scientists: concussions --> ALS

[Neal Clayton]

excerpt from HBO Real Sports interview with the two doctors about to publish their findings (http://www.hbo.com/#/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes/0/161-august-17-2010/video/head-injuries.html/eNrjcmbOUM-PSXHMS8ypLMlMDkhMT-VLzE1lztcsy0xJzYeJO+fnlaRWlDAXsjFyMjKyMbJJJ5aW5Bfk JFbalhSVpgIATuUXOA==)

they said the neurological science journal would publish the study 'tomorrow', not sure if that's happened or not, i don't know if the studio portion of real sports is live or pre-recorded.

either way, they've been studying the brains and spinal cords of athletes who have died from lou gehrig's disease and have found a link to head injuries and the disease, which had previously no known origin. they also researched lou gehrig himself, and found newspaper articles documenting at least 6 head injuries in a two years span (after which he never missed a game, of course, hence the record he held for so long).

i guess the next stop is a big controversy with the NFL and NCAA over how to handle football head injuries.

[Greg Peterson]

Head injuries are getting to be a big deal. Never mind steroids, it's the head injuries that cause the real problems.

And thanks to technology, we can see the damage done to the brain by impact previously thought to be insignificant.

[Neal Clayton]

it should be noted too that good journalism does make a positive impact sometimes. HBO has been doing these 'long term effect of head injury' stories for years with former football players, which has led to the NFL who was previously in a mode of deny deny deny to change their tune and hire a pair of neurologists to overhaul the league's policies and procedures in regard to head injuries, which should then trickle down through the NCAA and to the high school level.

too bad we only get good news reporting from the sports media anymore. guess it's just a result of what we're willing to pay for.

here's their first story from 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mB1gFXfOZU). the doctor interviewed in the original story has been working with the neurologist who is publishing the link to ALS tomorrow since then.