Weddle cleared to play vs. Saints

[oldnotdead]

Yeah when they do his autopsy they will say "damn I guess he was concussed a few times". IMO there is no such thing as a mild brain injury. Jr Seau was largely non-symptomatic for years but suffered from TBI all the same. It only became apparent after he retired. Talk to all the vets coming out of combat who "appeared" okay and passed protocol only to show symptoms months or weeks later. Team doc's have every incentive to marginalize injuries, kinda like the VA.

Sorry but it's literally a sore spot for me. I was subjected to explosive concussion waves and 50 yrs later I'm still having problems. Though it came in handy as an excuse when I was married when I would forget minor dates like anniverseries! LOL

 

[Mackeyser]

Yeah when they do his autopsy they will say "damn I guess he was concussed a few times". IMO there is no such thing as a mild brain injury. Jr Seau was largely non-symptomatic for years but suffered from TBI all the same. It only became apparent after he retired. Talk to all the vets coming out of combat who "appeared" okay and passed protocol only to show symptoms months or weeks later. Team doc's have every incentive to marginalize injuries, kinda like the VA.

Sorry but it's literally a sore spot for me. I was subjected to explosive concussion waves and 50 yrs later I'm still having problems. Though it came in handy as an excuse when I was married when I would forget minor dates like anniverseries! LOL

Don't get me started on the effect of sub-concussive impacts and their contribution to CTE and other brain trauma. I've posted extensively on that subject.

I wasn't trying to minimize the hit on Weddle. Rather prioritize in the moment what were his and the medical staff's concerns.

The reason sub-concussive impacts are such an issue is that it strains the Corpus Callosum or the tight nerve bundle which connects the hemispheres of the brain and that stress is felt with both sub-concussive and concussive impacts. When Stanford put a special mouthpiece into Stanford players to ascertain what actually happens to the brain, once a player got clocked, they had all the data to animate the brain trauma. What they found is that the brain DID NOT slosh around like jello in a bucket, but rather, the hemispheres moved together and the impact of the brain on the inside of the skull was relatively minor compared to the magnitude of the impact. However, the hemispheres DID violently move and moved asynchronously in all 3 dimensions putting tremendous stress on the Corpus Callosum (I have the vague recollection that it's also called the Williams Bridge, but I can't seem to find anything to back that up, so I guess I misremembered).

Also, considering that they've found CTE in 96% of NFL players who've allowed their brains to be studied, I'd say it's pretty certain that everyone who's played will have it, save kickers as they tend to not be involved in contact plays.

One can argue that many sub-concussive impacts can be worse than a few big concussive impacts, depending on the nature of those big impacts.

As someone with a brain injury, I've studied this...a lot.

 

[Mackeyser]

Cool, thanks for the detailed response, I find this stuff interesting.

Yeah, I recently learned about the ‘fencing response’, where the arms tend to extend straight out and rigid after a severe concussion.

And yes, I noticed how quickly the trainers brought Weddle up to a sitting position, which I thought they normally wouldn’t do if they suspected a severe concussion.

And regarding that Oct 2018 game where Cooks got ‘wrecked’ (ANDhad that gruesome KO as a Patriot player in the prior year), its amazing that he recovered so quickly.

I don't know if it's a good sign or bad sign. We don't know enough, yet.

We already know that some people are just physiologically better suited to head impact trauma. It's not exactly like they're designed to be hit in the head, but both the internal structure of the cranium, the size and shape of the brain as well as the bone, muscle and tendon connections surrounding the head all seem better set up than others to withstand cranial trauma.

Does that mean they suffer less brain trauma? We don't know that yet. At some point, we will.

At some point, a kid in HS will be able to get scanned as part of his health clearance test and they'll KNOW if that kid is at significant risk compared to the baseline. They'll also know if a kid is better suited which could open up things like "this kid is suited to play at greater risk positions than those at the baseline".

It has the potential to be kinda strange.

And then we'll wonder as guys are being funneled to certain positions, are we missing an all-time great at something because of the screening?

It'll make lots of fodder for Youtube videos and forum posts, I'm sure.