But what are the real issues behind the headlines and the public outcry, and what can and should be done to save sport from itself? Their book not only explains what a concussion is and how it may present, but also gives comprehensive practical strategies for managing persistent symptoms. Elizabeth Sandel, MD, is a medical director for Paradigm, which leads the workers’ compensation industry in solving complex health-care challenges and improving lives. This condition is characterized by slow, progressive neurodegeneration due to repeated head trauma and tau protein deposition. The book, however, left me with a haunting, unanswered question: what would be the state of the science today if Dr.

In the hospital, a CT scan of the head is the radiographic study of choice for a quick evaluation to exclude neurosurgical emergencies. Jagoda AS, Bazarian JJ, Bruns JJ, Cantrill SV, Gean AD, Howard PK, Ghajar J, Riggio S, Wright DW, Wears RL, Bakshy A, Burgess P, Wald MM, Whitson RR.

The Sideline Concussion Assessment Tool 5 (SCAT5) has a comprehensive inventory for possible symptoms of a concussion. And sadness; the man who had “dreamed of finishing my career on my own terms” cannot even remember his moments of glory.

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine suggests an individualized approach for each patient and consideration of factors such as persistent symptoms, the number of lifetime concussions, previous prolonged recoveries from a concussion, and the perceived ease of sustaining a repeat concussion when deciding on continued athletic participation. I recommend Shaken Brain to anyone interested in a deeper, nuanced understanding of concussion/mild TBI. Further radiographic investigation with an MRI is a consideration in patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms. Concussion shares both Michael’s and Frankie’s honest accounts of what this condition has meant for them.Moreover, complications in diagnosis means some may not realize they have this milder form of brain injury. Such strategies include how to ask for professional and specialist medical help (and where to get it from), and also some simple self-management techniques. The most commonly seen complication of a concussion is a post-concussion syndrome (PCS) characterized by persistent symptoms lasting weeks to months after the initial injury.

This book is an essential resource for anyone who feels that they need insight, practical help and emotional support into what is often perceived as an almost-invisible illness, but one which is very real for you or your loved one.Formerly a Contributing Editor at Esquire, her sto Gerstner, a first-rate, professional journalist with a background in reporting on sports science, and Dr. And she shares stories from a diverse group of patients, educating readers on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

I know, because, when I was done reading, it was if I had just had a long, thought-provoking conversation with Kutcher and Gerstner – perhaps while sitting in the bleachers watching a high school football game on a Friday night – during which I not only learned the essentials about the identification, treatment, and management of concussions, that a concussion doesn’t have to end your child’s athletic career; but, just as importantly, that you simply can’t trust a lot of what you read or hear about head injuries on television, radio, or on Twitter.Providers often consider a direct, traumatic blow to the head as a significant cause of a concussion. Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions about Memory Loss and Dementia, he was the founding director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry and the first holder of the Richman Family Professorship. For it was the subsequent January 18, 2007 front page article in the Times that not only changed Dr. Now he’s in America, in 2008, stuck in a boiling hot courtroom in Pittsburgh, and it feels like everything is once again about busting loose from the pettiness, the corruption, and the wicked tendencies of man.