Brain Injury Blog

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Wearing a helmet while skiing or snowboarding reduces the risk of head injury by 35 per cent, new research shows.

“That’s significant and we’re probably looking at the lower end of the protective effect,” Brent Hagel, an assistant professor of paediatrics at the University of Calgary, said in an interview.

In fact, the meta-analysis – a compilation and analysis of earlier research – showed that helmets can reduce the risk of head injury by as much as 60 per cent in some settings and as little as 15 per cent in others.

But Dr. Hagel noted that the data did not allow researchers to probe the quality of the helmet being worn by skiers and snowboarders, so the benefits of wearing a helmet are probably underestimated.

(In Canada, there are no legislated standards for ski helmets the way there are for hockey helmets. There are also no laws that make ski helmets mandatory, as there are with bicycle helmets in some jurisdictions.)

The new research, published in Tuesday’s edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, compiled and analyzed 12 studies of recreational skiers and snowboarders in North America, Europe and Asia.

All told, there were 46,564 people whose information was included in the study; all of them had injuries to the head and/or neck that were serious enough to require first aid from the ski patrol or medical attention at a hospital or clinic.

Only about one in five of those who suffered head injuries wore helmets.

Dr. Hagel and his team found that, over all, wearing a helmet reduced the risk of head injury by 35 per cent.

The researchers did not see additional neck injuries in those wearing helmets. (A common argument against wearing a helmet is that the impact will be dispersed to the neck.)

The research showed that, in children under the age of 13, the benefit of wearing a helmet was slightly greater than among adults.

“But there’s nothing magical that happens when you’re an adult. You are still at risk of injury,” Dr. Hagel said.

The benefits of wearing a helmet were about the same for skiers and snowboarders, and for beginners and advanced snow enthusiasts alike.

A helmet provided the greatest protection in lift-related incidents, the study showed. It provided the least protection in out-of-bounds incidents because those injuries are often catastrophic.

Richard Kinar, a director with the Brain Injury Association of Canada, said he was not surprised by the findings but said much more could be done to prevent head injuries on the slopes.

“Obligatory helmet use is something we would really like to see but it’s a stumbling block with the industry,” he said. “A lot of ski hills won’t even put helmets on their employees – they set a really bad example.”

Mr. Kinar, a former professional skier who had lobbied tirelessly to make the sport safer, said having standards for ski helmets sold in Canada would also greatly reduce the risk of injuries.

“Helmets really do help but they have to be good quality and people actually have to wear them,” Mr. Kinar said.

About 4.2 million Canadians practise downhill skiing or snowboarding, according to the Canadian Ski Council. Since 2004, the number of skiers has increased 25 per cent and snowboarders 23 per cent.

As the popularity of these sports has risen, so too has the number of traumatic injuries and deaths.

Source: André Picard, Public Health Reporter

Globe and Mail Update February 2, 2010

California leaders move toward tighter rules for student-athletes with concussions

SACRAMENTO — California could be moving toward tough rules to protect young athletes from concussions, with new legislation and a proposal from the state’s high-school sports federation calling for doctors to weigh in before any injured student is allowed back on the field.

The proposals follow a swell of media attention — especially after the near death of San Jose football player Matt Blea — and new scientific evidence that shows how susceptible young people in particular are to the debilitating effects of brain trauma.

Together, they would place California near the vanguard of efforts to blunt harm from head injuries. Only three other states currently have policies as strict as those state leaders are proposing.

“Injuries are a part of any sport,” said Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward. “But if you don’t recognize the signs and symptoms of a serious sports injury, it can be life-threatening.”

She has introduced two bills: one that would require coaches to study up on the symptoms of head injury, and a second that would require a doctor’s clearance for an injured athlete to resume play.

The second bill closely mirrors a proposal being weighed by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing board for sports programs at some 1,500 schools. But it’s unclear whether any of the proposals will actually come to pass.

To read the balance of this article, click on the link provided below:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14225622?nclick_check=1

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Filipino boxer Z “The Dream” Gorres is recovering from brain surgery after his Nov. 13, 2009 bout at Mandalay Bay. Surgeons at University Medical Center have successfully reattached the piece of skull that had been removed from bantamweight boxer Z “The Dream Gorres”, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a November fight at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues. Medical insurance coverage an issue for Las Vegas events! Officials seek to keep taxpayers off the hook

Now the bad news: Last week’s intricate procedure at the publicly funded hospital, combined with more than two months of around-the-clock nursing care and painstaking rehabilitation work by a team of physical therapists, has driven the medical expenses of the financially strapped Gorres to nearly $600,000. It’s a bill that Southern Nevada taxpayers must largely pick up, because state law requires promoters to put up only $50,000 worth of medical insurance for each fighter in the ring. The consequences of the Filipino boxer’s brain injury have prompted elected officials and the Nevada Athletic Commission to work toward crafting a solution that keeps taxpayers off the hook for the medical care of professional boxers.

