AMERICAN CTE: FOOTBALL AND DRIVING

via usatoday.com

The last thing good baby boomer helicopter parents wanted was their precious getting his brain rattled loose.

But they have friends, friends with dads who coach youth football.

“I hear your boy’s a good kicker. He want to play some ball?”

And he’s on the team, from sixth grade kicker to pulling guard on a quarter final team senior year.

You either trusted the coaches, the training, the sports gods, or went a little nuts.

No matter the playing level, no one wants a life changing head injury.

In football it’s called CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

In a car accident it’s called TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury.

What?

From Harvard Magazine:

(“John is one of) more than five million people in the United States living with the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by the sudden force of a fall, hit, or blast. Some injuries leave patients alive but unconscious or severely impaired. Others are seemingly mild, yet cause subtle but persistent changes in mood, memory, and cognitive abilities. An estimated 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury every year, and millions more suffer sports or recreation-related concussions. (Most of the latter recover quickly, but some experience symptoms for months or years.) Among U.S. soldiers who have sustained injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, one estimate puts the rate of TBI at nearly 20 percent.”

That’s a lot of people off their game.

If you’re reading this, take it as a reminder to be kind to strangers.

Padded football helmets and extra neck help in race cars make a difference. via baseballcurt35

More Harvard Mag:

“Zafonte calls TBI “the most complicated disease in the most complicated organ known to man.” This complexity explains why the disease has so vexed scientists and clinicians, and why so many clinical trials for treatments to improve recovery have failed. Traumatic brain injury remains a puzzle on many levels, from the events unfolding in brain cells to the complex and varied way those events play out in a human life.”

This is where you move on, where you click off the page. What about football and driving?

You got here searching for mayans, sniper equipment, or Ben Affleck. Maybe Portland heroin, or Portland porn.

If you did then you got an eyeful of BoomperPdx attitude on heroin and porn. If you didn’t hit the links, it goes like this: find something better to do than heroin or porn.

Find a way, you.

Back to football, driving, and American CTE.

Think of the trickiest intersection you know.

It’s the one with six lanes crossing the same intersection with extra turn lanes with stop signs where you can tell the rookies. They panic when it looks like they’re getting T-boned.

Think Scholls Ferry and TV Hwy.

Everyone has a driver’s license so everyone knows what to do. Don’t they?

How about the drivers with CTE and TBI? Here’s a reminder to give other driver’s a break.

Who wants road rage from a driver with a traumatized brain? You can’t win.

If they played football, they’re better drivers. They’ve drilled, know how to wait their turn, know how to move forward. It’s not brain washed, just a good rinse.

The four way stop is no mystery to them. Start adding the extra lanes and it’s trouble.

Why can’t American drivers adapt to England’s roundabout traffic circles?

We’ve got more drivers with more mental conditions.

Football’s top concussion helmet and not everyone wears it. Looking at you Tom Brady, and you Cam Newton. via riddell.com

Is American CTE something for others sharing the road to worry about?

From Boston University:

“CTE is not limited to professional athletes; it has also been found in athletes who did not play sports after high school or college.  The repeated brain trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the build-up of an abnormal protein called tau.  The brain degeneration is associated with common symptoms of CTE including memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidality, parkinsonism, and eventually progressive dementia. These symptoms often begin years, or even decades after the last brain trauma or end of active athletic involvement.”

Find a way to look past someone’s actions.

Find a way to walk away.

Do that and you might walk away from someone more lost than you’ll ever know.

Don’t get lost with them. There’s no map for American CTE.