Hard News: More than a bang on the head
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concussion researcher Doug King
He got blamed by the community cause he was trying to help the victim that died?
I mean FUCK!
Are there pockets of sport lovers out there who are totally deranged?
Or do I just have to put his experience down to an evolutionary fail going back millenia?
And all those centuries of our ancestors trying to instill some ethics into their descendants was a complete waste of time? -
Russell Brown, in reply to
He got blamed by the community cause he was trying to help the victim that died?
Yes. I was shocked when I heard that.
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Concussion is one (terrible) consequence of a sporting life, but check in with any elite athlete and middle age is a mess of deteriorating joints and ongoing pain.
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Rich Lock, in reply to
Concussion is one (terrible) consequence of a sporting life, but check in with any elite athlete and middle age is a mess of deteriorating joints and ongoing pain.
Yes, but literally losing your ability to think straight and control yourself is in a different league.
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I can't remember where I first heard this, but apparently boxing has caused more brain injuries since the introduction of padded gloves, because before then, your average pugilist could only land a small number of blows to the head without shredding his knuckles and wrecking his wrist.
What's to stop rugby players wearing body armour and helmets like gridiron players, hockey players ...
Come to think of it, is there any sport apart from rugby where the players DON'T wear protective clothing?
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I played football ( The Beautiful Game ) both competitively and socially through my 20s and 30s and I gotta say I felt borderline -concussion more than a few times after leaping to head a ball that'd been blasted toward me with a good deal of power (always worst when it happened to be an unusually heavy ball). All of which possibly explains a lot.
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Rich Lock, in reply to
I can't remember where I first heard this, but apparently boxing has caused more brain injuries since the introduction of padded gloves, because before then, your average pugilist could only land a small number of blows to the head without shredding his knuckles and wrecking his wrist.
Boxing also has the 'standing eight-count', where a boxer who has taken a heavy hit can take eight seconds to shake it off before going back for more, which makes it more dangerous than, for example, MMA, where the match is over if you are unable to defend yourself.
What's to stop rugby players wearing body armour and helmets like gridiron players, hockey players ...
Helmets haven't stopped gridiron players suffering very badly from concussion. There's even a Will Smith film about it.
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Maz,
And Richie McCaw is a commercial pilot...
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
I can’t remember where I first heard this,
QI was where I first heard it.
see: https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/qi/episodes/6/4When wearing boxing gloves, it is much easier to kill your opponent. In bear-knuckle boxing, people would always aim for the chest, stomach and arms, because the chin was too dangerous. The chances are that you would hurt yourself badly if you attacked there. Only two people have been recorded as dying in bear-knuckle boxing in over 150 years. When boxing gloves were brought in, this protected the hands so people could go for the jaw and thus kill people more easily. Four Americans die of boxing related injuries every year. British boxer and former world middleweight champion Alan Minter once said: "Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing, but none of them serious."
Though I have to say using 'bear-knuckles' sounds pretty dangerous!
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As an 8 year old I spotted the big kids playing with the old-fashioned thick skinned soccer ball. The dew was heavy on the ball. The high ball came my way so I had my first go at heading. Crunch. Down I went, dazed and puzzled by it all. At least now days, the balls are light and less damaging than 60 years ago.
Watched the disturbing program last night. Strange reaction recently to stopping contact/tackle rugby for school kids? -
Rich Lock, in reply to
Though I have to say using 'bear-knuckles' sounds pretty dangerous!
Well, not if you're the bear....
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Asinius, in reply to
What's to stop rugby players wearing body armour and helmets like gridiron players, hockey players ...
One of the issues in American football is that helmets have given players a false sense of security and they're more likely to lead with their heads. Some teams are starting to experiment with helmet less practices to improve tackling technique.
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This reminds me of the debate on "Mild" TBI soldiers were diagnosed with, did some googling, and its not just for sports folk.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/CTE_found_in_veterans.htm
Being too close to explosions, such as designated door breacher, or just generally being danger close to explosions on multiple occasions will lead to the same thing, fortunately our soldiers haven't been in the line of fire too much for this to be an issue here, apart from the folk who allege they were on the receiving end of their own Bushmaster Cannons at Baghak....
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Though I have to say using ‘bear-knuckles’ sounds pretty dangerous!
Constitutionally guaranteed in USA; the right to bear arms.
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Excellent program Russell, and brings up the iconic image of two top class rugby players spreadeagled on the pitch after clashing heads.
I failed to find the image on the google, but found this from one of the players.
My partner, sitting here in his wheelchair with his high spinal injury, was likened (in his walking and rugby playing days) to the other player in that particular incident.