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Parents and doctors often underestimate the severity of concussions among children, Canadian researchers contend, and they think the best solution is to scrap the word and replace it with “mild traumatic brain injury.”

Carol DeMatteo, an occupational therapist and associate clinical professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario says children diagnosed with concussions are treated differently from kids with other mild brain injuries.

In a study to be published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, she found that kids with concussions spend fewer days in hospital, and return to school sooner than kids with head injuries not diagnosed as concussion. “Even children with quite serious injuries can be labelled as having a concussion,” DeMatteo said in a news release.

“Concussion seems to be less alarming than ‘mild brain injury’ so it may be used to convey an injury that should have a good outcome, does not have structural brain damage and symptoms that will pass.”

Despite the perception that concussions are benign, they are actually an injury to the brain that can leave patients with a severe headache, amnesia and sometimes a loss of consciousness. While most patients recover, concussions can have lasting effects. Some patients develop “post-concussion syndrome,” a poorly understood complication that causes symptoms to last for weeks and sometimes months.

There also is evidence that people who’ve had multiple concussions, such as boxers and football players, can experience cumulative neurological damage. Some have even suggested that repeated concussion increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

And yet, many patients, their parents, and even their doctors think of concussions as benign, found DeMatteo, an associate member of the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University.

Link for CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University:  http://www.canchild.ca/en/

Link for Brain Injury Association of Canada link: http://biac-aclc.ca/en/

She decided to launch her research after hearing a parent say: “My child doesn’t have a brain injury; he only has a concussion.” The remark so struck her, she used the phrase to title her study.

For the research, DeMatteo and a team analyzed medical records for 341 children admitted over two years to McMaster Children’s Hospital with traumatic brain injuries. Among the group, 300 children had a severity score recorded and, of that group, 32 per cent received a concussion diagnosis.

The researchers found that despite the severity of the injury, children with the concussion label were discharged earlier from hospital. They were also more than twice as likely to return to school sooner following hospital discharge.

“Our study suggests that if a child is given a diagnosis of a concussion, the family is less likely to consider it an actual injury to the brain,” DeMatteo said. “These children may be sent back to school or allowed to return to activity sooner, and maybe before they should. This puts them at greater risk for a second injury, poor school performance and wondering what is wrong with them.”

DeMatteo points out that the other problem with the term “concussion” is that it can be vague. Concussions are usually diagnosed through symptoms since they are an “invisible injury”; a CT scan of the brain will typically find no abnormalities.

DeMatteo believes that using the term “mild traumatic brain injury” instead of “concussion” would help people understand that a concussion is an injury to the brain, not just the head.

She also thinks “concussion” should be scrapped for more specific descriptors of the injury, so that patients can better understand their injuries and doctors could accurately describe them.

Source: CTV.ca

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Rotary comes to rescue of New Zealand Brain Injury Association

BRAIN FOOD: Brain Injury Association staff member Vikki Herdman, gratefully accepts the $1800 cheque from the Rotary Club of Whangarei South, along with: Vanessa Gray, Mary Stewart, Rotary president Alan Young, John Gow, Alex Stewart, Robyn Theodore and Iain Watkins.

You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know the Brain Injury Association Northland is worthy of support. The Rotary Club of Whangarei South has given the organisation $1800 from the Bernina Fashion Awards. The funding is very welcome because the association was forced to close for six months in 2008 because of a lack of money.

General manager Vanessa Gray says it’s been a hard 18 months but the association is getting back on its feet thanks to the Community Response Fund and ASB Community Trust. The association supports 150 to 200 Northlanders who have survived brain injuries, and their families, with day-to-day help and advocacy. Because of the nature of a brain injury dealing with day to day life can be very difficult,” she says.

“It also raises awareness of brain injury prevention, particularly with drink-driver education, because many clients suffered their brain injuries in crashes.” Ms Gray says the support of the Rotary Club is “just fabulous” and goes beyond financial to raising awareness. “This is the first time we’ve been nominated as the recipient of somebody else’s fundraising activities. We’re not usually on the radar because we’re such a small organisation.”

The club chose the association because it needed the funding and does not get much government support, says Rotary president Alan Young. The club, which has about 55 members, has been running the fashion awards for two years, he says. The Brain Injury Association Northland is launching a fundraising scheme called Grand Giver. The scheme encourages people and organisations to give $1000 which the association will never spend but instead use the interest generated.

Source: Auckland stuff.co.nz (Jan. 12, 2010)

Spanish Fork cheerleader recovering from brain injury

A Spanish Fork High School cheerleader is recovering from brain surgery after a terrible accident during a basketball game Tuesday night. She and a cheerleader from Park City High School collided while tumbling during a halftime show. “She was tumbling across the floor, and the other girl was tumbling from the other side,” Spanish Fork High student Shinae Brumfield explained.

