(This blog was originally posted on July
19, 2011)
It was
recognized in the 1970’s that repeated head blows in boxers often caused brain
degeneration, a condition called dementia pugilistica. This same degeneration due
to repeated head blows occurs in various sports, motor vehicle accidents,
assaults and military combat. It results
in future cognitive (the ability to acquire and to maintain knowledge)
impairment. The brain shrinkage, and damaged brain cells and tissues associated
with this cognitive impairment are known as CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY (CTE). People with CTE develop
Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other forms of dementia at younger
ages. Additionally, the traumatic scars in the brain that accompany CTE can
lead to seizures and chronic epilepsy.
Recent news articles describe Football Hall of Fame
member John Mackey’s illness: he had a progressive dementia beginning in his
late fifties. He eventually died after a ten year struggle. Mackey was in a
full-time assisted-living facility for his last four years. The National
Football League (NFL) initially declined to pay any disability income to
support him. His struggles led the NFL and the football players’ union to eventually
recognize the link of head injuries suffered by players of this brutal sport to
dementia and depression in later life. These organizations now provide up to
$88,000/year for nursing care for retired players with dementia.
WEAR
HELMETS! PROTECT YOUR HEAD! Motorcyclists, bike and
scooter riders, off-road vehicle riders, horseback riders, skiers and ice
skaters need to protect that soft, “jello-like,” precious organ within the hard
skull that can crack when least expected. In early July, 2011, a middle-aged
man in New York State was riding helmetless with a group of bikers; they were
protesting helmet laws. News reports state he hit the brakes, skidded, lost
control and was thrown over the handlebars. He died from a head injury. The
physician who pronounced him dead said that he likely would have survived if he
had worn a regulation helmet. That’s what an accident is—accidents are not
planned.
WEAR THAT
SEATBELT IN THE CAR! Another consequence
of head trauma can be the loss of smell.
Tiny fibers from the olfactory nerve inside the skull enter the top of the nose
through tiny holes: the cribriform plate. These tiny fibers can be sheared off
when the forehead strikes a hard object, such as a windshield in an auto
accident.
Lance Fogan, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at
UCLA. DINGS is his first novel.
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