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CNN) -- For 17-year-old Nathan Stiles, his senior year was supposed to be the best yet.
He was a straight-A student and homecoming king at Spring Hill, Kansas, High School, and was the Broncos' star running back. He was a starter on the varsity basketball team and loved to sing at church. He was the son any mother dreamed of having.
His mom, Connie, recalls, "He was an athlete, but school was important. His grades, his teachers and just having a family ... he had his priorities right."
The final game of his senior year turned out to be the final game of his life. Nathan died playing the game he loved, football. His autopsy would reveal he died of second-impact syndrome, when a player is hit again before the brain has had a chance to heal from an initial concussion.
But it would turn out that those repetitive hits Nathan took on the field would also make him the youngest reported case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It's a degenerative disease found in football players and other athletes in contact sports who get repeated hits to their heads.
Nathan Stiles was a straight-A student, homecoming king, and the Spring Hill Bronco's star running back.The day after homecoming, Nathan complained of headaches. But nothing unusual, until five days later, when his mom received a call from his athletics trainer. "Nathan's telling me he's still having headaches. You need to go take him to the emergency room.'"
And so Connie did. Nathan had a CT scan and the doctors reported a clean bill of health. Yet, to be on the safe side, doctors kept him out of play for three weeks.
Kansas is one of 34 states that require a player to be cleared by a health care professional before they return to play. In addition, Kansas also requires that players and their parents sign a waiver acknowledging the risks of concussions.
When Connie and Nathan returned to the doctor's office three weeks later, Connie remembers Nathan turning to her and asking "Now, Mom, are you OK with this?" She didn't want him to, but it was hard for her to say no. "You know, it's his choice," she said.
His first game back, Connie remembers him getting hit. "I saw him kind of get stunned. But he walks out and tells Ron, 'Oh I've never felt better, that was the best game, I never felt so good.'" He even took his ACTs the following day and had no complaints. The headaches that had bothered Nathan several weeks before were gone, or at least appeared so to his parents.
The following week was the final game of his career. Nathan intercepted the ball and sprinted toward the end zone. Touchdown. "If you would watch him run, he had a flow about him that was just beautiful. I mean it looked so graceful," remembers his dad, Ron.
But right before halftime, his parents noticed Nathan was acting strangely. "I watched him walk off the field, and I said, 'He's walking funny.' I mean, I know that kid so well," said Connie. Her phone rang. It was someone on the bench by Nathan.
"Get over here. Something's wrong," she heard.
By the time Ron and Connie made it to the bench, it was too late. Nathan had collapsed on the sidelines. His mother rushed to his side, trying to get him to wake up. "Come on buddy, it's your mama, come on!" she urged. But instead of waking up, Nathan began seizuring.
He was airlifted to Kansas State University Medical Center, some 50 miles away, and rushed into surgery. Four hours later, the doctors came out to tell Ron and Connie they stopped the bleeding in his brain, but Nathan's lungs and heart were too weak to go on.
By 4 a.m. the following morning, Nathan was off life support.
Nathan's autopsy revealed he died from multiple hits to the head, also known as second impact syndrome. As Ron and Connie tried to determine what was next, Ron received a call he never expected. "You know when you get a telephone call after your son dies saying they want your son's brain, sometimes that's a hard call to get."
On the other end of the phone was Chris Nowinski, one of the co-directors of the VA Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy Brain Bank. The Brain Bank is a joint project between the Department of Veterans, Boston University, and the Sports Legacy Institute. Their missions is to understand what those hard hits on the field are doing to the brain, by looking inside the brain.
Nowinski spends his time tracking football and sport related deaths and having to make the difficult calls to their families. "I have called hundred of families within 48 hours of their loved ones dying, and it's never easy." Instead he focuses on the fact that the bank's work will protect families in the future. "I hate every call we make, but you know, I honestly, I have to prep and think of the positives that come out of it."
The Brain Bank is the world's largest collection of athlete brains. Since its inception in 2008, the bank has documented over 50 cases of CTE. Much of that work is in the hands Dr. Ann McKee, the bank's co-director and neuropathologist. She actually dissects the brain to track the trauma in the brain, and what she's finding in the brains of some players in their 40s and 50s is astonishing.
