Here’s Wishing 8-Year-Old New Jersey Boxer Would Stay Out Of The Ring

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Posted on 16th July 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Young boxer Vito Mielnicki, eight year old, is a contender.

The boy from Roseland, N.J., hopes to compete for the Junior Golden Gloves title later this month in Las Vegas. Vito, who weighs 57 pounds, was profiled on the front page of  The Star-Ledger of Newark last Saturday. I cringed when I read that article. 

 http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/8-year-old_roseland_boy_domina.html

In terms of brain injury, boxing is dangerous enough for adults. But it’s especially risk-ridden for young kids like Vito, whose brains are still being developed.

The Ledger did talk to a surgeon, Dr. Vincent McInerney at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, about the risks of boys Vito’s age boxing. He pointed out that boys that age have heads that are out of proportion to the rest of their bodies. 

“Their neck muscles are weaker, so they are more susceptible to head injuries, and children also don’t recover as quickly as adults,” the physician told The Ledger.

In defense of the sport, it was noted that the headgear and padded gloves used in youth boxing today help ward off brain injury. And Vito’s football coach, Bob Burke, said that the safety measures at bouts now are much stricter than they used to be.

For example, matches are only three one-minute rounds. And if a kid gets hit hard, a referee will stop the bout, count to eight and then call for a ringside physician if the child still isn’t OK. 

For me, these boxing precautions will never be safe enough.  And Vito is engaging in not just one but two sports — football and boxing — that are known to result in concussions.

My heart went out to Vito’s mother, who seems to be the only wise one in the Mielnicki household. She told The Ledger that she gets so nervous when Vito fights that she closes her eyes.

“If it was my choice, I wouldn’t have put him in it because, of course, every mother gets nervous,” she told the paper. “It’s a very contact sport, one-on-one, but my son loves it.”  

When asked what he likes about boxing Vito said he enjoys training, he likes winning and he likes getting trophies.

 That’s all well and good, Vito, but it’s not worth the risks you are taking of potentially damaging your brain for life. 

 

 

 

Michigan Boxing Club Settles Lawsuit Where Youth Suffered Brain Damage In A Match

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Posted on 28th June 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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There’s been a settlement in a case involving a Lansing, Mich., boy who sustained traumatic brain injury during a boxing match.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100616/NEWS06/100616115/Boxing-club-settles-lawsuit-over-Lansing-boy-s-injury

The negligence lawsuit had been filed in 2008 by the family of Juan Contreras against the Crown Boxing Club in Lansing and its affiliate, USA Boxing, which governs amateur boxing. The amount of the settlement wasn’t disclosed.

Contreras, now 15,  was in a fight March 15, 2008 in Kalamazoo, Mich., where he sustained his brain injury. The youth had joined Crown Boxing In February of that year, and won his first match that month. The bout where he was badly injured was his second fight, which was against a 13-year-old.

 After being treated at hospitals in Kalamazoo, Lansing and Ann Arbor, Contreras is living at home now.

But he is in an impaired state of consciousness, and doesn’t respond to communication. But he breathes on his own, moves his limbs and opens his eyes.   

 

  

