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Fit. Fit. Fitter still. Yes, he does look like he's shaved his legs (they're far too smooth and even-looking. Also, do we detact a bit of fake tan action going on there?) but WE DON'T CARE! David Beckham made a welcome addition to our Thursday night viewing as he played for Paris Saint Germain in Annecy, France yesterday.
DAVID BECKHAM'S HAIR HITS/MISSES - CORNROWS INCLUDED
I have a teenage son who plays high school football, so I’m interested in the new concussion guidelines. Can you tell me what they say?
In March of this year, the American Academy of Neurology released new guidelines for recognizing and managing sport-related concussions. These guidelines could help protect the brains of athletes at all levels of play, from professional football to youth soccer. In a phrase, the new concussion guidelines recommend “when in doubt, sit it out.”
Concussions occur when something makes the head and brain move quickly back and forth. This can be a jolt to the head, a fall or a blow to the body. They cause a short-term disturbance in brain function. Contact sports such as football and ice hockey are most likely to increase the risk of concussions, but concussions can happen in any sport.
Many athletes don’t get medical attention for concussion. That’s often because they or their coaches don’t recognize the warning signs or take them seriously. Concussions can cause temporary loss of consciousness. They also typically cause confusion and problems with recent memory. The confusion may occur immediately, or a few minutes after the injury.
Other symptoms of a concussion often include dizziness, nausea (with or without vomiting) and headache. After a concussion, a person may seem to have trouble paying attention to you, or may seem to be lost in his thoughts. His speech may be slow or even slurred. A few days later, the person who has suffered a concussion may seem moody or depressed, may be bothered by amounts of light or noise that never used to bother him, and may have poor quality sleep.
All these symptoms can be pretty subtle, and if they occur during an exciting sporting event, the people who are evaluating the person may be distracted. In other words, it can be hard to determine if a person has really suffered a concussion.
The new guidelines take the guesswork out of the equation. They step away from having coaches or trainers try to diagnose concussions on the field or sidelines. Instead, they recommend that athletes who are suspected of having a concussion should be immediately removed from play and evaluated. What’s more, the guidelines state that athletes who have sustained concussions should not return to play until a licensed health care provider gives the green light.
Not all concussions are serious. Many young people and athletes recover from a head injury in minutes or hours. The danger is that athletes who have had one concussion are at greater risk of having another. The first 10 days after a concussion is a period of special danger. Repeated minor head injuries over a short period greatly increase the risk of serious or permanent brain damage.
The next step is to educate coaches and trainers about the new guidelines. They are the people who have ringside seats when concussions happen, and they’re making the decisions about whether to let the athletes continue to play.
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When a football player suffers a concussion during a game or in practice, whether they're a pro or a student, it's serious business. And the sport is taking it seriously.
Doctors, coaches, and researchers are focused on the damage concussions can do to football players’ brains as a result of the many tackles they endure.
What should be done when a football player (or any other athlete) has a suspected concussion? Read expert advice on immediate treatment and when the player can return to training and competition.
Football Concussions: What to Do
© 2011 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.Research shows that athletes who have repeated concussions are more likely to get long-term brain damage, including a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease that mimics dementia.
Former NFL players who have had CTE include the late Junior Seau, Chris Henry, and Dave Duerson.
In a concussion, the brain shakes so forcefully that it hits the inside of the skull. That injures the brain.
Symptoms of a concussion can include:
loss of consciousnessdrowsinessconfusionheadachenausea or vomitingblurred visionloss of memory of events surrounding the injury.If a concussion leaves someone unconscious for more than a few minutes, the concussion is clearly serious. But sometimes even seemingly mild concussions can do damage.
"A minor hit on the field can take a long time to recover," says Mark Lovell, PhD, founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
How many concussions are too many? That may be the wrong question.
"It's not as simple as how many concussions someone's had -- it's total brain trauma" that matters, says Boston University neurosurgery professor Robert Cantu, MD, who is a senior advisor to the NFL's Head, Neck, and Spine Committee.
"Linemen who've had almost no concussions have the majority of cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, because on every play they get their brains rattled, trying to block with their head," Cantu says.
In 2011, the NFL set rules to determine whether an athlete who’s taken a powerful hit and sustained a concussion will be benched or sent back into the game.
The guidelines include checking the player's symptoms, attention, memory, and balance, starting immediately, on the sidelines.
"It incorporates the most important aspects of a focused exam, so that injury is identified, and athletes with concussion and more serious head and spine injury can be removed from play," says Margot Putukian, MD, chair of the return-to-play subcommittee of the NFL's head, neck, and spine committee.
No athlete should be allowed to participate in sports if he or she is still experiencing symptoms from a concussion, according to the American Academy of Neurology. And before they go back to play, they should first see a doctor who's had proper training to make sure they're ready.
That often doesn't happen, though. Many concussions go unreported. Athletes are often eager to get back in the game. They may think they feel fine, or at least good enough.
