Did you see the show Sunday night segment on concussions (mostly sports related) and dementia? They showed a retired profressional football player with dementia in is late 60s. The NFL now offers financial assistance up to $88,000 a year for those who suffered concussion and are now mentally impaired.

They also showed a high school student who was put back into a game by the coach...no treatment..suffered more damage, now he's learning to walk, etc.

ugh. You know, my father went through a windshield head-first a long time ago. When I brought this up to a neuro, he waved it away, saying "oh that was so long ago". Makes me wonder about the neuro now...

I didn't see the 60 Minutes piece but from what I understand of the NFL study, the issue is repeated head injury - the sort of battering you take as a football player or as a boxer (think Muhammed Ali). That doesn't mean that one concussion can't be decisive but I'm not sure it sets off the same level of alarm. There's a lot we don't know about brain injury, so it doesn't pay to be complacent (and I think the neuro should have paid more attention) but it's hard to say there's a one-to-one effect from a single injury.

Now I'm wondering about falls. Both my mother and aunt had a number of falls before the dementia was very evident.

Is the elderly brain more vulnerable to falls? We didn't even take them to the doctor as they each lived alone and we heard about the falls later on.

The brain is pretty complex. On the 60 Minutes show, the showed sliced pieces and evidence of damage that would only be visible after the personw as dead and if the brain was removed for study.

Who would even remember all of the the falls they may have suffered in a lifetime?

My mother had a fall in June of 08. Yes, she very early dementia prior to the fall. She had quite a head injury, black eyes, big bump on her head, etc... Catscan showed nothing. I will tell you that her deterioration after the fall was HUGE!!! I mean night and day. She started to deteriorate at the most alarming pace after that fall.

The doctor said strokes don't always show up right away on tests at the hospital. Wonder if the same is true of injury from a fall?

Ever get hit and the bruise develops hours later?

Medical literature has mentioned that one of the conditions that may well lead to dementia is, a prior head injury. It does not have to be multiple; just one, and age is not a factor. The injury can be sustained in childhood.

It is rather a scary proposition when we think about how many of our youth are involved in contact sports.

One more thing to add to a list of what can be worried about.

ShellyShell12,
My Mother went,forehead first,through a windshield in the 60's and had 120 stitches,during a Southern ice storm.
Hmmmmmmmm........

quote:

Originally posted by Always Learning More:
Is the elderly brain more vulnerable to falls?

As I understand it, it is. A lot of times the elderly have had shrinkage of the brain, and so the blood vessels are tauter and more vulnerable.

My dentist said today when doing root canals on elderly...the canal has shrunk making them more difficult to do.

Probably ALL elderly brains have shrunk.

The New Yorker ran an article on concussions and dementia this week, which also suggested a comparison between football linemen and fighting pit bulls - both do it for love: dogs for their people, people for the game. A bit farfetched, but something to ponder.

quote:

Medical literature has mentioned that one of the conditions that may well lead to dementia is, a prior head injury. It does not have to be multiple; just one, and age is not a factor. The injury can be sustained in childhood.

My husband suffered a concussion during the Vietnam war, and I'd thought about that as a possible trigger for his AD. I'd forgotten all about his high school football days. Double jeopardy...

(Since head injuries are a pretty well-established risk factor for AD, as Johanna says, I thought it was pretty ridiculous that the NFL has tried to deny there might be any long-term repercussions for their players.)

ttt

I don't know if my Dad ever suffered a head injury, but our older brother did about 20 years ago. He is now showing signs of schzophrenia.

My grandmother was holding my dad at age 2 years in the back of a, I think they called it a trumble seat, when they hit a bump in the road and he flew out of her hands and landed on his head.