"You expect a pristine brain. I saw a brain that was riddled with tau proteins. I was stunned at how similar that brain was to the boxers who lived into their 70s," she said. Tau proteins are the same type of proteins found in brains of Alzheimer's patients.
But to see the same type of damage in 17-year-old Nathan Stiles' brain was something that surprised even McKee. It's the youngest case she's documented, and for her, a call to action. "It tells you that we've really got to protect our kids," she said. "It's not just car seats and seatbelts, but it's making sure that when they go out to play sports that we take proper precaution and we give them proper advice."
And that means making sure that athletes take the time to recover from concussions, and making sure they aren't playing symptomatic, while having headaches or memory problems.
For Ron and Connie Stiles, the findings and the warnings were too late to save their son. But Ron knows that Nathan's legacy will live on as researchers learn more about concussions and how to treat them.
"I think there are some issues that need to be looked at, and I think that's happening," he said. "And I think that Nathan is helping that."
Link I wonder how Colt is ?
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Former NFL Player Commits Suicide, Donates Brain to Science
February 22, 2011
Dave Duerson, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, tragically chose to take his own life last week.
But when the 50-year-old former NFL safety and successful entrepreneur shot himself in the chest, there was another purpose: so that his brain could be donated to Boston University researchers and studied to assess the life-long neurological effects of playing in the National Football League.
For sure, it has been an incredibly enlightening year in the NFL with regards to the present-day and long-term consequences of concussions and similar traumatic brain injuries caused on the gridiron. Duerson, cognizant of and confident that he was suffering from the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a debilitating brain injury that has stricken many current and former football players, from college to the pros — texted family members only hours before taking his own life, imploring them to have his brain donated to those who can study it for evidence of the condition.
In fact, when police arrived at Duerson’s apartment, they found a hand-written note: “PLEASE, SEE THAT MY BRAIN IS GIVEN TO THE NFL’S BRAIN BANK.”
More specifically, that would be the team headed by Chris Nowinski, co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University’s School of Medicine. Last April, after years of denials and side-stepping on the effects of concussions on football players, the NFL finally ponied up $1 million to the center in the hopes of accelerating research into a condition that was long associated with punch-drunk ex-boxers. More recently, CTE has been connected to athletes ranging from 21-year-old college football stars to baseball great Lou Gehrig.
And while it’s true that are any number of complicated reasons why Duerson took his own life — it has been reported that he recently filed for bankruptcy — Duerson wanted to be sure that some good came from his death. Researchers can continue to make progress in studying what a lifetime of hits to the head — each around 20 g’s of force, on average — can do to elite football players, often revered in their playing days yet forgotten upon retirement, when the lasting neurological effects finally start to show their presence.
But this is where we are with pro football, in an era where players are preemptively donating their brains to science, like former Chicago Bears quarterback (and Duerson teammate) Jim McMahon. Football is an inherently violent sport and perhaps always will be so, but with more research into CTE, as well as more study and development into safer helmets, we’ll at least be more educated and aware when we see players knocking helmets around on Sunday afternoon.
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As a side note.. I have wondered if Bernie might have this condition to explain his slurred speech.
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The Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) study was started in 2008 and it might seem to be little early to make conclusions, BUT nothing could be further from the truth.
The study has evidence that repeated hits to the head while playing a sport such as High School football, can do significant and damaging injury to the brain that does not show up or that can not be detected by anyone viewing the play on the field.
The study of the 17-year-old Nathan Stiles' brain showed that his brain was already showing damage...The doctor who studied Nathan Stiles' brain said the following...
"You expect a pristine brain. I saw a brain that was riddled with tau proteins. I was stunned at how similar that brain was to the boxers who lived into their 70s," she said. Tau proteins are the same type of proteins found in brains of Alzheimer's patients.
There needs to be some urgency and effort put forth by the powers governing sports such as football.
