Protecting the brain against concussion Kim Gorgens
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so a funny thing happened on my way to
becoming a brilliant world-class
neuropsychologist I had a baby
and that’s not to say I ever went on to
become a brilliant world-class
neuropsychologist sorry Ted ah but I did
go on to be a reasonably astute arguably
world-class worrier one of my
girlfriend’s in graduate school Murray
said can I figured it out it’s not that
you’re more neurotic than everyone else
it’s just that you’re more honest about
how neurotic you are so in the spirit of
full disclosure I brought some pictures
to share oh I’ll just say July
[Laughter]
for safety water wheeze an inch of water
and then finally all suited up for the
90 minute drive to Copper Mountain so uh
you could get kind of a feel for this so
my baby Vander is 8 years old now and
despite being cursed with my athletic
inability he plays soccer he’s
interested in playing football he wants
to learn how to ride a unicycle so why
would I worry cuz this is what I do this
is what I teach it’s what I study it’s
what I treat and I know that kids get
concussed every year in fact more than 4
million people sustained a concussion
every year and these data are just among
kids under 14 who were seen in emergency
rooms and so when kids sustained a
concussion we talk about them getting
dinged or getting their bell rung but
what is it that we’re really talking
about let’s take a look all right
Starsky and Hutch arguably yes ah so a
car accident forty miles an hour into a
fixed barrier 35 G’s a heavyweight boxer
punches you straight in the face 58 G’s
case you missed it well look again so
look to the right-hand side of the
screen
would you say how many Gees
closed 72 would it be crazy to know a
hundred and three Gees the average
concussive impact is 95 Gees
now when the kid on the right doesn’t
get up right we know they’ve had a
concussion but how about the kid on the
left or the athlete that leaves the
field of play how do we know if he or
she has sustained a concussion how do we
know that legislation that would require
they’d be pulled from play cleared for
return to play applies to them the
definition of concussion doesn’t
actually require a loss of consciousness
it requires only a change in
consciousness and that can be anyone or
a number of symptoms including feeling
foggy feeling dizzy hearing a ringing in
your ear being more impulsive or hostile
than usual so given all of that and
given how darn neurotic I am how do I
get any sleep at all cuz I know our
brains are resilient they’re designed to
recover from an injury if god forbid any
of us left here tonight and sustained
concussion most of us would go on to
fully recover inside of a couple hours
to a couple of weeks but kids are more
vulnerable to brain injury in fact high
school athletes are three times more
likely to sustain catastrophic injuries
relative even to their college-age peers
and it takes them longer to return to a
symptom-free baseline after that first
injury their risk for second injury is
exponentially greater from there their
risk for third injury greater still and
so on and here’s the really alarming
part you don’t fully understand the
long-term impact of multiple injuries
you guys may be familiar with this
research that’s coming out of the NFL in
a nutshell this research suggests that
among retired NFL players with three or
more career concussions the incidence of
early onset dementing disease is much
greater than it is for the general
population so you’ve all seen that New
York Times you’ve seen it what you may
not be familiar with is that this
research was spearheaded by NFL wives
who said isn’t it weird that my 46 year
old husband is forever losing his keys
isn’t it weird that my 47 year old
has-been is forever losing the car isn’t
it weird that my 48 year old has-been is
forever losing his way home in the car
from the driveway so I may have
forgotten to mention that my son is an
only child so it’s gonna be really
important that he be able to drive me
around someday so ah how do we guarantee
the safety of our kids how can we 100%
guarantee the safety of our kids let me
tell you what I’ve come up with
[Laughter]
if only my boys right there and he’s
like she’s not kidding
she’s totally not kidding so uh in all
seriousness should my kid play football
should your kid play football I don’t
know but I do know there are three
things you can do
the first study up you have to be
familiar with the issues we’re talking
about today
there are some great resources out there
the CDC has a program heads up it’s at
CDC gov
to concussion and kids the second is a
resource I’m personally really proud of
we’ve just rolled this out in the last
couple months Co kids with brain injury
this is a great resource for student
athletes teachers parents professionals
athletic and coaching staff it’s a great
place to start if you have questions the
second thing is speak up just two weeks
ago a bill introduced by Senator kefalas
that would have required athletes kids
under 18 to wear a helmet when they’re
riding their bike died in committee it
died in large part because it lacked
constituent buy-in it lacked stakeholder
traction now I’m not here to tell you
what kind of legislation you should or
shouldn’t support but I am gonna tell
you that if it matters to you your
legislators need to know that speak up
also with coaching staff ask about what
kind of protective equipment is
available what’s the budget for
protective equipment how old is it may
be offered a spearhead a fundraiser to
buy new gear which brings us to suit up
wear a helmet the only way to prevent a
bad outcome is to prevent that first
injury from happening recently one of my
graduate students
Tom Tom said Kim I’ve decided to wear a
bike helmet on my way to class and Tom
knows that that little bit of foam and a
bike helmet can reduce the g-force of
impact by half now I thought that it was
because I have this totally
pelling helmet crusade right this
epiphany of Tom’s as it turns out it
occurred to Tom that a twenty dollar
helmet is a good way to protect a
hundred thousand dollar graduate
education so should Vander play football
I can’t say no but I can guarantee that
every time he leaves the house that kids
wearing a helmet like to the car or at
school
so whether athletes scholar
overprotected kid neurotic mom or
otherwise here’s my baby Vander
reminding you to mind your matter
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