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TBI in the NewsBrainline News FeedBrain Injury Rate 7 Times Greater among U.S. PrisonersPrisoners suffer disproportionately from past traumatic brain injuries. Researchers are hunting for the best tools to treat this population in an effort to help them reintegrate into society—and avoid re-incarceration. Former Philadelphia Eagles fullback Kevin Turner is one of hundreds of former NFL players and their families currently suing the league for alleged negligence, claiming that it didn't do enough to mitigate the risks despite what many say is an inherently dangerous sport. On a Thursday night in 2008, Willie McGinest nearly decapitated me. I was a tight end for the Broncos; he was a linebacker for the Browns. I was in the slot on the left. He was the strong-side linebacker, or "Sam," on the right. I ran a seam route that took me into the middle of the field versus a two-safety look. He dropped into coverage. Having no receivers in his zone to hold him, he was free to keep his eyes up at anyone who might be coming across the field. Each time BenJarvus Green-Ellis lines up behind Tom Brady in Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Patriots running back will fasten a special chin strap to his helmet, featuring an impact indicator designed to help detect the probability of concussions. During a commercial break, television viewers will be shown a promotional message from the NFL touting the advances the league has made in player safety. Without question, the NFL has made health issues a higher priority in recent years. Commissioner Roger Goodell has earned genuine respect for what he has done to protect players in both the short and long term. Equipment is better. Rules are stricter — and they’re more stringently enforced. Schools worried about concussions increasingly use computerized tests to tell if a student athlete has a brain injury. But new research says those tests aren't reliable enough to diagnose concussion, or to tell if it's safe to return to play. The researchers looked at research on one computerized neuropsychologist test, called ImPACT, that is widely used by colleges and high schools. (Here's one NPR story on how high schools use ImPACT to assess concussions.) It's also used by the National Football League and National Hockey League. The helmet-to-helmet shot knocked Tony Dorsett out cold in the second quarter of a 1984 Cowboys-Eagles game, the hardest hit he ever took during his Hall of Fame NFL career. "It was like a freight train hitting a Volkswagen," Dorsett says now. "Did they know it was a concussion?" he asks rhetorically during an interview with The Associated Press. "They thought I was half-dead." With the number of concussions growing in the National Hockey League, insurance companies are considering throwing the financial burden back on the league's teams. More than 60 NHL players are sidelined with head injuries this season including Pittsburgh Penguin captain Sidney Crosby. Now insurance companies specializing in sports say that the league's 30 teams will have to absorb the risk of million-dollar contracts alone as the number of players sidelined increases. Scientists already know how to see into your mind's eye, and now they can hear the voices in your head. In a new paper published in PLoS Biology, researchers present evidence showing that they can track the brain activity of a person listening to spoken words and use it to reconstruct the words. Has Big Brother arrived? Not quite. The University of California, Berkeley scientists behind the study didn't actually read minds. They only "eavesdropped" on words that subjects were actually hearing. But it may not be so hard to apply the research to words we imagine. "There is some evidence that hearing the sound and imagining the sound activate similar areas of the brain," said study co-author Brian N. Pasley, a post-doctoral researcher at the university. As the New York Giants and the New England Patriots prepare for their Super Bowl showdown amid great hype and fanfare, another battle is being waged off the field which is not spoken about all that publicly. While the National Football League's management of traumatic brain injuries has been duplicitous at best, the current groundswell of class-action lawsuits will neither provide essential assistance for brain damaged players nor protect those on the field. They do not redress the league's deliberate misconduct denying players' contract disability benefits, but rather aim to penalize the league for morally reprehensible conduct - failing to design safe concussion management protocol. Failure to acknowledge scientific evidence and institute proper return-to-play protocol is not equivalent to legal liability. The failure to fulfill the terms of a guaranteed benefit plan, however, does expose the league to liability. The Defense Department and the Army said goodbye today to a general known for his leadership and his innovation, but who may be best remembered for his focus on advancing brain injury treatment and mental health care. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among hundreds who gathered today at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Summerall Field to celebrate the career of Army Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, as he retired following 40 years of service. As the son of a World War II Silver Star recipient, Chiarelli “exemplified the values of his father: of patriotism, of courage, of resilience, of dedication,” the secretary said. Can Facebook Be a Social Life Preserver for People with Brain Injury? More than half of people with TBI use Facebook to create and maintain friendships. Goal-directed OT can help people after brain injury. Learn why it's better to "plan" than "avoid" after a brain injury. Learn the risk factors for heterotopic ossification. What devices and strategies for remembering work best for people with brain injury? If misunderstood, small cultural differences can hinder a good treatment plan for someone with a brain injury. An inability to perceive others’ emotions can make communication and social interactions difficult. Psychiatric disorders are common and often debilitating after a brain injury. Learn who is more at risk. Studies support the effectiveness of cognitive rehab after a brain injury. |