INVISIBLE INJURIES
WITHOUT CONCUSSION 
OR SYMPTOMS

Youth Football: Should It Continue? The simplest way to sum up their research is to say that the more impacts a child sustains to their head, the more changes in brain tissue that a child develops. No concussion required.https://t.co/HU6T3vvUkQ via @intpolicydigest

— StopCTE.org (@StopCTE) June 16, 2019

“I would say he probably was affected pretty severely. Physically, I think looked fine. Which is one of the biggest problems with brain injuries because if somebody looks fine, you assume that they are fine,” said Jenkins.https://t.co/elyzMJQBDk

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 8, 2019

EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS

'I am concerned that this game played by hundreds of millions across the globe might be played in a way right now that could lead to later life brain disease,' Stern said. 'That's pretty scary.'https://t.co/c4aDsixQBf

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 28, 2019

 

​​“We’ve shown over and over
that it isn’t just concussions; 
It’s number of playing years.
It’s the lower-level hits,
what we call subconcussions,
that are asymptomatic,
that the player plays right through
without even recognizing
that he’s had an injury."

Dr. Ann McKee 

---

INJURY BEGETS INJURY

​“After one
head injury,
the incidence rate
becomes about
three times greater...
and after a second injury
it increased to
eight times 
that in the general population.”

(Annegers, et al. 1980)

https://t.co/SnH92yc5hL

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 27, 2019

DAMAGE, MISDIAGNOSE, REPEAT

"Evidence of cognitive impairment among incoming college football players raises concern over the potential effects of cumulative exposure to head trauma and the increased risk associated with continued participation in collision sports." https://t.co/QizpHj0DXl

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 6, 2019

​ Brain injury 
can cause
LD/ADHD.

The "co-existence of a high number of head impacts and relatively low number of concussions reported raises concerns that a high prevalence of LD/ADHD in the football athlete population masks the severity of head impacts and thus can result in artificially low concussion rates" pic.twitter.com/ekBKXIrqsf

— Dr Kathleen Bachynski (@bachyns) June 7, 2019

How many students, meanwhile, played symptomatically, never realizing that their LD/ADHD might well be evidence of recurrent brain injuries?

— Stephen T Casper (@TheNeuroTimes) June 7, 2019

"findings indicate brain structure does not recover over time from a mTBI, but is inflicted by a decades-long, insidious degeneration process that outweighs potential coping mechanisms that the young brain might have in comparison to the aged brain."https://t.co/jVr4fGMUc0

— Kent Johnson (@37919KJ) June 22, 2019

AMA Journal concludes that “the term mild TBI misrepresents the immediate and long-term burden of TBI” https://t.co/Or9fq4E4Y7

— NFLCSFacts (@NFLObjectors) June 8, 2019

WIN AT WHAT COST?

About 19% of college athletic trainers reported in a recent survey that a coach played an athlete who had been deemed "medically out of participation," according to results released Tuesday by the National Athletic Trainers' Association. @NCLeg SB335 would protect athletes #ncpol https://t.co/E0GN9TRhPl

— @AthleteRights_NC (@AthleterightsNc) June 25, 2019

Some really powerful statements in response to the findings in our @OTLonESPN story about athletic trainers being pressured by coaches via @NATA1950 survey: Spears: 'It should be a crime' to play athletes not medically cleared https://t.co/yEsRmndyTc

— Paula Lavigne (@pinepaula) June 27, 2019

The model of direct care used in professional sports leagues is structurally unethical and should be abandoned. Motivated bias is powerful and influences us all. Or defenses to it are also poor.

Get rid of the relationships. That's the only way. https://t.co/pOfYLoKuRs

— Daniel Goldberg (@prof_goldberg) June 19, 2019

I'm far from the only person to say something similar. The article above includes a good quote from Calandrillo 2005: "When a team hires a medical provider, the purpose of that employment relationship is to further the interests of the sports franchise." https://t.co/MGmXN4JOO1 pic.twitter.com/Ic5AKTP6ld

— Dr Kathleen Bachynski (@bachyns) June 19, 2019

LEAVE THE KIDS OUT OF THIS

Hidden epidemic? Childhood #concussion may lead to long term cognitive and behavioural problems https://t.co/60zBQYkjhe via @ConversationUK long-term deficits – causing problems with memory, concentration, behaviour, mood and personality. #TBI #ADHD #BrainDamge. US Press????

— NFLCSFacts (@NFLObjectors) June 6, 2019

Are you addicted to kids sports? @ReformedSParent: "I think at times the flood of emotion that I allow my kids' youth sports bring to me is very similar to being intoxicated. I think it's a conversation worth having." https://t.co/tip56wop4V

— Aspen Inst Sports (@AspenInstSports) June 26, 2019

Two high school players have already died in supervised off-season workouts this season.

