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By Vivian Richardson, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
NEW ORLEANS (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Whether it's two linebackers colliding, a wayward baseball, or a fall on the hardwood court, many athletes risk concussion as they play their sport. Now, researchers report repeated traumatic head injuries can lead to depression and a lifetime of impairment.
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Retired football players who report three or more concussions are three-times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than retired players who never reported a concussion. That's the finding of a new study by researchers at several schools, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Speaking at the American College of Sports Medicine's 54th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Robert Cantu, M.D., a co-researcher from Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., said several recent examples of what repeated concussions can do to an athlete drive home the need to learn more about how to protect athletes and keep them from being re-injured.
Dr. Cantu talked about former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, who earlier this year went public about his struggle with depression and cognitive difficulties and how it cost him his career and a marriage. He's just 34 years old. It's a scenario too often seen in retired football players, like Andre Waters, the retired NFL player who committed suicide in 2006, or Mike Webster, the Hall of Fame player who died at age 50. Post-mortem examinations of Webster's brain revealed Alzheimer's-like tangles Dr. Cantu attributed to the repeated concussions suffered by Webster during his career.
"There are many instances where we heard players tell us that defensive backs would be stunned after a particular play and tell their fellow safety or fellow cornerback, 'Cover for me as best you can; I'm just going to try to make it through this play,'" said Dr. Cantu.
Researchers surveyed 2,552 retired professional football players. Just more than 11 percent reported a previous diagnosis of depression. Players with three or more concussions were three-times more likely to be in the depressed group, while players with one or two concussions were 1.5-times more likely to be depressed.
TAKING THE HITS: WIN THE GAME, LOSE YOUR BRAIN
Dr. Cantu explained concussions are a widespread problem in athletics. "The head can be hurt in every sport but, obviously, in contact and collision sports it is more likely," he said. Both men and women are at risk. In fact, concussions are more likely to be reported in female soccer and basketball players than in their male counterparts. Dr. Cantu questioned whether those numbers are affected by women being more willing to report symptoms of a head injury than men.
While football helmets do protect players from skull fractures and subdural hematomas, Dr. Cantu said they are far from able to protect from a concussion.
About 64 percent of concussions are the result of contact with an opponent, and 10 percent result from contact with the playing surface. The majority of concussions are caused by poor technique, said Dr. Cantu.
Athletes can protect themselves from concussion by:
Strengthening neck muscles: It's all physics. When the neck muscles are tightened, the mass of the head and the body combine to better distribute the force of a collision throughout the body. When the neck muscles are loose, the head alone takes on the force of the collision.
Proper fit and fastening of head gear
Staying well-hydrated
Being lucky
"No matter how good your technique is, you can be at the wrong place at the wrong time," Dr. Cantu said.
RETURN TO PLAY
One of the most dangerous aspects of a concussion is what happens when an injured brain is re-injured. "If you have a concussive injury and you don't have any secondary insults, in almost every case the cell, within an hour to five to seven days, will recover," said Dr. Cantu. However, if a second injury occurs while the brain is still recovering from the massive biochemical changes that happen following a traumatic injury, the consequence can be permanent brain damage or even death.
Dr. Cantu and his colleagues have made recommendations over the years to help team trainers and physicians make choices about whether or not a player can return to the field. An important point, he said, is to recognize that just because a player does not lose consciousness, it doesn't mean he or she did not suffer a concussion. He said a player should not be back on the field until all symptoms of concussion are gone for at least a week, longer if the player has suffered multiple concussions or a severe concussion.
There are still questions Dr. Cantu said needs to be answered, including how hard someone needs to be hit to suffer a concussion and how does where a player is hit factor into the equation. New technology, including in-helmet instruments to measure the force of collisions, will help researchers answer these questions in the future.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Vivian Richardson at the American College of Sports Medicine 54th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, May 30-June 2, 2007
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