October 14, 2012
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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There has been a lot in the news recently about the effects of concussions.
For many race fans who also are fans of the NFL (like myself), it has been a sad education on the effects of a head injury on an athlete later in life.
You look at great football players like the late Junior Seau, who had an amazing career with the San Diego Chargers, and yet took his own life when he realized he was suffering from a serious brain injury -- a brain injury caused by years of hard hits and concussions.
Ray Easterling, who played for the Atlanta Falcons in the 70’s and led a group of retired NFL players in a lawsuit focusing on players suffering from head injuries, also took his own life earlier this year. In both cases, both men made sure not to injure their heads in their suicides, and requested that their brains be studied in an effort to better diagnose the damage done by concussions.
In a recent study conducted by the American Academy of Neurology, researchers followed “3,439 players with an average age of 57 from the National Football League with at least five playing seasons from 1959-1988. Researchers reviewed death certificates for causes of death from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and ALS. At the time of the analysis, only 10 percent of the participants had passed away.”
“The research found that professional football players in this study were three times more likely to die as a result of diseases that damage brain cells compared to the general population. A player’s risk of death from Alzheimer’s disease or ALS was almost four times higher than the general population. Of the 334 who died, seven had Alzheimer’s disease and seven had ALS. The risk of dying from Parkinson’s disease was not significantly different than that of the general population.”
That is some scary stuff.
Now, why do I bring football into a racing column? Because we were reminded that concussions are a matter of course for our favorite drivers this week when Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was climbing out of the No. 88 Chevrolet for the next two races due to a concussion. And it isn’t his first.
“(After Kansas) I knew something was just not quite right but I decided to push through it; I’ve had a concussion before, and I knew kind of what was dealing with,” Earnhardt said during a press conference Thursday. “I felt pretty good for a week or two, at least 80 or 90 percent. By the time I got to Talladega I was 100 percent. (The last lap crash) was an odd kind of hit; the car spun around real quick and it disoriented me. I knew as soon as it happened that I had reinjured myself, for lack of a better way to describe it. I knew I had kind of regressed. It was not even half of the impact I had at Kansas, but it was enough to cause me some concern.”
“I didn't see anybody at Kansas. I was -- I regret not seeing somebody after that happened. I was stubborn, and I'd had concussions before and knew what I was -- thought I knew what I was dealing with and felt like that I was capable of doing my job.”
Note that Junior says he has had concussions before and pushed through, racing the following weekend even though he knew he had a cracked skull.
Dr. Jerry Petty, NASCAR’s chief physician, explained the tests, and words, that went into making the final diagnosis for Junior. “So far what we've done is Dale -- the first thing he had was an impact test, which is a test that we've been using more and more with drivers. His exam was entirely normal except that his main thing -- we were seeing him for symptoms. He had very few signs at that time. In other words, his neurological exam was normal.
“We wanted to get an MRI scan, and we did an MRI that following morning, a special MRI. I think we had to wait a while to get it because we wanted to get a special method they have of looking for previous injuries and so forth. That was entirely normal. The whole -- that was very encouraging. “
But, in the end, it wasn’t the tests, but the driver, that convinced Dr. Petty that something was actually very wrong. When Junior claimed that despite the results of the tests, he wasn’t feeling right, that was all the Doc needed to hear to pull Junior out of the car. “90 percent of a concussion probably depends on individual information.
The headache -- people around you might notice that you're different. By and large it's a patient's -- the history that the patient gives is the thing that tells you that they've had a concussion. A concussion can be seeing stars.
A concussion can be just being addled for a minute. Any time the brain is not doing what it's supposed to be doing after an acceleration or deceleration, that's a concussion.”