Opinions Offered on Whether Repeated CT Scans Too Dangerous for Fighters

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

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Ultimate Fight Championship welterweight Thiago “Pitbull” Alves may be alive today because he was scheduled to fight in New Jersey, which has some of the strictest rules regarding pre-fight clearances. And that may have saved Alves. Under the New Jersey State Athletic Commission rules, Alves had to get a CT scan performed before he was slated to fight against Jon Fitch at UFC 111 March 27. Alves was pulled out of the bout after his CT scan showed that one of the arteries in his brain had an irregularity. http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/417378_tvgif25.html Alves underwent minor surgery March 31, and plans to resume his fighting career. http://www.5thround.com/29919/thiago-alves-ill-be-back-and-im-gonna-kick-a-lot-of-ass-for-you-guys/ In a blog called MMAJunkie.com, Dr. Johnny Benjamin, dubbed a “combat-sports specialist,” was asked if it was normal for fighters to get a CT scan before every match, and whether the radiation from so many scans could be harmful. http://mmajunkie.com/news/18547/ask-the-fight-doc-was-the-ufcs-thiago-alves-actually-put-at-risk-with-pre-fight-ct-scan.mma Dr. Benjamin said it wasn’t typical for fighters to get scans before each fight. ”All fighters should probably undergo a brain scan on a yearly basis – or more frequently if they have recent or significant histories of concussions, including knockouts,” the good doctor wrote. “(Remember: All KOs are by definition concussions, but you can very easily sustain a concussion and not be knocked out.) But unfortunately very few state athletic commissions (SACs) require this level of testing/monitoring.” Then Dr. Benjamin credited Jersey’s tough pre-fight requirements with probably saving 26-year-old Alves. ”Alves is a blessed man for having the good fortune of being slated for the UFC 111 card, which took place took place in New Jersey,” the physician wrote. “Why? Because New Jersey happens to have one of the best, if not the best, SACs in the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. New Jersey, Nevada and Ohio have the best SACs, from a fighter-safety perspective, in the U.S.” According to Dr. Benjamin, “Nick Lembo runs the show in the ‘Garden State’ and in my humble opinion is the finest combat sports administrator/regulator in the game, bar none. He is an MMA pioneer and is more than just casually responsible for the advances and rules that led to the modern-age of MMA.” The doctor said that New Jersey has some of the most stringent rules in the game regarding pre-fight clearances and evaluations. “Just for starters, all fighters must submit for review to their group of specialized physicians a recent brain scan (CT or MRI), comprehensive physical exam, urinalysis, 12-lead EKG, dilated eye exam by an ophthalmologist and blood work that tests for HIV, CBC, PT/PTT, Hep B surface antigen and Hep C,” Dr. Benjamin wrote. “That’s just a warm-up. If their physicians have issue with any of this material, they can and will require more extensive testing until they are satisfied.” In conclusion, the doctor wrote, “This level of scrutiny may seem onerous and heavy handed to some, but the diligence of the NJSAC and Dr. Sherry Wulkan in particular more than likely saved Alves’ life.” Our comment is that if fighting must continue, then the test that should be administered is an MRI, not a CT. The CT is the best test to determine whether a boxer has a severe injury from a fight just concluded, but only in rare cases, would it spot evidence of prior brain injury, because CT is good at seeing blood or swelling of the brain. Once those conditions have cleared, it tells far less than the MRI. Alves was lucky that he had the kind of condition, related to where the blood was, to spot his condition. Too bad he wants to keep challenging his luck by going back in the ring.

N.Y. Gov. Paterson’s Unwise Quest to Legalize Mixed Martial Arts

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Posted on 10th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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New York Gov. David Paterson, who is in the midst of a huge scandal regarding not only his alleged interference in an assault case but also getting free Yankee tickets, is making another controversial move.

With New York State facing huge financial woes, Paterson is seeking the repeal of the state’s prohibition of mixed martial arts, Nicolaus Mills wrote in a blog for The Huffington Post Monday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicolaus-mills/new-york-head-case_b_489821.html?view=screen

Lifting the 13-year-old ban on mixed martial arts will bring in more revenue into New York, Paterson argues. As Mills points out, it’s ironic that the governor is advocating the return of such a brutal sport when the dangers of concussions in sports like pro football has been in the headlines for months now.

Mixed martial arts is a combination of wrestling, boxing and jujitsu where a fighter can hit his opponent even if that rival is on the ground. And there are no helmets for mixed martial arts.

Mills points out that for years the National Football League essentially buried its head in the ground and wouldn’t acknowledge that concussions could cause permanent brain damage. But a turning point came this fall when an NFL-commissioned study found that Alzheimer’s and other memory-related diseases were turning up in former players at a much higher rate than the overall population.

Mills warns that Paterson’s personal woes and scandals, which have many calling for him to resign, should not take away attention from this foolish advocacy of mixed martial arts. Legalizing mixed martial arts “can only add a new class of athletic victims to those we already have,” according to Mills.

