Head injuries a rising danger for snowboarders, skiers

(Photo: Brennan Linsley AP)

Head injuries a rising danger for snowboarders, skiers
Rachel George, USA TODAY  Sports
February 26, 2013




Story Highlights

Pearce suffered a concussion less than three weeks before career-ending accident

He says he came back too soon, calling decision 'dumbest thing I've ever done'

White said he'd suffered nine concussions in his career in documentary

ASPEN, Colo. -- The dumbest ride Kevin Pearce ever took down the halfpipe wasn't the one that ended his snowboarding career. 

That run on Dec. 31, 2009, the one that resulted in a traumatic brain injury less than two months before the Vancouver Olympics, came less than three weeks after the run Pearce says he should have never taken.

Earlier that month, Pearce, who was 22 at the time, was pushing to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team and emerging as a challenger to Shaun White. Trying to land a cab 1080, a trick that Pearce had "on lock," he fell and hit his head. Hard.

"I was so sick and so dizzy and so gone after that," he recalled this month.

But Pearce's handling of less severe concussions and his life-changing brain injury highlight the extremes of what can go wrong when athletes hurtle themselves three stories in the air to perform tricks on a hard-packed halfpipe.

In The Crash Reel, a documentary chronicling Pearce's accident and recovery, Shaun White said he's suffered nine concussions in his career.   
 
Like any sport, snowboarding and free skiing come with risks and to the extent that is possible, athletes do their best to mitigate them.


But with elite athletes suffering multiple concussions at a young age, more questions than answers remain about a culture perhaps nonchalant in its attitude toward concussions and the effects on their long-term health.

Concussions, especially for snowboarders, are increasingly just part of getting to the top. 

While concussion research has focused on the impact in sports like football , there is less known or studied about the rates of concussions in snowboarding and skiing.

A study by researchers at the University of New Mexico published last month in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found the rate of closed head injuries more than doubled at one resort, Taos Ski Valley, after it allowed snowboarders on the slope starting in March 2008.

David Rust, the study's lead author, said the large majority of head injuries involved concussion-type symptoms, with only a small proportion requiring an advanced imaging test.

  

While the sport has progressed in its understanding and treatment of concussions, athletes and doctors spoke of an attitude of nonchalance toward the brain injury. ...a sense of invincibility is common.

"There is the illusion of greatness. There is the illusion of invincibility because you are out there performing things that have never been done," said U.S. freeskier David Wise, 21. A back-to-back gold medalist at the X Games in the superpipe, Wise said he has suffered four or five concussions.

Older athletes speak of a learning curve. If young skiers and snowboarders start out with that sense of invincibility, they'll learn.

Asked about their worst injuries, almost all the athletes interviewed for this story pointed to a broken bone or torn ligament. Head injuries were characterized by many as minor.

Part of that is the nature of the injury, one that isn't visible with a cast or crutches. Speaking about athletes generally, Mark Lovell – the creator of the ImPACT computerized concussion evaluation system – said most would opt for a concussion over an ACL tear.

"If you tear an ACL playing in the NFL, you know you're out for the season," said Lovell. "If you have a concussion, they see that as being – even though the consequences could be much more severe – they see that as not as challenging."

The athletes all said that while they're aware of the risks, they don't think about them on the course. Performing extremely technical tricks high above a jump or halfpipe requires focus on the moment and not on the worst-case scenarios.

Tragically, the sport has seen those. Freeskier Sarah Burke died in January 2012 after hitting her heard during a training accident in Park City, Utah.
 
It will likely take decades for researchers to understand what these types of brain injuries, and their frequency, mean for these athletes. Some of the first generation of these athletes – those like Clark, White and Bleiler – are still competing.

"We certainly don't know (the long-term consequences) in skiing and snowboarding because we just haven't had the research," said Melinda Roalstad. former medical director with the USSA who now runs a program that helps educate athletes about concussions.

 "What we're learning from is football."

Some former NFL players have offered a glimpse, with their brains showing signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The degenerative disease has been found in those with repeated concussions and head trauma. Symptoms can include dementia, depression and memory loss.

Doctors and researchers agree that athletes competing now often don't consider the long-term effects of repeated concussions, an attitude certainly not unique to these sports. There is no clear line of demarcation signaling that exceeding 'X' number of concussions portends permanent damage.

"In terms of the concussions, everybody has had them," said Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon and team physician for the U.S. Snowboard team. "We've all become much more aware of them and much more sensitive to the importance of them. And how important they are to the future life of these guys too, but that's not something that they always see."

Three years after his accident, Pearce is still dealing with the consequences. He still loves snowboarding and were he capable, he'd still be competing.

But he hopes people can learn from his experience, something that might affect the culture toward concussions. 

Pearce is part of the #loveyourbrain education campaign.









Source:
Head injuries a rising danger for snowboarders, skiers  

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/02/25/snowboarders-skiers-kevin-pearce-concern-concussions/1947593/