For years, we have heard of older NASCAR drivers who suffer from diminished mental capacity in their later years. For the most part, many have believed the brain damage to be the result of sitting in cars filled with engine exhaust for race after race. But now, in theory at least, it seems that that excuse might not be the whole story. We have essentially removed the exhaust issue from the lives of current drivers (although not completely, as drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle can attest). But concussions are another thing. We discovered through Junior’s press conference this week that a NASCAR driver can suffer mild concussions at least once a season -- often times, maybe more than one. And there is nothing but their own common sense that forces them to think twice about getting back behind the wheel and racing the following weekend.
Jeff Gordon, Junior’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, says that the drivers play as important a role in track safety as the men and women you see during cautions and in the medical centers each weekend. “I think we all play a role; NASCAR, the NASCAR liaisons at-track, safety crews, us as drivers, teams -- we all play a role in keeping this sport safe, and preventing injury. Sometimes that is just what it is -- preventative. Something can happen, and it sends a signal to you and you’ve got to be the one to make the call and step up. That’s the first step. Then you have got to go see the right doctors, and rely on their expertise to make the right calls as well. And so on, and so on.
"It was a big step, I’m proud of Junior for doing it. I don’t know if he knew going in that was going to happen, but, from my own experience; I had that wreck at Pocono, and I know I was trying to leave the infield medical center. I knew I was a little loopy. I hit my head pretty hard. But as a driver, your adrenaline is still flowing; you go in there; its’ been a bad wreck. You go “Yeah, I don’t feel great, but I feel okay, I’m going to go’, and I was leaving and they said ‘Whoa, wait a minute’. They had the crash data box, and I don’t know if there is a red signal on it that once it gets up to a high G Load or something, but they said ‘No No, we’ve checked the box and you need to stay here, and we need to go get you checked out’. So I actually left there and went to a hospital and got an MRI that night because of NASCAR directly me to do that. Everything checked out okay, but, hours later is when you start to realize. At the time, you can go into the Infield Care Center right afterwards and feel fine. It’s usually hours later when some of the symptoms start to hit you.”
That said, Gordon admits he has gotten in the car even knowing he might have a concussion. “I think usually we use the sign if you are knocked unconscious. I’ve hit my head really hard many a times, never have been knocked unconscious, but I’ve probably still had a concussion, or a mild one. To me, as long as I feel fine going into the weekend, and don’t have any headaches and feel like once I get in the car, I’m driving the car to the best of my ability, then I feel like I’m fine. I’m not saying that is correct. And, I think we’re getting into it other sports, and we’ll probably get into it a little bit more now in our (own). It is just trying to really properly diagnose a real concussion, and try to acknowledge it as well as educate on the dangers of having another impact with your head. It could be a small impact that could be very damaging.”
Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, says he feels that the news out of the NFL is going to be important in reminding drivers -- and NASCAR -- that head injuries are something to be paid close attention to.
“I think the real good news is it has come to light with the NFL and Dr. Petty handles NFL guys with the (Carolina) Panthers, too, and there's another doctor here, too, with him, and there's some things they can do to help it along and protect him, and he was explaining all that. So the good news is it's -- this is kind of preventative maintenance not to take a chance and there's no damage. But I think when you find out that you're okay, but if you were right away to have another one, it could be a big problem, then I think guys are going to have to pay attention to it, just like the NFL, just like I heard on SportsCenter talking this morning about two or three different people they were waiting to get cleared to play this weekend.”
And Dr. Petty says he uses NFL rules with regard to drivers. “We've patterned our rules after the NFL to a degree. We would do the same procedure about giving them five or six days without a headache and then doing provocative tests. I don't think that, so far as I know, they're not allowed to go back any earlier than some of the NFL guys are allowed to go back.”
So the next time you see a crash on the track and the driver walks away, remember, he or she might *look* ok, but might not actually *be* ok. And, in many cases, it is up to the driver to make the call to the doctor and say “Hey Doc, I don’t feel right. Can we talk?”
Let’s hope that Junior is setting an example for more of his comrades that long term health is more important than getting behind the wheel and risking further injury -- both in the short and long term.
Follow Kim on Twitter: @ksrgatorfn
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