Did ‘Toughman’ Die of Second-Impact Syndrome?

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Posted on 26th February 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Nathan Johnson died just days after competing in an Original Toughman Contest. Some suspect he was the victim of so-called second-impact syndrome, a case where a previous head injury exacerbates a later head injury.
http://www.newsok.com/prior-injury-likely-set-stage-for-death-at-original-toughman-contest-doctor-says/article/3442071?custom_click=headlines_widget

The 23-year-old Johnson of Ada, Okla., passed away Tuesday, three days after fighting in the Toughman contest in Oklahoma City, Okla. In Toughman fights, fighters have padded headgear and 16-ounce gloves.

Johnson fought both Friday and Saturday, participating in several matches. After beating one opponent Saturday, Johnson beat another fighter and was set to battle yet another one when he fell ill and collapsed. He was taken to OU Medical Center for surgery. He had sustained a skull fracture and a cerebral hemorrhage, and was put in a medically induced coma.

Johnson had undergone preflight physicals and cardio checks, and they didn’t turn up any problems. But Johnson had complained to his parents on Saturday, after his Friday fight, that he had a headache and had “a shooting star” sensation in one of his eyes.

One doctor believes that Johnson has sustained brain damage on Friday night, and that led to Saturday’s deadly injury.

To add to the tragedy of such a young man dying, Johnson was engaged, and his fiancée is pregnant with the couple’s daughter.

There is just no getting around the “second impact” problem in boxing or other unarmed combatant contests. If we are serious about high school football no return to play rules, we must be also serious about stopping the modern gladiators.

Japanese Boxer Yamaki dies after Suffering Brain Trauma in Bout

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Posted on 23rd February 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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This month I commented on my thoughts about brain injury prevention and sport. See http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2010/02/sport-and-brain-injury-prevention-rules.html I said this:

As I look at the cost/benefit analysis of risk versus winning in sport, I first ask myself, what is the purpose of this sport. If the purpose is to harm your opponent, such as boxing, I believe that any societal need this sport provides is strictly appealing to the blood thirst in us, and does not justify any risk. Boxing and other unarmed combat should be banned for the same reason we do not have gladiators and Christians versus the lions.


While our focus has been on brain injury in the Winter Olympics, the gladiators still try to kill each other in boxing. These predictably still succeed.

Japanese boxer Hirokazu Yamaki died at a Tokyo hospital Monday after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a match last weekend, Feb. 19, in the city, the Japan Boxing Commission said in a statement. http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/japanese-boxer-yamaki-dies-after-suffering-brain-injury

Yamaki, 26, suffered an acute subdural hematoma in his eighth-round knockout loss against Toshimasa Ouchi on Friday night at Korakuen Hall. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/2/22/1321788/japanese-boxer-hirokazu-yamaki

After being knocked out in the 8th round, Yamaki did not regain consciousness. He had emergency surgery at a Tokyo hospital to attempt to repair the brain damage. During the past few days doctors continued to try to treat and fix his injuries, but he died Monday morning. Yamaki made his pro boxing debut in October 2003. In the latest rankings in the Japanese flyweight division, he was No. 11, with a 7-9 record, including five knockouts.

We fans see boxing at its highest level, with great athletes like Roy Jones and Sugar Ray Leonard, dancing around the ring and later basking in the sweetness of their success. What we don’t see is the fights with 7-9 fighters, the fights with amateurs, with Golden Glove teenagers. How can we legitimately fight for the Lystedt Law and not ban all amateur fighting? The reason of course is that our kids play football and it is the poor kids who box. Yet, if the impetus for the Lystedt Law is partially the risk of the catastrophic brain injury that comes from the “second impact syndrome”, how can we not put a stop to boxing. Virtually every boxer who is knocked out, has had some previous concussive injury in the same bout. Certainly anyone with a TKO has had the double concussive blows in the same contest.

Boxing and other unarmed combat are essentially contests where eventually your opponent can no longer fight, because of the cumulative impact of a series of concussions. To call that sport is simply wrong. Why is Congress not having hearings on this?