Midtown Manhattan’s Mass Shooting Highlights the Need to Address Concussions from the Inside-Out
The recent fatal shooting in Midtown Manhattan by a former high school football player has highlighted once again the tragic impact of concussions and the inadequate conventional handling of them in sports. The Midtown shooter had suffered concussions during his time as a high school football player and appeared to believe he had CTE —Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)—which is connected to personality change, moodiness, attention, and violent behavior. The shooter’s suicide note explicitly requested his brain be studied for CTE, according to The New York Times.
Challenges in Diagnosis, Causation, and the Need for Preventive Care in Youth
For decades, the NFL has faced intense scrutiny over the long-term neurological effects of football, with a pattern of former football players with personality changes, erratic behavior, and violence, and later diagnosed with CTE. Some players even took their own lives in ways that preserved their brains for studies.
One thing that should be agreed upon is that it is crucial to fully repair the brain damage after a concussion. The challenge is that standard practice in neurology has not advanced in decades. Recovery from brain injuries must involve addressing the lingering scarring and damage to brain wiring (axonal shearing).
Because these are unaddressed many people will present after concussions with symptoms of brain fog, poor attention, new onset trouble with academics and learning, and increased anxiety and irritability. In my clinic, these folks often present with a mental health diagnosis such as ADHD, Anxiety, or Depression, and even Bipolar Disorder. However, when we review their brain connectivity, we consistently see residual brain injury from the prior concussions, even though their headaches, light sensitivity, and blurry vision had resolved. For example, after an individual spent their youth playing sports, it is not uncommon to experience ADHD symptoms, but what we discover instead of ADHD is that this person has brain damage from multiple small concussions that transpired during youth league.
We can likely prevent the serious progression of brain injury to mental health and other serious impairments, like CTE, if we assess the brain’s healing in greater depth and with greater precision. This would allow us to know when it’s truly safe to resume contact sports, but, crucially, it helps us directly address the lingering brain damage before it progresses to more serious neurological and psychiatric problems.
We can protect the future of our youth via holistic treatment of concussions. Helping them thrive even through the impact of concussions and helping us prevent them from returning when it’s unsafe is of utmost importance.
Please join me in this effort because it takes all of us to spread the word to help youth fully heal from concussions and prevent these tragic outcomes!
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