“We just heard a big crash when she hit the floor,” fellow student P.J. Inoke said. “It sounded like a football hit the ground. You could hear her skull hit the ground,” Brumfield added.

Tuesday night, 17-year-old Kylee McKell was doing what friends say she did best: cheering on her team, the Spanish Fork Dons. But during her timeout tumbling pass, she collided with a cheerleader from Park City High. McKell took the brunt of the crash. “It was really scary,” Brumfield said. “She fell and hit the ground, and she had a seizure.” Principal Dave McKee said his heart dropped as he watched emergency crews working on McKell.

McKee said the school’s policy is to have one school finish tumbling and leave the court before the other team begins, but a cheerleader from Park City High was confused, thought it was her turn, and ran into McKell. “People started yelling, ‘Stop!’ But it’s just hard to stop someone when they’re back hand springing,” McKee said.

McKell suffered a traumatic brain injury, and underwent surgery Wednesday. But for this varsity cheerleader, known for her bright smile and long blond hair, it was more than the procedure that upset her. “One of the traumatic things for her was she had to cut her hair, and she had beautiful long, blond hair,” McKee said. That’s where her friends come in.

“Everybody decided to shave their heads for her because she had to have her whole head shaved,” Spanish Fork High student Nate Russell said.

The entire Spanish Fork High basketball team now has the same hairdo, and word of McKell’s injury has spread. McKee says he’s had calls from nearly every school in the area, including Park City High. People all over the state praying for her recovery. KSL News spoke with McKell’s mother Thursday night, and she’s been overwhelmed by all of the support.

Principal McKee said McKell’s surgery went well. He said she has hopes of trying out for the Dixie State Cheerleading Squad, but she has a long road to recovery.

Source: ksl.com - By Jennifer Stagg  (Salt Lake City, Utah)  January 7, 2010

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.  — Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton unlocked the doors to the Marine Corps’ first rehabilitation apartment to aid service members suffering from brain injuries, Dec 11.

‘Anti-gravity’ treadmill designed for astronauts now helps injured athletes

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - A treadmill developed at the NASA Ames Research Center for exercising in space has seen more athletes than astronauts lately.

AlterG, a California company, has sold more than 200 of the “anti-gravity” physical therapy and training treadmills, which are based on the NASA prototype, at $75,000 each. The buyers have mainly been sports teams, college athletic departments and hospitals. A new model, the M300, costs $24,500 and is starting to be acquired by physical therapy clinics and nursing homes, where they are used for exercise without the risk of falling.

The AlterG, the only machine of its kind on the market, is an exercise treadmill with a waist-high enclosure added on. Zip yourself in and, by inflating the enclosure, you can reduce the force of gravity on your legs from a few percent to 80 percent, which approximates what it would be like to walk or run on the moon.

Air pressure elevates the user’s body, counteracting the force of gravity. Athletes use it to continue training after an injury, reducing the impact of running on injured muscles and tendons. It can also be used for low-impact training, especially useful for runners.

The Oakland Raiders football team has one; the Golden State Warriors basketball team has two, the University of California at Berkeley has several, and Stanford University has one. The University of California at San Francisco Medical Center has two, as does Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The military uses them to help patients learn to walk with prosthetics and relearn balance affected by traumatic brain injury, said Lars Barfod, AlterG’s chief executive.

The AlterG’s forerunner was developed in the early 1990s at NASA/Ames by researcher Robert Whalen and physician Alan Hargens as a space-suitable exercise machine and also to study the effects of weightlessness on humans. The original machines sucked air out of the waist-high chamber, creating a kind of artificial gravity. Later versions pump air in, countering gravity.

Source: The Washington Post - Pete Carey

Dec. 22, 2009

Christmas came early for Headway Jersey

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Islanders with brain injuries have been donated Christmas presents which will help them in their rehabilitation.

Headway has taken delivery of two Nintendo Wii consoles and a second plasma television for its centre in Springfield Road. The donation came from the Royal Bank of Canada.

“One of the effects of brain injury is a lack of balance and co ordination. The use of Wii consoles will enable our members to participate in alternative exercise to regain these abilities whilst having fun and enjoying the experience,” said Ray Cooper, Chief Executive Officer for Headway Jersey.

Starting as a small support group for just a few families, Headway Jersey has grown dramatically over recent years to become an organisation with over 100 local survivors of brain injury on its books. Brain injuries come about for a wide variety of reasons including accidents, strokes, tumours, illnesses and even mosquito bites and the charity is seeing an increase in demand for its support services year on year.

“The equipment is already proving popular with many of our members,” continued Ray. The advantage is that it can be used at our centre - members are able to participate without the feeling of being watched by anyone other than fellow members.

Source: channelonline.tv

Dec. 22, 2009