The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

[leswp1]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/...802egthSLHZSM6iW7eCh9pqAjb4bRhzmc44cbSaSod36M

Haven't seen the full studies but if you don't support health care for your populace the outcome is bound to be not good. How ironic that the red states are dying earlier while the red party tells its base they shouldn't support anything that could help them. Seems self defeating to kill off your populace earlier.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

The article that you linked to says immunizations in the country plummeted after an incident that occurred last year in which improperly prepared vaccines caused the death of a couple of children.

Yes, but Kennedy’s org was the one spreading disinformation about it even after the real cause, improper handling and a coverup by the handler, was uncovered.

I know it goes against your FYIGM principles, but they have a responsibility to NOT spread non-factual public health information and clean up the mess they’ve created.

This is no different than a company polluting the waterways and saying, “Meh, you’re ****ing problem now.”

 

[SJHovey]

Yes, but Kennedy’s org was the one spreading disinformation about it even after the real cause, improper handling and a coverup by the handler, was uncovered.

I know it goes against your FYIGM principles, but they have a responsibility to NOT spread non-factual public health information and clean up the mess they’ve created.

This is no different than a company polluting the waterways and saying, “Meh, you’re ****ing problem now.”

The first I’ve seen of anything Kennedy said about the Samoa situation was from the summer of 2018. By then vaccination rates in Samoa had already dropped from the 80 or 90 percent rate to about 30. I doubt his info helped matters, but the measles outbreak problem was already sown by that point.

 

[jen]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

This was really interesting and hit home - <a href="https://mosaicscience.com/story/men-women-concussion-cte-roller-derby-inequality-sex-head-injury-sports/">Men and women aren’t equal when it comes to concussion</a>.

 

[Jimjamesak]

This was really interesting and hit home - <a href="https://mosaicscience.com/story/men-women-concussion-cte-roller-derby-inequality-sex-head-injury-sports/">Men and women aren’t equal when it comes to concussion</a>.

There is truth to this. I know the concussion rates in women’s soccer is significantly higher than men’s soccer.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

Link with data

Fascinating stuff regarding concussion rates in sports:

Game Play

Men’s rugby match play (3.00/1,000 AE)
Men’s American football (2.5/1,000 AE)
Women’s ice hockey (2.27/1,000 AE)
Men’s Ice hockey (1.63/1,000 AE)
Women’s soccer (1.48/1,000 AE)
Men’s football (or soccer) (1.07/1,000 AE)
During practice

Men’s rugby (0.37/1,000 AE)
Women’s ice hockey (0.31/1,000 AE)
Men’s American football (0.30/1,000 AE)
Women’s football (or soccer) (0.13/1,000 AE)
Men’s ice hockey (0.12/1,000 AE)
Men’s football (or soccer) (0.08/1,000 AE)

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

Why the hell are they that different?

 

[Jimjamesak]

Why the hell are they that different?

According to the article jen posted (which is very fascinating to this soccer referee btw, thank you for posting it) then don’t really know because there hasn’t been much research but they have theories:

Understanding exactly why women are more susceptible to concussion will be essential, if we are to reduce those risks. Recent research has focused on three main theories.
Some researchers have proposed that it may be due to the fact that female necks tend to be slimmer and less muscular than male ones.
Remember that the brain is free to move within the skull – it is like jelly tightly packed into a Tupperware container – and this means that any sharp movement of the head can cause it to shift around, potentially causing damage.
For this reason, anything that helps to protect the skull from sharp movements should protect you from concussion – and that includes a sturdier neck that is better able to buffer a blow.
“If you have a thicker neck, you have a stronger base, so the likelihood of head movement is much less,” says Raghupathi.
Overall, the girth of a female neck is about 30 per cent smaller than a male, and this increases the potential acceleration of the head by as much as 50 per cent, according to one study.
The second idea that researchers have pointed to is some small anatomical differences within the brain itself. Female brains are thought to have slightly faster metabolisms than male ones, with greater blood flow to the head: essentially, they are slightly hungrier. And if a head injury momentarily disrupts that supply of glucose and oxygen, it could cause greater damage.
The third possibility lies in female sex hormones – with some striking evidence that the risk of concussion changes with varying hormone levels during the menstrual cycle.

And I agree with the assertion that female athletes are far more likely to hide or play through injuries, women’s soccer has a culture that actively encourages it, almost as an overcompensation to them and the sport as being seen as “weak”.

 

[jen]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

There is truth to this. I know the concussion rates in women’s soccer is significantly higher than men’s soccer.

Those numbers are eye-opening. Huge differences in every sport.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

This was really interesting and hit home - <a href="https://mosaicscience.com/story/men-women-concussion-cte-roller-derby-inequality-sex-head-injury-sports/">Men and women aren’t equal when it comes to concussion</a>.

I work with two women who have both had concussions in the past year or so. One was minor (bumped her head, not that hard, in the wrong spot) while the other was caused by a car accident where she was a pedestrian. We're about 8 months out for the minor bump (her words), and she's still light sensitive. We're a little more than a year out from the car striking the other lady, and she's back in the office, wearing sunglasses and this improvised shade setup around her PC monitors. No men in my office have reported concussions recently. I've had between 5 and 7 in my life, and I've yet to report the side effects lasting more than a few days. Only two have caused me to blackout during the time of the event.

 

[jen]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

I work with two women who have both had concussions in the past year or so. One was minor (bumped her head, not that hard, in the wrong spot) while the other was caused by a car accident where she was a pedestrian. We're about 8 months out for the minor bump (her words), and she's still light sensitive. We're a little more than a year out from the car striking the other lady, and she's back in the office, wearing sunglasses and this improvised shade setup around her PC monitors. No men in my office have reported concussions recently. I've had between 5 and 7 in my life, and I've yet to report the side effects lasting more than a few days. Only two have caused me to blackout during the time of the event.

