Focus on hockey’s head injuries grows
Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins takes a look at hockey injuries, especially head injuries.
Photo by Alex Kehr via Flickr
He points to an article in the Globe and Mail about the long-term effect of concussions and what Canada is doing to combat the issue, contrasted with what some places in the United States are doing to better treat and prevent concussions.
The article cites a study in the March 2009 issue of Brain that found former athletes were still suffering the effects of their head injuries more than 30 years after their last concussion.
Tompkins also notes the National Hockey League – which had 10 players out with head injuries in November – is confronting the problem by banning “blindside hits” to the head.
Even pro wrestling has a wellness program
Wrestler Chris Jericho fights WWE colleague Eddie Fatu (aka “Umaga”). Fatu died at age 36 after a Dec. 4, 2009 heart attack. He had been kicked from the WWE for wellness program violations in June. Photo courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons.
Writing for Human Resource Executive Online, Jared Shelly explained World Wrestling Entertainment’s version of an employee wellness program. With at least 22 professional wrestlers (including a number of high-profile WWE stars) dying before their 45th birthday since 2003, the health challenges faced by the high-impact WWE aren’t exactly typical, and neither is their wellness program.
For starters, the wrestlers are technically independent contractors, not employees, and the wellness program is run by a third party contracted by WWE. The program itself, instituted in 2006, revolves around drug testing (both for the performance enhancing and recreational varieties) four times a year, with suspensions and testing escalating with every instance in which a particular wrestler tests positive.
Wrestlers’ contracts are terminated after their third violation of the policy, but they are still eligible for the Former Talent Rehabilitation Program, an anti-drug-addiction prorgam used by about 4 percent of former WWE wrestlers.
House holds hearing on brain injuries in NFL
The House of Representatives is holding a hearing on “Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries” that is being webcast on C-SPAN.org.
The witness list includes NFL commissioner Roger S. Goodell as well as the director of the players association, team executives, doctors, neurologists, retired players, families of former players and safety advocates.
Related
The New York Times: NFL Data Reinforces Dementia Links
Ky. county to warn coaches about air pollution
In a story that shows how health stories can span several beats, James Bruggers, writing for the Louisville Courier-Journal’s kentuckianagreen.com, reports that the Jefferson County School District (which includes Louisville) will now share air pollution warnings with district coaches, who may then use that information to alter practice schedules.
The decision comes as a statewide sports safety work group created by the Kentucky General Assembly is scheduled to take up questions about air quality and outdoor practice at a meeting Thursday in Lexington. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association also is weighing possible recommendations on air quality and sports practices to its 279 members.
Bruggers found that, right now, such advisory practices (and more severe restrictions) are not widespread nationwide. “Bruce Howard, spokesman for the National Federation of High School Associations, said he has not heard of any schools or school districts anywhere in the nation with formal policies curbing practice during air quality warnings,” Bruggers wrote.
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