their license renewed biennially.

And athletic trainers will have to take 75 credits of continuing education every three years to keep their national accreditation. 

      

Actress In Broadway’s ‘Spider-Man’ Sustains Concussion Following Backstage Accident

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Posted on 4th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Apparently the show must go on, even if your lead actress has suffered a concussion.

The new $65 million Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” has been plagued by problems and mishaps. During its first preview performance last Sunday, actress Natalie Mendoza was hit in the head by a rope that was holding a piece of equipment, The New York Times reported Saturday. The accident happened when the actress was standing offstage.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/concussion-sidelines-spider-man-actress/?ref=theater

And even though the director and producers knew that their lead actress had suffered a concussion from that blow, Mendoza acted in the show’s second performance Wednesday night against the advice of her doctor, according to The Times and the actress’s spokesman.

I guess Mendoza hasn’t been reading the sports section and all of its stories about the dangers of not taking it easy when one sustains brain injury like a concussion. And I guess her director and the show’s producers haven’t been reading those stories, either. 

That’s foolish behavior on everyone’s part, particularly Mendoza.

Her spokesman told The Times that the actress didn’t tell the show’s producers about the accident Sunday because she didn’t think she was hurt. Mendoza went to her doctor Monday, who said she had a concussion. Her sent her to a specialist, who was then hired by the production. That specialist agreed that Mendoza had a concussion.

Tuesday morning Mendoza tweeted a one word message: “Concussion.” She also told the production about her concussion diagnosis on Tuesday.

And then she performed Wednesday, which was not a good idea, as anyone who knows anything about concussions would know. By the end of the show, Mendoza had a headache and was nauseous, The Times reported.

She didn’t perform last Thursday, and it was announced on Friday that she will be on hiatus from the play for a brief period.

So far three “Spider-Man” actors have been hurt as the production prepares for its Jan. 11 opening. Mendoza plays the villainess Arachne. 

  

Former Player Shelton Sues NFL Disability Plan

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Posted on 1st December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Former Carolina Panthers running back Eric Shelton, claiming the National Football League is hypocritically just paying lip service to taking helmet-to-helmet hits seriously, has filed suit against the league’s disability plan.

The New York Times wrote about the lawsuit Tuesday in a story headlined “Ex-Player Is Suing Over Pay For Injury.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/sports/football/30helmets.html?scp=1&sq=eric%20shelton&st=cse

In his lawsuit Shelton, 27, said he was withheld benefits he was due for a neck and spine injury he got during a helmet-to-helmet collision while he was at a Washington Redskins training camp. The ex-player maintained that his neck damage was permanent.

However, he only received benefits for degenerative impairments that show up more than six to 12 months after the original injury, “rather than the maximum benefit for injuries that cause immediate, permanent, harm,” The Times reported.

The NFL has basically acknowledged the dangers of, and tried to crack down, on helmet-to-helmet hits. But Shelton told The Times that the NFL is being two-faced when it puts up posters about the helmet hits and fines players for doing them, and yet on the other hand says injuries sustained in such hits are degenerative, not permanent.     

You can bet that Shelton’s lawsuit will be closely watched. Now that the NFL has owned up to the dangers of helmet-to-helmet hits, after years of denial, it may have more liabiliy in hundreds of workers’ comp cases pending in California.

The NFL disability plan argues that Shelton isn’t entitled to the top-drawer disability payment because he has worked a job, at Walgreens briefly, his permanent disability did not surface within six to 12 months, according to The Times.

By being relegated to the degenerative, not permanent injury, category, Shelton’s benefits were halved from a potential $220,000 annually, The Times reported.