How harmful can concussions be
Published on 02/05/2017 Gautier Paulin , James Stewart , VideoCan I crash myself into Parkinson's or dementia?
“Concussion,” the film that earned $50.000.000, suddenly introduced a very wide audience to CTE. But because the movie is about how “American Football” players literally drive their brains to hell while playing. Was the general public mainly North American…
In short, the story takes us into the battle that Doctor Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu had to fight to make the NFL (National Football League) realize that their players were developing mental health problems due to the sport they had played. Besides the fact that I highly recommend this film with Will Smith as Doctor Omalu. One of my questions after the film was: what about motocross riders? Motocross riders obviously do not suffer as frequently from semi-concussions, which are estimated at around 900 to 1500 in one season among American Football players. However, when we look at effective head trauma, the figures from the 2004-2009 “NCAA Football Injury Report” and those from a 12-year motocross study are fairly similar. In American Football the chance is 7,4% and in Motorcross 5,7%.
What is CTE?
CTE is the abbreviation for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a disease discovered in 1928 in the box environment and then described as “Punch-Drunk Syndrome”. In short, due to the fact that this person would have taken too many blows than was good for the brain. Multiple brain injuries cause the important Tau protein, which can be found in the neurons in your central nervous system, to end up in the wrong places and/or change its structure. When this happens, a chain reaction occurs in the brain. Our gray matter then clumps together and in turn causes neurons to die and, as it were, poison the nearest cells. As a result, you can develop a wide range of brain disorders later in life, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, but also ALS and depression. A well-known case of depression due to CTE is BMX star Dave Mirra. He took his own life and was also found to be suffering from CTE during the autopsy.
Is motocross also a risk sport for CTE?
To answer this question we turned to guessing Professor Doctor Patrick Cras. A motorcyclist himself, but also head of neurology at the University Hospital of Antwerp and professor at the University of Antwerp. In short, the right person for this question. He told us the following; “As far as I am aware, no reports of motocross riders with CTE have been published yet, but it is not unthinkable. This debate must be conducted with the necessary nuance, because it cannot be the case that every sport that exposes the human body and head to sudden high accelerations should be a major danger to public health.” He does add; “But it does make us think about our way of playing sports, the way in which young people increasingly seek greater risks, etc...”
This will probably be music to the ears of many, but don't let that last addition fall on deaf ears. Search the internet for reviews of helmets before purchasing one. Because if the explosion of CTE cases makes anything clear, it is that a helmet should not only save your life during a fall, but also for years afterwards!
By the way, we received an interesting one from Professor Cras website with tips on how to act after an impact to the head.
Text: Matthias Van Eeckhoven – Photo: Monster Energy Media / Milagro
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