I think understanding the differences in how men and women recover can lead to better recovery for everyone, and understanding more about what's happening to the brain. It's so fuzzy right now, and there is a LOT of ignorance in the medical community - it doesn't help that you can't "see" a concussion, and doctors have to rely on what the patient says. I've seen probably 14 different medical professionals - some understand concussions and have been helpful, but most don't, and, at worst, have made things worse (or been a waste of time and money). Knowing the root cause of different post-concussion issues is a battle, and brains are funny. It's not like any other injury.

My first concussion, I missed 2 weeks of work. Was back to completely normal (including hockey) in probably 3 months. It's been 7 months for this one, and I am still only able to work part-time, with post-concussion issues doing many things. I'm told this is not unusual.

Very small sample size, but there you go.

 

[Kepler]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

No men in my office have reported concussions recently. I've had between 5 and 7 in my life

Concussions, or men?

Sorry. Also: how the hell have you had so many concussions?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

Concussions, or men?

Sorry. Also: how the hell have you had so many concussions?

The ones I can recall:
#1 was when I was 6 or 7, I don't remember... I was on a hockey rink without a helmet. I woke up while being dragged into my house.

#2 concussion was at a park, where I was pushed over the edge of a slide, about 10 feet off the ground, and landed on one of the concrete support footings. I still have the scar from that one.

#3 and 4 happened in high school, playing football.

#5 was playing softball. I was pitching and the batter spun the clown. "I'm so sorry! I've never hit a ball that hard in my life." Thanks. It got me in the upper part of the bridge of my nose and my forehead. I ended up being driven to the ER by a couple firefighter buddies of mine. X-rays showed my nose broke in three directions from the impact site, six stitches to close the skin, and a mini-tampon crammed up both of my nostrils; the MRI was negative for "serious" brain damage. Two weeks later the ENT doc was giving me cocaine before resetting my nose, and more tampons shoved up my nostrils for another two weeks. I don't like cocaine. Or tampons in nose.

#6 I was playing hockey on an outdoor rink, with a helmet, back in 2011 or so. I was skating backwards, hit a big rut/crack in the ice. My skate was stuck, and I went down hard. The next thing I remember I was on my skates again while my friends were trying to get me to the warming house. And then I drove home.

So I'm not sure if I've had #7 or not, so I'll leave the count at six for now.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

How are you not signing your name with drool by now?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

Mama always said I was thickheaded.

 

[Kepler]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

I've had 2 but they were enormously different in scale. The first one I was a first base coach and was leaning on the line to gauge whether the RF was going to get to the ball. I leaned too far. Both the batter and I were knocked out for a couple minutes. But that was fine.

The second was clipping a tree limb skiing in Vermont. That one was a trip to the hospital, full concussion protocol, and nurses looking at me worried (you don't want your nurse looking worried, it's bad for morale). There's extended periods before and after that which I have no memories of, but I definitely remember feeling like my head was trying to explode outward and I remember wishing I could bore a hole in my skull to let the pressure out.

So I dunno if there is a Richter scale for concussions but if there is I've had a 1 and an 8.

 

[aparch]

How are you not signing your name with drool by now?

Side note, I once had a discussion with an assistant hockey coach almost a decade ago about concussions. He said lots of youth hockey players never report a concussion because "oh, I'm fine, just a little headache," either hours or days after the incident. The coach said that most kids coming to college hockey already have multiple serious concussions that went unreported.

He said they were (at the time) very proactive with concussions and if any kids had approximately three highly suspected/documented concussions in college alone (knowing there are countless ones untold from the kid's youth, or ones that happen outside of hockey), they would pull the kid aside and explain that there are other ways to stay involved in the sport without becoming a skating punching bag.

*edit* There was one kid who came to NMU that the coach worked out how to honor his Letter of Intent commitment because he got his bell rung so well the year prior in the BCHL that he was told by doctors to never play hockey again.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

It’s honestly amazing how much better they’ve gotten with concussions since I was kid playing hockey and soccer in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. When talking about concussions I always say “I’ve had one that I know of, undoubtedly I’ve had more.”

US Soccer has mandatory concussion recognition training for referees and coaches that I have to go through every year. The high schools here have athletic trainers at every event to help kids go through concussion protocol if needed. It’s crazy to look at the progress made in even ten years.

 

[jen]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

It’s honestly amazing how much better they’ve gotten with concussions since I was kid playing hockey and soccer in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. When talking about concussions I always say “I’ve had one that I know of, undoubtedly I’ve had more.”

US Soccer has mandatory concussion recognition training for referees and coaches that I have to go through every year. The high schools here have athletic trainers at every event to help kids go through concussion protocol if needed. It’s crazy to look at the progress made in even ten years.

Seems like new stuff comes out every day. Professional athletes get a lot of attention for concussions now, and that research and awareness helps everyone (except those who think "regular people" don't get them). Just read something that suggested total cognitive rest is NOT the best treatment after the initial 24-72 hours.

 

[leswp1]

Re: The Medical Thread: We're experts on everything else; why not?

mr les was on the NCAA committee about concussions. Some of the stuff that they are now 'discovering' has been known for awhile. Lots of neurochemical stuff and what constituted sx that were diagnostic. Research was indicating a lot of things back then that no one wanted to acknowledge. One reason mr les refused to let lil les not play ftbl.