(BTW, that's not a "Houndstooth" like the Alabama sorority girls wear.) https://t.co/WjgorXrIVg

— Kent Johnson (@37919KJ) June 28, 2019

Does make you wonder what is the true motivation. Are these save youth tackle initiatives focused on what's best for kids? Will reducing the level of contact cause the sky to fall? Or, will our society adapt and move on? Were collision sports for kids a mistake? https://t.co/wimJgkK3lI

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) April 5, 2019

---

SHOULD SCHOOLS 
​BE ABOVE
​THE LAW?

“Allowing kids to play too soon after a concussion could be very dangerous. We need to find out the actual damage concussions cause people.”

Curtis Baushke wrote those words in 2009. Five years later on this date, he died with Stage 2 #CTE. Read more:https://t.co/PohVJnodlp pic.twitter.com/l8RJNvZQQ7

— Concussion Legacy Foundation (@ConcussionLF) June 16, 2019

“After Ereck Plancher, a Central Florida football player, collapsed and died after a 2008 off-season workout, the university benefited from its status as a governmental organization...citing sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine limiting the liability of a governmental entity.”

— Dr Kathleen Bachynski (@bachyns) June 18, 2019

How many football players need to go missing or die to take repetitive brain trauma more seriously? #RogerCare

— Russell Okung □□ (@RussellOkung) June 18, 2019

Sports Illustrated finally makes good with thorough account of Braeden Bradforth football conditioning death at Garden City Community College in Kansas: https://t.co/LAsct2Vs5x. Direct link to SI: https://t.co/TElzLagqrS. Our comprehensive headline links: https://t.co/zyKbXQULIz.

— Irvin Muchnick (@irvmuch) June 24, 2019

 
​HOW CAN WE TRUST ANYTHING
OTHER THAN ​​​PREVENTION?

I've held out hope for high school football for a long time, Chris, but that hope is gone.
I've seen too many comments from coaches who cannot grasp the reality and urgency of the brain injury crisis or will not implement the radical reforms that are required.

— Kent Johnson (@37919KJ) June 27, 2019

 ​“Willful ignorance plays
a role in these
​looming disasters.
If your ambition is to maximize
short-term gain
without regard to the
long-term cost,
you are better off
​not knowing the cost.
If you want to preserve
your personal immunity
to the hard problems,
it’s better never to really
​understand the problems.”
The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis

“Anybody can pass the imPACT test ... I can pass the imPACT test if I was drunk. I don’t think the imPACT test is a very good test.” ~ Mac Williamson, SF Giants#TBI #concussionhttps://t.co/DZA7skVSOC

— pianobug (@pianobug) May 29, 2019

I hate what the #NCAA has done to higher education. Football players are literally killing themselves slowly, and the risk of injury for all athletes can be financially catastrophic. And they have no choice but to put their education second.

— Geoff Bowden (@GeoffBowden) June 24, 2019

The player will always want to play. Trained for years. It’s their livelihood. Shouldn’t be down to them

— Tanni Grey-Thompson (@Tanni_GT) June 16, 2019

.@FootballDamage "Because of its long-term risk profile, I am convinced that tackle football should be treated more like M.M.A. and boxing than baseball or basketball." https://t.co/w2hSQu97Vb

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 23, 2019

​WE CAN CHANGE

It's absurd for tax dollars to support brain-damaging sports entertainment-- football-- in the guise of public secondary and higher education.

Schools should not be in the business of wrecking brains. How hard is that?

— Kent Johnson (@37919KJ) June 24, 2019

.@FootballDamage "... I believe that tackle football should be banned until 18 years of age and that it should not be sponsored by academic institutions." (Based on what will now know, how can academic institutions justify sponsoring the game?) https://t.co/w2hSQu97Vb

— Concerned Mom (@ConcernedMom9) June 23, 2019

​INTENTIONAL INJURIES
ARE PREVENTABLE INJURIES

Youth flag football thriving in New England.
“It’s just that flag football is fun. It’s so fast-paced. You’re either the quarterback, running back or wide receiver on every play and that’s what kids want to do."
I guess kids don't want to be a linemen. https://t.co/FLmZAuIXrW

— Kent Johnson (@37919KJ) June 26, 2019

By Dr. Jana - http://docjana.com/saltatory-conduction/ ; https://www.patreon.com/posts/4374048, CC BY 4.0, Link

The very existence of collision sports
in schools exerts enormous pressure
on students & explicitly endorses 
​physical violence as entertainment.

There's no way around it:
recurrent brain trauma
in youth tackle football
is child abuse.

​Contact your alma mater(s) today.
Ask your teachers/professors
why they are complicit in this abuse.

Schools should say NO to the:
BLOCK, BODYCHECK, HEADER, TACKLE
& YES to Age-Appropriate Sport!

  Home           
 June           
​Links