IMO, this study shows that the helmets used in football, are inadequate when it comes to protecting the brain. All the advances and improvements made to the inside padding of helmets have failed to protect players brains from damage due to repeated hits in the head.
As I have pointed out, today's football helmets are no different than the helmets I worn when I played football in the late 60s and early 70s. We had helmets with padding and inflatable air bags when I played in college and today, the best helmets have a combination of padding and inflatable airbags.
You can only do so much padding on the inside of a football helmet due to the amount of room on the inside of the helmet and the industry reached that maximum decades ago....that is common sense folks.
With the inside of football helmets padded to the max, the only logical place to look to improve and add padding is on the outside of the rock hard plastic outer shell.
The NFL is fully aware that NFL players have experimented with padding added to the outside their helmets, dating back to Willie Lanier in the 60s and 70s...AND IT WORKED.
It worked for other NFL players too...Mark Kelso and Steve Wallace wore the "ProCap" in the 80s, in an effort to extend their careers which were threatened due to frequent concussions...and both succeeded in extending their careers because the padding added to the outside of their helmets decreased the impact.
High School and College football seem to "follow" the NFL when it comes to implementing new and safer equipment. It is time for HS and College football take the lead, IMO, due to the fact that the NFL is involved in litigation over the concussion issue and they very unlikely to change or improve helmets due the litigation. It shouldn't be that way, but it is...the NFL has different priorities than HS and College football.
The ProCap has been successfully used by NFL players and could be easily added to the outside of the existing helmets... web page
It an easy and quick fix and IMO, beats setting around waiting for the NFL to lead the way on this issue.
Reading the story about 17 yr old Nathan Stiles is heart breaking, especially when I think that the simple technology that might have saved his life has been available for at least the last 25 yrs.
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Quote:
As a side note.. I have wondered if Bernie might have this condition to explain his slurred speech.
He has always talked like that. Always.
#gmstrong
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can you send this to James Harrison.....
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He has always talked like that. Always.
Pardon my youth 
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I wonder how Colt is ?
He should ask MoMass or Watson
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I have one problem with these articles, and that's where they place all of the blame squarely on the design/manufacturing of the helmets.
I say, you focus more on the "low-hanging fruit", and that, to me, are the players that go after other players heads. The reason I believe this is because it doesn't matter how well you design and make a helmet when you have a 250-300lb dude that runs a 4.4 40 turning himself into a missile that's going straight for your head. NO helmet will protect you from that.
That said, something else needs to be done about the "small" impacts that happen throughout the game. Some of the recent studies have shown that those non-malicious knocks on the head that happen on just about every play also add up to serious mental injury. A better helmet is probably the best solution to this.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
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one of the biggest ways to reduce concussions would also be to eliminate kickoffs. just start at the 25 yd line (in HS) or 20 yd line (in college).
I understand it's an exciting element to the game and it would eliminate on-side possibilities, but it's also the most dangerous aspect of the game (with the wedge busting and players blind-siding one another).
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I have one problem with these articles, and that's where they place all of the blame squarely on the design/manufacturing of the helmets.
oober...can you tell me about the improvements helmet manufacturers have made to their products in an effort to eliminate concussions?
Has the NFL mandated a higher safety standard for helmets?
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I say, you focus more on the "low-hanging fruit", and that, to me, are the players that go after other players heads.
oob...that is exactly what the NFL has done...focused on the low hanging fruit..IMO, the NFL began a propaganda campaign during the 2010 season, when it began to fine players for hits Goodell's office deemed illegal.
For 90 yrs, the NFL did not fine players for the way they tackled even though the NFL knew concussions were a serious problem. Wonder why that is?
In June 2010, NFL players first became aware that the NFL had studied the dangers of concussion back in the 1920s. From those studies, the NFL learned about the harmful effects concussions had on their players brains, yet that information was not shared with the players until June 2010.
... in the fall of 2010, the NFL begins their propaganda campaign of fining players for the way they tackle in an attempt to shift the blame for concussions to the players for the way they tackle.
COINCIDENCE?... 
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The reason I believe this is because it doesn't matter how well you design and make a helmet when you have a 250-300lb dude that runs a 4.4 40 turning himself into a missile that's going straight for your head. NO helmet will protect you from that.
