The potential lasting brain damage suffered by NFL players due to the thousands of helmet-to-helmet blows over a career has been the subject of much recent controversy. For years, the NFL has said that it didn't know if playing professional football caused long-term brain damage, even though they started their concussion committee in 1994. Fifteen years later in 2009, Commissioner Goodell testified in Congress that they were still studying the issue. Congresswoman Maxine Waters sent shockwaves through professional sports when she told the Commissioner that having the NFL study brain damage was like the tobacco companies studying lung cancer. Perhaps there was a conflict of interest.
As a psychiatrist and brain-imaging physician, the answer seemed obvious to me. I wondered why the NFL had never performed a large-scale brain-imaging study. How would we ever really know unless we actually looked at their brains? After a number of players came to see me with dementia, depression, irritability and obesity, I decided to study their brains and answer the question, "Does playing professional football put players at risk for long-term damage to the brain?"
My colleagues and I performed two different types of brain-imaging studies on more than 100 active and retired players. We did brain SPECT scans, which look at blood flow and activity patterns in the brain, and QEEG studies, which measure electrical activity. In addition, we performed a group of tests to measure cognitive function. The answer, which did not surprise anyone except perhaps some in the NFL, was that playing professional football causes long-term brain damage.
You cannot get hit by guys like the Minnesota Vikings' offensive tackle Ron Yary (6'5" and 255 pounds, who is one of the players in our study) 30 to 50 times a game and not expect to have some trouble.
Our study found that the retired NFL brain seemed to have its own pattern. Damage typically affected the following areas:
As we were doing our study, a new study came out from the University of Pittsburgh that reported as a person's weight went up the actual physical size of their brain goes down. Holy smokes!
Once you admit that you have a problem you can then do something about it.
Our initial findings led us to a question that had much more implications outside of football. "Could we rehabilitate brains that have been damaged by chronic trauma?" I had spent the last 20 years of my career improving people's brains and subsequently their lives.
That became Part 2 of our study.
We put our players on a brain healthy program that included a weight-loss group, regular exercise (surprisingly many of these former elite athletes had become couch potatoes), mental exercises and nutritional supplements that support brain health, such as fish oil, and a proprietary formula including ginkgo biloba, huperzine A, phosphatidyl serine and vinpocetine, among others.
The follow-up results have been nothing short of amazing. We have found that recovery and improvement in cognitive function is indeed possible. This is the most exciting part of our study.
To date we have done follow-up scans and testing on 32 players. Twenty-five of them have shown significant improvement, both on their SPECT scans and on their neuropsychological testing, sometimes improving their test scores by over 400 percent.
Take Cam Cleeland, who played for the New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams, for example. At 34, Cam is one of our younger retired NFL players. He volunteered for our study because he was struggling with problems of depression, irritability, frustration, high stress, obsessive thinking, memory problems and marital problems.
Cam had been diagnosed with a total of eight concussions--three in college and five in the pros. Cam's SPECT scan showed clear brain damage and his Microcog (a test of neuropsychological function) showed significant decreases in general cognitive functioning, information processing speed, attention, memory and spatial processing.
After eight months on our brain rehabilitation program, Cam reported feeling much better and noticed significant improvements in his attention, mental clarity, memory, mood, motivation and anxiety level. He felt his anger was under greater control and he was getting along better with his small children.
His SPECT scan showed dramatic improvement in the areas of his temporal lobes (memory and mood stability), prefrontal cortex (attention and judgment) and cerebellum (processing speed). His Microcog showed dramatic improvement as well.
A similar example is Big Ed White from the Minnesota Vikings, who played in four Pro Bowls and four Super Bowls. He weighed 365 pounds when he first came to see us, but lost 40 pounds in six months. All of his cognitive scores improved as well.
The interventions used in our study are simple. When players do not respond, we have added certain memory-enhancing medications, antidepressants, hyperbaric oxygen treatment and neurofeedback. Again, often the results are very encouraging.
Retired players need the NFL's help and advocacy. The NFL has recently made strides towards admitting that playing football in the NFL is a brain-damaging sport. Once you admit that you have a problem you can then do something about it!
The exciting news in my mind is that if we can demonstrate improvement in football players with chronic brain damage, it offers hope for the millions of people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, including the 15 percent of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who came home with brain injuries.
My nephew and Godson, Michael, is a Marine who serves in Afghanistan. Two weeks ago he fell and hit his head. I immediately sent him our protocol of supplements. This issue is much closer to home than I like.
If you have a comment, please write below.
To your brain health.
Daniel G. Amen, MD
Follow Daniel Amen, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/docamen
NFL Injuries - National Football League - ESPN
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NFL Injuries - National Football League Injuries List - FOX Sports ...
