Old Boy NEWS
Fleiszer warns about concussion injured, even though the athlete may feel no pain nor see any injury. A jolt can cause a concussion, even if there is no blow to the head. Sudden linear motion can also cause a concussion, but rotational motion is even more dangerous. Athletes who sustain concussions are 3.79 times more likely to get a subsequent muscle or ligament injury within the next 90 days, Tim said. But that is not the most serious possible outcome. Many times, an athlete and his teammates do not realize when a concussion has taken place. Too often, athletes are eager to continue playing, and that’s where the situation can get even more serious. “Trying to hide symptoms puts you at risk and puts your teammates at risk,” Tim stressed. Second-impact syndrome (SIS) occurs when an athlete who has already sustained a head injury sustains a second head injury before symptoms have cleared from the first. This second blow to the head, sometimes minor, can result in a loss of auto-regulation of the brain’s blood supply, leading to rapid brain swelling. Fifty per cent of SIS sufferers die, and the survivors rarely recover fully. It usually occurs to athletes under the age of 21. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found typically in athletes and others who suffer repetitive injuries to the brain. Symptoms include mood-changes like depression, aggression and impulsivity, as well as cognitive impairments such as loss elwyn House Old Boy Tim Fleiszer ’92 visited the school of memory and executive functioning. on January 27, 2015 to deliver a very urgent message Recently there has been an increasing alarm over cases of about the dangers of concussion in sports. dementia among NFL players who sustained repeated head Tim knows the subject very well. He was a McMaster injuries. Some cases of suicide among former pro-football Trophy winner at Selwyn House, excelling in football, hockey players have been blamed on CTE. Up until 2007 the NFL and rugby. Upon graduation, Tim entered Choate-Rosemary was still denying that a connection existed. Hall School, where he captained the “The year 2007 was the first time football team to back-to-back New “Trying to hide symptoms the world changed in how we look at England Prep School Championships in concussion,” Tim said. “The incidence is puts you at risk and puts 1992 and 1993. Accepted to Harvard, in much higher than anyone thought.” 1994 Tim won a spot at starting fullback your teammates at risk.” How to avoid these injuries? With 60 and became the first freshman to start in to 75 per cent of concussions occurring in Harvard football history, and he was captain of the team in 1997 practice, teams could reduce hits in practice. They could avoid when they won an Ivy League Championship. Drafted into targeting the head in contact. Modern equipment doesn’t the Canadian Football League in ’97, Tim became one of few necessarily help the problem; in fact harder modern padding players in CFL history to win four Grey Cup championships can make the situation worse. Neck-strengthening exercises with four different teams. In 2010, Tim was one of the two and changing helmets often can help. first inductees into the Selwyn House Athletic Hall of Fame. When a head injury takes place it’s “critical, critical, critical But he did not revisit Selwyn House to talk about his that you repair it,” says Tim. The only treatment is rest, both storied career. He came to warn students and parents about physical and cognitive. That means no TV, no computer and concussions, how common they are and how they can be no cell phones. diagnosed and treated. To save our brains we must use our brains, Tim says. The He started by describing the brain as a fragile organ “the only solution to the concussion problem is “changing the way n consistency of pudding or Jell-O.” When the head is violently we think.” shaken, the brain moves within the skull, and can be seriously
S
Veritas, page 13