You'd think that ACC would be strongly advocating better concussion management for younger players....imagine if the dementia in later life can be proven to have been caused by concussion...
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Loaded for bear!
the right to bear arms.
..and lo, trouble’s a bruin for the Right, indeedy!
:- ) -
linger, in reply to
As long as the Left remembers to roll out policy plans in an order
sorted for ease and whizz. -
Steve Barnes, in reply to
The left have always preferred League, it is about winning, not beating....
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
The construction industry has the same toll, in terms of bad backs and fucked hips and forestry takes its toll too and let's not forget the other industries that value their profits above the welfare of their workers. Do I have to list them?.
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I am long past retirement from work or active sport, and despite indulging in my time in an unfair amount of recreational chemical indulgence I can truthfully say my only medical issues come from sport and manual work.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Boxing also has the 'standing eight-count', where a boxer who has taken a heavy hit can take eight seconds to shake it off before going back for more
Yes and it's almost always much more than 8 seconds, because that's just the time between the ref having made the other boxer stop and go to the corner, and the other boxers standing up, at which point the 8 count begins. During that entire break, of course, the other boxer is recovering too, and will launch the next barrage slightly fresher.
which makes it more dangerous than, for example, MMA, where the match is over if you are unable to defend yourself.
Not to mention that MMA fights end as often as not with a submission, in which the loser taps out before they are seriously harmed.
Quite a lot of MMA fights involve hardly any blows at all, if both fighters prefer to wrestle.
Helmets haven't stopped gridiron players suffering very badly from concussion. There's even a Will Smith film about it.
I understand the prevailing wisdom to be that harm is far more likely, the more padded you are. Certainly the people I know who have played both rugby and gridiron have said that gridiron is much more dangerous. The head is literally a weapon, that you deliberately smash straight into opponents.
It makes sense on the argument that however much protection you give yourself in a contact sport, if it's competitive, the cutting edge will always be riding the line of physical damage.
Similar arguments are often made in motorsport, that things that apparently make the vehicle safer actually make racing more dangerous because all they do is encourage more risk taking. ABS brakes, for instance, meant that drivers could brake later into corners. So, of course, they do. Which means that they come off corners much faster than before if the vehicle loses control.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
You’d think that ACC would be strongly advocating better concussion management for younger players….imagine if the dementia in later life can be proven to have been caused by concussion…
The evidence is starting to mount up.
I had three concussions before the age of 18, when I stopped playing rugby. None of the playing field, although one was tossing a ball around and running down at the park. I remember the last two – apart from the time I spent unconscious – and it was the most horrible, sickening feeling. I vomited for hours afterwards and I have a bolt of white hair that may be at the impact point of the last one.
There's probably a case for saying I shouldn't have been playing after that last one.
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i) I wish they would leave Doug alone he's a decent bloke doing a good thing.
ii) My principle point of concern is that many of those involved in the decision making process around concussion have no direct experience of the modern game as it is played at school and club level. The players are far fitter/faster (more collisions), stronger (greater force) and the structure of competition means they play more often (more collisions). Given that the effects of CTE are cummulative if you are worried about those 40+ now. Then be somewhat concerned about this problem moving down the age groups.
iii) Even the mildest of memroy deficits can make your life f**king miserable; standing in a room uncertain about why you are there is not funny on a day to day basis.
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Tom Semmens, in reply to
And Richie McCaw is a commercial pilot...
Who already is struggling to tell the difference between our flag and Australias.
Do I want to come up for a spin Richie? Yeah.... Nah.
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On the Dean Lonergan thing of 1991....
Rob Allen (brother of the mercurial All Black Nicky Allen, who suffered a fatal on-field concussion after a series of knocks over several years)
I wasn't following League in 1991 (I still don't), but I notice that Rob Allen commented on Media Take that Dean Lonergan was removed from the field a few minutes after returning, wandering obviously dazed and mindless in the dead ball area, or something.
I've tried to look it up and this account seems inconsistent with other accounts, like this Herald article from 2012, which incidentally also spoke to Rob Allen. In that one, Dean Lonergan himself seems to state that he continued to play the entire game after the initial 10 minutes off following all the convulsing.
Was he actually taken off the field a second time, or was Rob Allen mistaken with his comment on the show?
Edit: It's a bit of a shame that the Herald is hosting this Top 10 Moments in Kiwi League article from 2009, which ranks the moment as number 1 and more or less condones what happened.
"he returned after 10 minutes to play one of his finest games in national colours - not that he remembers it"
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