Stony Brook Football players raising their helmets. Many football players suffer from traumatic brain injuries that are not properly treated. HEATHER KHALIFA/STATESMAN FILE
Cuts, scrapes, breaks, aches, pains, sprains, fractures, tears — these are all terms that can be used to describe an injury that occurred on or off the field. The list goes on and on, and only a few are easily treated. However severe, Doctors are usually able to tell what the problem is right away and put their patients on the path toward full recovery. Break your arm? Put a cast on and let it heal. Tear your ACL? Undergo surgery and partake in a grueling rehab process. Suffer a concussion or another form of traumatic brain injury (TBI)? Slap a Band-Aid on it and run right back out there champ.
This outdated approach
to player safety and the dangerous long-term health repercussions of brain
injuries, was the center of debate on March 28 when the Stony Brook University
Program in Public Health and Stony Brook University Neurosciences Institute
hosted a public symposium, “Contact Sports and Traumatic Brain Injuries.”
The first portion of the
symposium was led by Dr. Chuck Mikell, the co-director of the Stony Brook
Movement Disorders Center and an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the
Renaissance School of Medicine. Dr. Mikell, a former high school football
player, discussed the basic science and medical processes of concussions and
TBI as well as some of the long-term consequences of participation in contact
sports. Dr. Mikell specifically mentioned amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
as the two most prevalent issues concerning those who have played contact
sports.
Dr. Amy Hammock, an
assistant professor of social welfare and a faculty member in the program of
public health, found that what Dr. Mikell spoke about hit very close to home.
“I feel like I learned a lot about the inflammation that occurs and can keep
occurring for years after. There really is very little that can be done after
the fact … I have a son who is 5 years old, there is no way he is ever playing
football.”
Following Dr. Mikell’s,
Dr. Anat Biegon, a professor of radiology at the Renaissance School of Medicine
discussed how the human brain responds and acts during episodes of TBI. This
included how these episodes incur long-term consequences and how children are
put at greater risk for these same conditions due to their age and the makeup
of their skeletal system.
The final guest
panelist, Dr. Paul Vaska, a biomedical engineering and radiology professor at
the Renaissance School of Medicine, changed the direction away from the
problems playing contact sports and towards the solutions. He discussed in
detail some of the ways that companies and organizations are trying to minimize
TBI and concussions in contact sports as well as everyday life. Two examples
included creating better helmets to protect athletes and implementing eye
tracking technology to help diagnose concussions and TBI. Vaska’s department
also studies Stony Brook student-athletes. The athletes, most commonly from the
football and lacrosse teams, sign waivers prior to the start of the season
allowing Vaska to image their brain following a concussion. Vaska stated, that
34-51 hours after the injury occurred the athletes brains are imaged, and again
three months later.
Dr. Lauren Hale, a
professor of family population and preventive medicine, had no issue stating
her opinion of collegiate athletics. “I probably have a bias against
universities investing money in sports programs. This presentation reaffirmed
my belief that it should not be a priority.”
Dr. Andrew Flescher, a
professor at Renaissance School of Medicine department of family, population
and preventive medicine and a faculty member in the Program in Public Health,
who moderated and coordinated the symposium, ended by discussing the safety
crisis in contact sports. He talked about the risks and rewards of such
activities as well as the social value that participation in contact sports
has. He also discussed that a lack of correct information and a wealth of
misinformation has prevented players and parents from making reasonable,
informed decisions about playing contact sports for years.
Dr. Flescher has become torn by his occupational
allegiance to the facts as a scientist and his emotional allegiance to the game
as a lifelong New England Patriots fan. “I can tell you stats, who won the
Super Bowl going back to Green Bay winning the first two. It is an exhilarating
sport, but the thrilling moments are the most dangerous. I have serious
cognitive dissonance about football.”