While your work is quite fascinating, according to the experts over at the Scientology compound it is completely unnecessary because, you see, the brain is merely a shock absorber. It does nothing but keep your skull inflated, apparently. See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDOf-9HH1-U
The mythical image of a high school or college football star who later in life becomes a janitor, or is mentally deficient in several ways, could be based on the very real possibility that this football star literally endured long term brain damage for love of the sport, the team, and the idea. And he likely did so without being fully aware of the health consequences.
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/US-Army-funds-study-on-nutrition-for-neurotrauma
If these methods are providing Dr. Amen with clinical success, why shouldn't he keep us informed? There are no ethical dilemmas here.
I was so very excited to read your article, it gives hope to those that are not in professional sports yet suffer from the same issues from the very same reasons, concussions!
I want to ask you and really hope that I receive an answer for we had almost given up hope for a "normal" life...How does the average person get the proper help in the medical field when the majority of physicians do not believe that such a condition like this exists? No matter how hard we try to explain the symptoms and give proof of research that supports it, physicians don't seem to think it is anything more than ADD or Depression and give medicines for that diagnosis...of course the meds may help mask some of the symptoms and give just enough to keep you moving, but none ever make you feel "normal".
Please give some advice to us "little people" out here who may not have made it to Professional Sports but did suffer the same blows throughout High School and College.
thank you
I struggled with writing this comment but I must...to do otherwise would lack integrity.
I was excited to read this article after glancing at the title. This is a topic that is very important to me. I was surprised that I was reading your work here on Huffpost before the usual medical literature.
Sir, with all do respect as a colleague, to disseminate information that has not been independently verified via standard professional methods nor has been vetted in peer reviewed publications has very questionable ethical footing. For an investigator to devise and conduct the study then interpret their own data is unacceptable...to then publish it for public consumption and promote a specific treatment regimen without proper verification is a breach of our ethical code as physicians.
But you already know this.
Johnny Benjamin MD
Orthopedic Spinal Surgeon
I understand the position of those functioning in the realm of science needing the tangible scientific evidence, according the "rules" of the game, to fully participate in or even acknowledge such treatment protocols. My MD basically says the same as Dr. B. Dr. A., my hope is you will be able to work with others to validate your work is that way.
In the mean time, I am extremely disappointed in the medical realm (and do NOT TRUST the majority). I APPRECIATE your sharing what you are finding. My daughter & I have suffered from 3 major car accidents w/in 10 yrs. (not my fault). Not only has my life been repeatedly & continually turned upside down, but finding docs to properly diagnose and treat has been a nightmare. The first thing they automatically do is reach for the RX pad for antidepressants. When the different varieties did not work, dosages were increased and stacked.
Dr. B, now that I can do more searching on my own, I have learned to have my Vit D & iron checked... both were significantly LOW. No one ever checked (both contribute to symptoms of depression). With as deplete as our food supply is, combined with the physiological, neurological and biological effects of trauma, I am a strong advocate for using the chemistry of healthy foods and supplements to FIRST support our bodies healing.
Dr. A, your work & sharing is greatly appreciated. Thank you, and please, keep it coming!
I would be curious to know if your supplements are available for the use of the general public?
Thank you,
Callique
Make a call, you might save your life.
Progesterone May Improve Outcomes from Brain Injury:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/nov2009_Progesterone-May-Improve-Outcomes-From-Brain-Injury_01.htm
However, I have one problem: Who is validating these studies independently?
Doctor, you correctly point out that the NFL is perhaps not the best judge of the results of its own study; by the same token, shouldn't someone besides your own people be trying to replicate and validate your findings?
Also, how "proprietary" can your mystical formulation be, since it consists of commonly available, over-the-counter diet supplements? Crowing about those results, again absent independent verification, feels more like a crummy commercial for Amen-brand supplements than a scientific break-through.
ever experienced a brain injury.
I am impressed with the work that youhave done with the NFL players. However, I have a nephew who has a seizure disorder that the doctors are unable to figure out. He went from a normal 3 yo child to a now 7yo boy who is unable to walk, talk, sit alone, or use his hands or hold his head up for longer than 3 seconds. He fell off of a truck because no matter how often you tell a 3yo don't do it they do especially boys. Since then he has had seizures. He has been on a plethera of medications which have diminished his abilities to walk, talk, stand, etc. as mentioned prior. I am hoping that you read my comment and would be able to help my nephew. If you do read this please contact me at ladyluc7@yahoo.com
Thank you.
http://www.wellnessresources.com/studies/entry/acetyl-l-carnitine_and_nerve_regeneration