You will not get an argument from me about the safety qualities of today's NFL helmets. The helmet industry has not changed their method of padding the inside of helmets for over 40 yrs.
Players have become bigger, stronger and faster, yet helmet manufacturers have not improved the padding on the inside of their helmets for decades...they still use a combination of foam padding and air bags located on the inside of the helmet...same padding that was in helmets 40 yrs ago.
Also, the NFL has never mandated that their helmet suppliers upgrade the safety/quality of the helmets NFL players are required to wear.
For those who claim no helmet can protect our superior athletes playing NFL football today...YOU ARE WRONG.
Helmets with superior safety features, have been used by players who had their careers threatened due to concussions. In each case, the player successfully extended their career and protected their brain from concussion, because they had extra padding on the outside of their helmets.
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That said, something else needs to be done about the "small" impacts that happen throughout the game. Some of the recent studies have shown that those non-malicious knocks on the head that happen on just about every play also add up to serious mental injury. A better helmet is probably the best solution to this.
oober...we agree...a better helmet is the best solution.
I do not want to see American football ruined by the boys in the NFL offices. Anyone watch the Pro Bowl last Sunday?
Is that the type of football you want to see played on Sundays?...half go so no one gets hurt.
It is time for the football equipment industry (pads and helmets) to produce better and safer equipment.
Roger Goodell could mandate a safer helmet for next season...but I doubt he will..try to figure that out.
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This is the dirty little secret of football in this country. The farther we dig, the more unsettling this story will become. I can't say football will die off, but at some point, more and more parents won't let their sons play football anymore.
Look, boxing is dead in this country and I think there are two reasons (percentages are up for debate):
1. Pay-per-view
2. Seeing the damage these boxers took caused kids to decide that football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf and tennis were a lot safer.
As more and more of these CTE cases are exposed in football and hockey players I can't help but thinking both sports are going to die off or get a whole lot tamer in how the game is played. Here's the catch, I think the NFL and NHL are trying to fight the good fight but they get so much resistance from the players and fans for the "wussification of their sport". In some ways, the people that want their sport to remain extremely violent and unsafe are the ones that might be pushing their sport to extinction too.
Like someone said above, no helmet is going to stop the head trauma involved when a 300+ lb. guy running a 4.4 40 is hitting a guy from the blindside leading with his head.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif) “...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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The amount of padding on high school and college football players needs to be reduced. Not just helmets... Softer slimmer shoulder pads should be introduced.
As for helmets, They don't need to be made of hard plastic... more companies should look into creating helmets out of high impact foams. So it protects against hits going to the ground, but no player could be able to use their head as a battering ram.
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oober...we agree...a better helmet is the best solution.
...Nice...
That's actually the opposite of what I said. Boiling down an issue like this (that has gone on for so long, and is actually tied to a part of the game) to just one solution is assinine. I'll restate the one point I was trying to make. No helmet will stop Colt McCoy from getting his concussion this year. Those devastating hits can only be fixed by stopping the players from performing those dangerous actions. I'm happy that the NFL is doing what it's doing right now, and I'm hoping that's all that is necessary in order to (in the long run) cut down on these injuries without ProBowl'ing the NFL.
Better helmets can help, but they're not the one and only solution.
With regards to the design of helmets... how many ways do you think there are to make a helmet? They have changed the materials on the inside and outside in order to make them better, but I hope you're not looking for a helmet unlike what we've seen before. You're not going to see some radical change in helmet design or assembly; only incremental upgrades over the years.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
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oober...we agree...a better helmet is the best solution.
...Nice...
That's actually the opposite of what I said. Boiling down an issue like this (that has gone on for so long, and is actually tied to a part of the game) to just one solution is assinine. I'll restate the one point I was trying to make. No helmet will stop Colt McCoy from getting his concussion this year. Those devastating hits can only be fixed by stopping the players from performing those dangerous actions. I'm happy that the NFL is doing what it's doing right now, and I'm hoping that's all that is necessary in order to (in the long run) cut down on these injuries without ProBowl'ing the NFL.
