Dr. Uzma Samadani: Risk vs. reward for youth and high school

Did you watch it? How about a quick summary?

I'll try to summarize.

CTE, the Big Bad Thing that results, as we all know today, from a single concussion, is a pathological thing, meaning it is a physical condition of the brain neurons and most often does not manifest symptoms. You can't be diagnosed with CTE until you are gone. I'm trying to remember but I think she said that something like 55% of the total population would exhibit CTE in a post-mortem study.

Based on brain studies by Germans using brain tissue from a couple of hundred years old there is no real difference between then and now. So, blaming CTE on football is specious and is the result of faulty studies. Dementia, the physical manifestation of brain degradation, has not been linked to football, or brain injuries, but to life style, including sedentary lifestyle and high blood pressure.

The incidence of dementia is no higher/lower for football players, but the studies tend to 'ask for people that played football and are feeling sick', not the full population. She uses numbers and study analysis to refute those other studies.

Bottom line - She does not see a quantifiable/scientifically proven connection between youth and high school football and dementia and/or CTE. Brain injuries, and she goes into the types of injuries and possible links to dementia, are very bad and need to be treated. But football is not the cause - it is her position that the hysteria is the result of scientists and companies running faulty studies that prove the hypothesis they are trying to prove. Brain injuries, BAD; Football, not the cause.

She lets her son play football. She knows the risks and the rewards, and then goes into the rewards. Says that kids that can't play other sports can play football, cardio, asthma, etc. are workable within the way football works. Obese kids can play. Says that the biggest health risk is youth obesity because it leads to adult obesity which leads to high blood pressure and dementia. Says that in her brain injury/neurosurgeon industry the more the person knows about brain injuries the more inclined they are let their children play football, they can make an intelligent decision about the risks and rewards.

Another track she had was that football is a group risk activity. You are taking risks and you have to know what the capabilities of the players around you in order for you to be successful. She did a informal survey of heads of brain medical departments and found that (again, from my failing memory) 27% of some neurosurgery department heads played football, and that 7% played in college. Said that 0.7% of all college students play college football so for the %'s to be so different she associates that to the group risk training/exposure they got playing football. Said that that position is a risk taking position in a group environment.

There are lots and lots of things in there guys, you really need to take an hour, get a notepad, and watch it. It's hard, she does a great job of presenting things, but there are lots of numbers and technical terms. But it's worth it.

Her profile is here - www.neurosurgery.umn.edu/bio/neurosurgery-faculty/uzma-samadani

An article published about her - www.startribune.com/despite-rising-concerns-over-concussions-this-doctor-prescribes-football/391551251/

Watched it last night, I'd agree it's worth the hour for sure. Interesting information about CTE and what that really means for sure.

hsrose Thanks for posting this video.  Really good stuff, and I absolutely recommend folks watch it.

Here is the powerpoint that goes with the video.  Very helpful to scroll through it while watching the presentation.



Dr. Uzma Samadani: Brain Injury In Sports

did something change in the past few years?

I understood CTE was the result of TAU stains in the brain caused from prolonged head trauma (i.e. incalculable subconcussive hits) and not just post-concussive syndrome


www.bu.edu/cte/about/frequently-asked-questions/


www.traumaticbraininjury.net/sub-concussive-hits-are-causing-serious-brain-damage/


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22552850

Ok, just found basically the same presentation, this time at the Minnesota Coaches Association Meeting in November, 2016. This is 29 minutes and shows her charts rather than her speaking. Makes understanding what she is saying a lot more clear.