26 January 2013

Concussions

It has been about a year and a half since I last spoke about concussions, but I think it important to just remind us all of this serious risk that is part of contact sports, combative activities  and yes, even traditional martial arts.

I don't know the exact statistics, but practically all fighting related deaths as seen in Mixed Martial Arts, professional boxing, and the like, died because of head trauma, with autopsy reports usually noting the cause of death to be cerebral hemorrhage. Hemorrhaging and a bruising of the brain (concussion) is not too far apart and the former usually following from a repetition of the latter.


Look again at the list of symptoms I mentioned in my previous post on concussions, and please, never regard any knock to the head lightly. Whenever it occurs, look for concussion symptoms and take time off to rest. Often it is subsequent knocks that causes more serious damage.

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