Better helmets can help, but they're not the one and only solution.
With regards to the design of helmets... how many ways do you think there are to make a helmet? They have changed the materials on the inside and outside in order to make them better, but I hope you're not looking for a helmet unlike what we've seen before. You're not going to see some radical change in helmet design or assembly; only incremental upgrades over the years.
oober...you may believe it's asinine...I don't.
Until the NFL gets off their butt and mandates a better, safer helmet that can be tried by all the players, we won't know what the results will be. The NFL already has test cases to consider and they have had this information for .....oh, at least 25 yrs...and done absolutely nothing to improve the safety of the helmets...that is insane.
To say McCoy's concussion could not be avoided even with better, safer helmet designs...is asinine. I'm amazed at how some see a problem and throw their hands up in defeat and declare, we can't do anything about it.
If McCoy and Harrison had been wearing safer helmet designs, like the ProCap, web page , McCoy may not have suffered a concussion. But we will never know if the NFL never mandates a better, safer helmet...will we?
The design of football helmets has not been allowed to change because the NFL will not mandate any helmet other than the same basic design, year after year after year...for the last 40 yrs or so.
For the record, that "basic design" is...a rock hard plastic outer shell with an assortment of pads and air bags positioned on the inside.
At some point, the NFL has to decide what their priorities are. Is a helmet worn to protect the players head and brain...or...is a helmet worn as part of a costume?
Like I said, Roger Goodell could mandate a safer helmet option for the upcoming season, but he won't.
Maybe someone needs ask Goodell what he priorities are.
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Helmets are what they are, and until some revolutionary new material comes along they aren't going to change much.
Someone mentioned not using a hard plastic, which isn't a bad idea, the plastic adds to the impact of the hit, a softer more flexible outer material would help alot, but the perception would be it is not as strong, but I would bet reality is that it would absorb more impact and reduce injuries. Imagine a helmet with the outer material similair to the headgear in wrestling.
I wish they had concussion data from the old leather helmet days, when the helmet was to protect against the accidental collision, and that the player was most responsible for not using his head as a weapon.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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helmets should be made from flubber
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Quote:
Someone mentioned not using a hard plastic, which isn't a bad idea, the plastic adds to the impact of the hit, a softer more flexible outer material would help alot, but the perception would be it is not as strong, but I would bet reality is that it would absorb more impact and reduce injuries. Imagine a helmet with the outer material similair to the headgear in wrestling.
florfan...the quickest and maybe the safest fix is using the ProCap...a foam pad that is added over the existing helmets.
I have written that the ProCap has been used by NFL players who had their careers threatened because of the number of concussions they had suffered. Those players wore the ProCap for several seasons, extending their careers until they were ready to retire...in short, the ProCap worked.
It must be pointed out that all the other players on the field, continued to wear their standard issue helmets with a rock hard plastic outer shell. What would be the results if all the players wore a ProCap?...I think it is safe to say, the results would be at least as good and more like better than the results recorded so far.
I have brain stormed safer helmet designs and have several ideas...
...using kevlar and carbon fiber rather than hard plastics.
...using a layered helmet with a carbon inner shell with a 1/2" layer of foam padding, with another carbon outer shell with another layer of foam wrapped in kevlar....AS AN EXAMPLE.
...addressing concerns that the helmet would be too large...the thickness of the foam on the inside of the helmet could be reduced, which would mean a smaller inner shell, then the layer of foam...carbon outer shell...layer of foam...outer layer of kevlar. I believe reducing the thickness of the inside foam padding could be done without compromising the overall effectness of the cushioning because of the padding being used on the outside. The ratio of inside thickness of foam to outside thickness of foam would need to be studied to find the best ration to absorb impacts.
Just some of my ideas...
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Endorsement for the ProCap
Mark Kelso (Buffalo Bills All-Pro Safety, 1985-1993) ...
