Concussion
For this first neuro-note I chose to watch the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith. In the movie, Smith portrays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, who discovers that professional football players develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after experiencing repeated concussions throughout their years of playing football. There are a few different reasons why I chose this movie, the first reason being that I have always wondered why my parents told me that playing football was dangerous growing up. The second reason is that we are covering Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI's) in my Neuro Aspects of Occupational Performance class, and I wanted to gain insight as to what happens when a person experiences a concussion.
When a football player makes helmet to helmet contact with another player, the force of the impact can be up to 100+ g forces on the head. This incredible amount of force causes the brain to experience a coup-countercoup impact. This is a 2 stage impact on the brain- the first is where the frontal lobe part of the brain hits the front of the skull so hard that it then bounces back and the occipital lobe part of the brain hits the back part of the skull. Dr. Omalu realized that this injury causes the excessive release of tau proteins in the brain. Excessive release of these proteins causes them to bind together to form tangles, which then causes the brain to be deprived of oxygen and essentially suffocates the brain from the inside out. Symptoms of CTE can include early onset Alzheimer's disease, memory loss, confusion, impaired judgement, and vision/hearing deficits.
After the movie, I was very intrigued and sought out more information on mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) and CTE, so I did some googling to learn more about concussions in the NFL. According to CNN, in July of 2017 a study published in the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concluded that out of the 111 deceased ex-NFL players they studied, 110 (99%) of them had CTE. Another fact that was mentioned in the movie as well as online is that there is no brain scan to definitively diagnose CTE to this day. The only way to diagnose CTE is after the person has died and had their brain examined. Ultimately, this movie was a startling revelation to me just how dangerous repeated blows to the head can be and there is not an appropriate level of awareness about how seriously detrimental CTE is to an individual.
p.s. highly recommend this movie if you have not seen it!
References:
When a football player makes helmet to helmet contact with another player, the force of the impact can be up to 100+ g forces on the head. This incredible amount of force causes the brain to experience a coup-countercoup impact. This is a 2 stage impact on the brain- the first is where the frontal lobe part of the brain hits the front of the skull so hard that it then bounces back and the occipital lobe part of the brain hits the back part of the skull. Dr. Omalu realized that this injury causes the excessive release of tau proteins in the brain. Excessive release of these proteins causes them to bind together to form tangles, which then causes the brain to be deprived of oxygen and essentially suffocates the brain from the inside out. Symptoms of CTE can include early onset Alzheimer's disease, memory loss, confusion, impaired judgement, and vision/hearing deficits.
After the movie, I was very intrigued and sought out more information on mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) and CTE, so I did some googling to learn more about concussions in the NFL. According to CNN, in July of 2017 a study published in the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concluded that out of the 111 deceased ex-NFL players they studied, 110 (99%) of them had CTE. Another fact that was mentioned in the movie as well as online is that there is no brain scan to definitively diagnose CTE to this day. The only way to diagnose CTE is after the person has died and had their brain examined. Ultimately, this movie was a startling revelation to me just how dangerous repeated blows to the head can be and there is not an appropriate level of awareness about how seriously detrimental CTE is to an individual.
p.s. highly recommend this movie if you have not seen it!
References:
Cantillon, E., Facio, G., Scott, R., Shuman, L., Wolthoff, D., & Landesman, P. (2015). Concussion. United States: Columbia Pictures
Library, CNN. (2019, August 15). NFL Concussions Fast Facts. https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/03/us/nfl-concussions-fast-facts/index.html.
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