Concussion

[Dogtrousers]

I thought there was already a thread on this subject, but maybe I imagined it.

Anyway, here's an article in which Taco Van Der Hoorn describes his prolonged recovery from concussion in RVV this year.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-der-hoorn-still-battling-back-from-concussion-seven-months-on/

 

[Slick]

Interesting, and it seems they are only now just beginning to understand how this affects people in other sports.

My experience is not with sport unfortunately, and is totally anecdotal but I witnessed someone falling in a harness (which is a very long story in itself) and swinging back into a brick wall with the front of their head taking a chunk of the impact. He was unconscious and had to be rescued, which we did reasonably swiftly. This is the anecdotal bit, as we will never know exactly how far down this road he was before the accident, but it is mine and others widely held belief that this changed his personality and his life went on quite a downward spiral for the next couple of years as he struggled with the symptoms of head trauma.

I certainly sympathise with Van der Hoorn fighting 7 months on.

 

[mjr]

I thought there was already a thread on this subject, but maybe I imagined it.

Anyway, here's an article in which Taco Van Der Hoorn describes his prolonged recovery from concussion in RVV this year.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-der-hoorn-still-battling-back-from-concussion-seven-months-on/

"Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*" isn't very informative. Nor correct.

There is analysis from other sports including American football suggesting that as helmets make more protection claims, the athletes accept head impacts more liberally. But an anti concussion cycle helmet would be nearly half a metre wide, says https://helmets.org/concussionhelmet.htm

 

[Bollo]

Interesting, and it seems they are only now just beginning to understand how this affects people in other sports.

My experience is not with sport unfortunately, and is totally anecdotal but I witnessed someone falling in a harness (which is a very long story in itself) and swinging back into a brick wall with the front of their head taking a chunk of the impact. He was unconscious and had to be rescued, which we did reasonably swiftly. This is the anecdotal bit, as we will never know exactly how far down this road he was before the accident, but it is mine and others widely held belief that this changed his personality and his life went on quite a downward spiral for the next couple of years as he struggled with the symptoms of head trauma.

I certainly sympathise with Van der Hoorn fighting 7 months on.

For personal reasons I’ve been following the research on this.

The focus of concern seems to be expanding from brain tissue damage caused by direct head impacts (aka concussion) to repeated indirect body impacts that result in the head being subject to relatively high accelerations, for example from collisions in rugby. Individually these accelerations aren’t sufficient to cause obvious brain tissue damage but instead appear to increase the long-term risk of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Where I’m heading with this waffle is that I don’t think you can make a direct comparison between low-frequency, potentially high-impact activities such as cycling, with “chronic” impact sports like rugby, American footy or to some extent proper footy. Cycling carries a small risk of a serious direct brain injury but unless you’re really bad at cycling, you really shouldn’t be giving your head a wobble many times on every ride.

Much better summary linky here…
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-01-18-blows-not-concussion-cause-brain-disease-according-new-research

 

[mjr]

Cycling carries a small risk of a serious direct brain injury but unless you’re really bad at cycling, you really shouldn’t be giving your head a wobble many times on every ride.

I'd agree that strapping almost a quarter-kilo to the top of your head and riding fairly fast over British rough, lumpy and potholed roads counts as being really bad at cycling. It will certainly rattle your head many times during every ride. I don't think I ended up with a brain injury, but I ended up with neck pain about a decade ago, which is when I stopped strapping the weight on.

 

[Jody]

Concussion can also lead to CTE

You see quite a few sports people who suffer repeated head injury and concussion that develop CTE later on.

 

[matticus]

I thought there was already a thread on this subject, but maybe I imagined it.

Anyway, here's an article in which Taco Van Der Hoorn describes his prolonged recovery from concussion in RVV this year.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-der-hoorn-still-battling-back-from-concussion-seven-months-on/

It's an important issue - mainly to pro racers - but, with respect, do you have a point?

 

[Dogtrousers]

It's an important issue - mainly to pro racers - but, with respect, do you have a point?

With equal respect, nope.

Just sharing an interesting article. Well, I found it interesting.

 

[matticus]

With equal respect, nope

Equal? Really??

Cos I wrote that with an absolute TON of respect, which I hope you appreciated. Bro.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Equal? Really??

Cos I wrote that with an absolute TON of respect, which I hope you appreciated. Bro.

Boundless respect. Hilbert's Hotelfuls of respect.

 

[ColinJ]

I must say that I have the deepest respect for the respectful way that each of you is treating the other's level of respect!

As for cycling and concussion - I had my own taste of it a few years back, detailed in THIS THREAD - it was not pleasant...

 

[matticus]

I found this a very moving interview (with a concussion victim)

View: https://audioboom.com/posts/8242844-explore-rubbing-shoulders-with-giants

Spoiler: Spoilered for brevity

Lionel Birnie talks to American cyclo-cross rider Ben Frederick, who made the trip of a lifetime to Belgium over the Christmas and New Year period. It was his first visit to Europe and he was there to take part in the big festive cyclo-cross races where he rubbed shoulders with Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock.

There's nothing especially amazing about that, you might think. After all, Frederick, who is 32, has talent. He was eighth in the US nationals in December and had earned his place on the start grid.

But Frederick's sojourn to Flanders was the culmination of an extraordinary journey. A few years ago, an innocuous crash while training on the trails caused a serious concussion. He had to re-learn how to do simple tasks, such as making coffee, and how to read before he could even contemplate getting back on the bike. It was almost two years before he could race again.

He set himself a goal – to experience something most cyclists can only dream of. To line up with the stars of modern cycling, the giants of the sport, amid the feverish party atmosphere of a Flandrian Christmas.

 

[Bollo]

I must say that I have the deepest respect for the respectful way that each of you is treating the other's level of respect!

As for cycling and concussion - I had my own taste of it a few years back, detailed in THIS THREAD - it was not pleasant...

It’s flipping horrible!

I’ve never banged my noggin while riding (or being ejected from) a bike despite two collisions with vehicles, but I did give up playing rugby at a fairly serious level after three concussions in relatively quick succession. This was in an era where if you could stand then you were ok and aftercare was a sly underage post-match beer, but tbh I lost my bottle a bit. At least I got out early enough to retain my rugged good looks.