"As the first NFL player to wear one, I took a lot of ribbing from my teammates. "Bubblehead" or "Kazoo", as I was referred to, soon, learned that I could take and make hits without concussive side effects. Prior to ProCap I had numerous concussions. The ProCap extended my pro career by 5 years, including four Super Bowls,and I have a clear head in my life after football. If it can make this much difference at this level of play, think what its benefits would be at the high school and college levels."
Steve Wallace (ProBowl Offensive Tackle San Francisco 49ers, 1986-1996)...
"Everyone laughs at me, but what's more important - your ego or being able to play with your kids with a clear head after your career is over? I'll never play without it again."
Randy Dixon (Indianapolis Colts)...
"The usual ringing or vibration sensation you experience during contact are reduced considerably with the soft outer shell."
Paul Connor, Head Coach, Fenwick Preparatory High School, Oak Park, IL...
"We had a great success with ProCap. I will recommend to anyone in need."
Derrl Ohnheiser, Athletic Trainer, Leander High School, Leander, TX...
"After I attached the ProCap to the athlete's helmet, his neurologist, who had recommended that he play no more football, was so impressed that he released the young man to play. He played the final four games of the season without any further problems."
Elmer Schuetz, Head Football Coach, Jackson High School, Massillon, OH...
"Last year we had a sophomore who had a history of concussions. We fitted him with a ProCap; he played the entire year at strong safety and never had one problem. I firmly believe that ProCap helped this young man."
Jim Riser, MS. AT. C, Texas City Independent School District, Texas City, TX...
"Our athlete who is wearing the ProCap really seems to like it. In my past experiences, that is half that battle. I also tried the test you suggested of hitting it against my knee. That really worked! I didn't feel a thing. I would whole-heartedly recommend this product to anyone."
Trent Detamore, Athletic Director, Castleberry ISD, River Oaks, TX...
"We put them on players who have had head problems in the past. Our experience had been positive. ProCaps have helped our players. ProCaps are also easy to use. They apply to the helmet easily. Also out helmet decals and strips apply easily to ProCaps. ProCaps are a product that we intend to continue to use in the future."
Bruce Campbell, PT, Lake Erie Sports Medicine, Port Clinton, OH...
"We had occasion, at the direction of the team physician, to use 16 ProCaps on 15 players. Unfortunately, the application of the cap occurred only after the player had sustained a concussion and had sat out an appropriate time. After return to play, not one of these players had further injury. The headaches several players routinely complained of after practices also were great ameliorated. It is, and had been,my hope that his product will be used more in the area of prevention of potentially grave injury and not solely as an after- the fact remedy."
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Defiantly start with ProCap. Just as an experiment take two baseball bats and have two people hit them together. I guarantee both persons will say they feel the impact in their hands when the bats hit each other. Then add padding to the bats and hit them again. There will be a vast difference in the force felt in the hands.
Not an exact comparison but a similar one, adding padding on the outside of the helmet will dampen the impact to the head. It won't eliminate it but would help.
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,882
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,882 |
I remember watching some show where they tested adding a soft foam on the outside of the helmets and it didn't lessen the impact......but not when you also consider that the soft foam will grab the impacting item and hold it in place and absorb all the impact. They want the hard, smooth shell so the helmets will slide off each other and then impact on the shoulders.
Hopefully I explained that correctly.
“...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,523
Dawg Talker
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Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,523 |
I believe it's called the co-efficiency of friction,or some such term.Meaning that when two objects impact,the easier it is for the objects to slide past one another,the less damage that is inflicted.And the reason why soft outer shells aren't really a good answer.
Indecision may,or maynot,be my problem
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,887
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,887 |
I understand the property but the helmets have such a big area that when two helmets hit head on there is no slide. When James Harrison hit Colt McCoy did anyone see the helmets slide past each other or did you see Colt's head snap back like he just ran into a brick wall?
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,523
Dawg Talker
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Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,523 |
When a player uses his helmet as a battering ram,there is nothing that can be done to soften the blow.
The soft foam on the outside of the helmet protects the hitter,more than the person getting hit.But if that person continues leading with his helmet,his days are numberred regardless.
Indecision may,or maynot,be my problem
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Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Brain bank examines athletes' hard
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