Concussions

ascott72 · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 124

The new Outside magazine issue (Sept 2016) has an article about concussions and how they are affecting outdoor athletes. It's not just for football players anymore. Mountain bikers, surfers, snowboarders, skiers - they all get banged up too.

I have had several concussions during a lifetime of sports and outdoor activities. The worst one I ever had was while windsurfing. Fall day, 4.2 day at Bob's Beach in the Gorge, got catapulted in a big gust. Landed on my back on top of my sail. Didn't hit anything hard, but going from 30 mph (?) to 0 mph in a second is not good for you!

I slept poorly all week, was irritable, and had trouble concentrating at work. Went to see my primary care physician. Unfortunately, there's not much they can do for concussions. He warned me that I needed to take it easy for a while; if I got another concussion there was a risk that I could black out, obviously not a good thing to do in the water. The major symptoms went away in 5-7 days. No idea how long it took for other healing to occur. It's a good thing it was towards the end of the season and I wasn't tempted to go out again.

That's probably the worst accident that occurred to me in 25 years of windsurfing (10 in the Gorge). Reflecting back, I know there was some user error in how I handled that gust. I don't worry about that happening again. And I wear a helmet for 5.0 and below so I don't worry too much about getting hit by my mast. What I do wonder about is the cumulative effect of:
* landing jumps
* getting thrown off your board during high speed gybes
* getting slammed in to the water learning a new trick
* even smacking heavy chop for a 3 hour session

Your brain is like an egg yolk inside a shell. It's just physics; anytime you are moving fast and come to an abrupt stop, there are forces at work. A helmet doesn't help. Your brain still sloshes around inside your skull.

I still windsurf (although I've moved out of the Gorge now.) I love the sport. Nothing like skimming across the water. But I wonder.....

U2U2U2 · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 10:34 pm Post subject:

I like most of this , posted I'm sure as a precaution of what coluld happen.

You wear a helmet when it's 5.0 and below, is alarming.
Be just as likely to be injured on larger gear .

cgoudie1 · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:09 pm Post subject: Re: Concussions

Well, you could quit, or...... you could go glass. Wouldn't help with getting
thrown off or drilled, but definitely would reduce the heavy chop stress, and
the poor jump landing stress. A good jump landing should be smooth as butter.

-Craig

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

If you really want to see the advantages of helmets in ANY planing scenarios, SEARCH the forum with helmet (and helmut) as your key word. There must be hundreds of pages on the topic. Mine (always with face guard) have saved my beautiful face (just ask Mom) countless times ... and my life and eye sockets a few more.

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

I"ve had a few, being the smallest guy on the varsity football team and playing OLB on D, and TE on offense, a starter both ways, but playing 2 out of 3 downs. Alternated with CCSF's head coach's son.
Once I hit the back of my head on a sprinkler stub, CCSF, and Mom said I didn't come home for 2 nights. I think I spent the whole days at school, not sure of classes, then spent the nights on the field, in the bushes off to the side.
Got a good one around '74, crashing a bike at over 110 mph at Talledega coming off the banking (6th gear, RG500 Suzuki Team bike, 10,400 rpm), and couldn't figure out how to install the Triangulars we were selling for about a week, then everything sorted itself out. Lucky I didn't take my driving shift back to Brisbane after that one. I did get fired after two weeks.
Did a number at Carnegie Park, tib/fib, and didn't wake up for just over a whole week. Surgery on leg and hand, pins installed, but they started to worry when I was in ICU for 8 days. I didn't.
See, I'm normal. I keep telling you I am.

ascott72 · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 124

What concerns me most about the article is the idea of repeated smaller impacts:

"CTE occurs, Stein explained, from an accumulation of impacts, both concussive and subconcussive. (the latter is a milder hit that does not lead to obvious symptoms.) Scientists don't yet understand why some people develop the disease and others don't. Steins says the best indicator of future problems isn't necessarily the number of concussions but how long an athlete plays a sport that includes regular impact." - p97

Just spreading the word. We are not football players colliding into each other on a daily basis, but there might be some risk.

We all have to make our own risk/benefit calculation.