Let boxing death, movie spotlight brain injuries

A real-life tragedy in a Youngstown boxing ring and an on-screen drama on a Pittsburgh football field have coalesced this month to illuminate the dangers of head injuries in rough-and-tumble sports.

In Youngstown, Michigan boxer Hamzah Ajahmi died after suffering head injuries sustained at his first pro bout during a fight card at Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Banquet Center on the city’s West Side on Dec. 19. According to the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office, Ajahmi died from blunt- force trauma injury to his head.

In the Pittsburgh-based sports thriller “Concussion,” Will Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fights attempts by the National Football League to suppress his research on brain damage suffered by Steelers and other professional football players. The movie opened to positive reviews and a whopping $11 million box-office take during its Christmas weekend opening.

Taken together, the tragic death of Ajahmi and the pop-culture phenomenon of “Concussion” should catapult the debilitating consequences of concussions and other serious sports injuries to the forefront of our collective national consciousness. They should also fuel momentum to make this public-health dilemma a public-policy priority.

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

As many as 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur every year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What’s more, concussion rates among U.S. high-school athletes more than doubled between 2005 and 2012, according to an Ohio State University study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

At first glance, those skyrocketing numbers may shock the senses. On closer examination, however, the significant uptick in brain-injury reports most likely parallels greatly enhanced awareness of the long-term impact of concussions and greatly increased reporting of them.

Concussions, after all, cannot be taken lightly. The injury to the brain produces a transient loss of brain function with symptoms of dizziness, light-headedness, confusion, headache and vision changes. Recovery usually occurs within a short time, but research shows that youth athletes take longer to recuperate and that teen players are at much greater risk for repetitive head trauma.

As Dr. Joseph Rosenthal, clinical assistant professor of physical medicine at OSU, points out, if young people “continue to play while symptomatic, they are at risk for a second impact that can lead to severe disability and death.”

COHESIVE TEAM STRATEGY

To avoid such catastrophic outcomes and to prevent even that first blow to the brain, a cohesive team strategy must be galvanized. Players, parents, coaches, athletic associations, the medical community and lawmakers all have key positions to play in crafting a forceful defensive strategy.

On the private-sector playing field, the National Football League has committed $25 million to promoting youth-sports safety, including support for pilot programs to put more athletic trainers in schools.

In Ohio’s public sector, legislators have enacted some of the toughest provisions in the nation to protect the state’s 350,000 youth athletes in public-school sports. The law that took effect last fall mandates that student athletes and parents sign a promissory note that they will contact coaches, school administrators and health-care providers whenever an injury occurs. That’s prudent public policy, not only for football but for soccer, baseball, basketball, lacrosse and even cheerleading.

In Washington, however, federal legislation on the repercussions of concussions has been sidelined. The proposed Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act of 2015 has languished in subcommittees since its introduction in the House and Senate last April.

Of course, no amount of regulation or legislation will ever completely remove the element of risk from football, boxing, soccer, hockey and other in-your-face contact sports. But with a solid policy foundation, coupled with responsible advice, conduct and practices by parents, coaches and players alike, the preoccupation with major victory will never eclipse the prerequisite of maximum safety.