Athlete head injury linked to Lou Gehrig-like condition

BOSTON - Scientists funded in part by the National Football League say they have found evidence connecting head injuries in athletes to a condition that mimics Lou Gehrig's disease.

Dr. Ann McKee said she found toxic proteins in the spinal cords of three athletes who had suffered head injuries and were diagnosed later with Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

A peer-reviewed paper to be published Wednesday in a leading journal of neuropathology, suggests that the demise of athletes like Gehrig and soldiers given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, might have been catalyzed by injuries only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain trauma.

Although the paper does not discuss Gehrig specifically, its authors in interviews acknowledged the clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., and the Boston University School of Medicine, the primary researchers of brain damage among deceased National Football League players, said that markings in the spinal cords of two players and one boxer who also received a diagnosis of A.L.S. indicated that those men did not have A.L.S. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussionlike trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways.

Click here to read more about the study.

Sierra Neurosurgery Group has been working to educate area coaches and parents of student atheltes about the dangers of head injury from sporting activites that involve tackling or repeated head contact with a ball. They are offering a free in-field spine and head trauma assessment guide. Click here to download a pdf or call 323-2080 and request a laminated pocket version.