This past week, we’ve probably seen even more media coverage on concussions than all past years combined. It’s been like a huge tsunami of people, events and timing all converging to drive interest in a subject that’s been hidden away by years of denial. . Terry Bradshaw had already made some side comments publicly last year while he was on the air and just as suddenly as he blurted them out – and as with all things NFL on network television – nothing more was ever brought up again until this past week. Bradshaw mentions his recent visit to the Amen Clinic in Newport Beach as part of Dr. Amen’s continuing studies on concussions and the brain. Here’s the clip from FOX Sports: . Video: Terry talks treatment .
And you can read the full article on MSN/FOX Sports – click HERE.
Dr. Daniel Amen introduces and summarizes his recent breakthrough study of nearly 100 retired NFL football players’ brains using SPECT scans at his Amen Clinics. This summary chronicles some of the time line and history of how the study came about and the subsequent negative reaction from the NFL. Scientific evidence continues to mount for the case linking brain concussions to long-term brain damage and we can only hope that brain health finally gains a prominent place in all professional sports.
Here are some pictures from my second visit to the Amen Clinic this past December. I wanted to let some of the other guys see the entire process is actually painless and simple.
At a time when former players are communicating more than ever and becoming better informed on the various issues involving “us,” I want to urge all players to take advantage of the available resources being offered. Regardless of where you stand on the issues of retired players there is one thing I emphatically know for certain. We all subjected ourselves to hits or blows to the head! Whether it was in practice or in games, we all were subjected to head trauma. Personally, I was diagnosed in 1990 with Post Concussion Syndrome. The date is significant because it was 2 years after I left football and was deemed to be a permanent condition. For almost 20 years now I know what I’ve been dealing with and I have my ways to manage it. Unfortunately, I know so many former players who never thought of the head traumas they sustained as a player but are now having serious neurological issues (depression, mood swings, sensitivity to noise/lights, forgetfulness, etc.) well into the next phase of their lives.
We’ve been following the story of a young local junior high school athlete who got hit hard in a football game. 16-year old Zachery Lystedt was sent back in twice after getting what turned out to be a major concussion and he collapsed minutes after the game was finished. As a result of Zach’s injury, Washington State passed one of the strongest pieces of legislation to protect minors from additional injury following severe head trauma.Read our earlier post about Zachery and the new Washington law by clicking HERE.
Here’s why we’re so excited about Dr. Amen’s offer to provide free brain scans which will be included in his upcoming study of football concussions. Many of you guys have already signed up but if you haven’t done so already, click HERE to read that earlier post and sign up right away – this offer is currently limited to the first 100 players to join the study!
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Over the years, the NFL has continued to do lip service about all those studies they’re supposed to have been conducting on brain concussions and injuries that most players sustain over their careers. But just like the calls for an open audit of their books, few people seem to have been privy to all of the the studies that they’re supposed to have collected. In the past, we’ve also pointed out that among other “studies”, the NFL apparently also has actuarial numbers on all of the players that were provided by a subsidiary of AON Corp. headquartered in Chicago. Some of the principals in AON Corp. also happened to be owners of the Chicago Bears – read some of those earlier posts by clicking HERE. You’ll be directed to a series of earlier posts on AON’s relationship to the NFL – including this one at the top – just keep scrolling down to the other posts below. Among other things, those actuarial numbers have been used to calculate just how much they hold back from you for your surviving spouse policy on your retirement benefits (And who has actually seen their paperwork for THAT policy? Isn’t all of that called a Conflict of Interest in any other business?).
Here’s your personal invitation from Dr. Kristen Willeumier from the Amen Clinics to arrange an appointment to receive your free brain scan for their new study specifically focused on NFL football players’ concussions. NOTE: This study is completely independent of the NFL and the NFLPA.
“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”
Dave,
