Last week the Palm Beach Post published a story about a player for the NHL's Florida Panthers who agreed to donate his brain for research to the Sports Injury Institute. It is working in conjunction with Boston University's School of Medicine to expand the base of knowledge in the area of how concussions and other sports injuries affect an athlete's brain function.
Stories have been written about athletes, especially retired NFL players, whose brains were so severely damaged that they appeared to belong to men decades older or those that were in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
The NFL has been engulfed in controversy for some time now about whether it believes that concussions and on-field head trauma contribute to a lack of brain function and disease in later life. As a lawyer I understand their disinterest in connecting the dots for purposes of building a trail of blame and liability. What I don't understand is why they wouldn't endorse something that is simple, relatively inexpensive and effective.
They have mandated use of a chin strap on a player's helmet which an NFL team dentist says directly contributes to concussions because of the positioning of the jaw and the likelihood that the bone will strike the temporal lobe of the brain. And while a concussion policy in the league has been instituted to prevent players from being forced back onto the field without regard to their health, prevention seems to be the solution in the long run, at least to me.
After I wrote about Trent Green and the fears for him returning to the game after the most severe level of concussion identified by medical professionals, I heard from Mark Picot of Mahercor Laboratories, LLC. Headed up by Gerald Maher, the aforementioned Patriots' team dentist, who has worked with them for decades, Mahercor Labs has developed a mouth guard specifically to help prevent concussions. Hundreds of current and former Patriots players are enthusiastic customers and take their knowledge with them as they join other teams. Dr. Maher's product is currently used in high school, college and professional sports including hockey, lacrosse and football. Mahercor's website contains information about its latest market: the military.
It not only assists in keeping injuries from being catastrophic, it has been shown, in anedcotal evidence to keep the athletes from incurring concussions in the first place.
And while the NFL is acutely aware of Dr. Maher, his product and the success rate with the Patriots and other athletes in the league, there hasn't been a meeting between them that has resulted in any progress towards showcasing the effectiveness of the device. There was an invitation from Commissioner Goodell for Dr. Maher to present his data to a group in Ottawa but Maher declined. His reason was simply that the research in Ottawa was being conducted on test dummies and not human beings. Individual athletes or NFL teams are free to work with Dr. Maher if they choose. But if you just haven't heard about the mouth guard and rely on the NFL's recommendation you probably aren't aware of it or if you are, then you might not be convinced of the effectiveness of the device.
As each weekend goes by and another athlete goes down to a concussion (this weekend a three-player collision in the Tampa Bay/Seattle game netted one and perhaps two) I wonder when the players in the NFL will learn that waiting for the league to put its stamp of approval on something could jeopardize their health.
Comments
Bolden, Tatupu, Hilliard, the list goes on, the NFL does not have a concussion problem. Even more disturbing, Laverneus Coles goes down, clearly with some type of MTBI event, and minutes later is back in the game. Who is overseeing his return. Elliot Pelman, the very person who is in a position of power to protect these players. When the Patriots line up against the Broncos tonight, most of them will be protected from this known connection to "Glass jaw" concussions. Yet Brandon Stokely won't be wearing this corrective device, but Daniel Graham will, does a player have to die on the field to get attention. Where is the outrage from the players union. The government is poised for intervention, maybe they can crack the cone of silence the NFL has built around this procedure.
Stevie: You seem to know a lot about this issue. More people should learn. The human sandwich of Hill/Tatupu and Hilliard gave us two for the price of one this weekend and yet the announcers were making light of it as trainers were trying to get Tatupu to tell them what day it was. Disgraceful
"What I don't understand is why they wouldn't endorse something that is simple, relatively inexpensive and effective."
Maybe because his 'data' is a ridiculously small sample size and the review abstract doesn't a) list any time frame for the study and b) while it lists that the Patriots had the least amount of concussions (14) - it, again, didn't say how long they used this device, what the 2nd least amount of concussions were and did the mouthpiece cause any unintended effects? (This is the team where Teddy Bruschi had a damn stroke.)
Leagues would be remiss if they recommended changes to safety programs based on small studies undertaken by the principle of a company trying to sell said object.
Interesting that journal search does not turn up this so called study - it only shows up on the salesman's site and a site for toothwhitener.
If every individual businessperson with a non-patented (non ada?) device came to the NFL and wanted THEM to foot the bill for studies of their own devices - we'd have more issues than just concussions...
Bob Mantz
www.BobsBlitz.com
Because, at heart, the NFL does not care about its players' well-being. That is the reason behind most things the NFL does that seem confusing to outsiders, from something as simple as letting West Coast teams play away games on the East Coast at 4 pm instead of 1, to pointlessly long pre-seasons, to the prevalence of AstroTurf before the invention of Field Turf.
This is why I can't watch the NFL any more.
Brock: I hope your conclusion isn't true but then it does give you pause to wonder.
Bob: I appreciate your strict scientific take on how data become recognized as legit for a study. My point, and perhaps I didn't make it as well as I could, was that the NFL seems to have made it difficult for Dr. Maher to be included in studies that it would sanction. In the meantime, the Patriots are believers and you know that Belichick isn't one to trust just anybody! thanks for reading and commenting.
Excellent article, Paula! As a mom with a son (he's a golfer, thankfully), I feel for those boys on the field (and their moms!)
Sorry, I missed this one. Forget about the owners and upper brass. If these mouth guards work then the players should just take it upon themselves to pick one up. I would. It's that simple.
Unless the NFL forbids the guards. Then that's a whole other ball of wax.
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