Concussions

[sekitori 492]

This subject has been mentioned before but it’s so important, I would like to bring it up again. I wonder if anything can be done to decrease the possibility of concussions from occurring in sumo or of at least monitoring them. The NFL which seems to be having a concussion epidemic is experimenting with new helmets and various rules to prevent them from happening or to at least lessen their effect. But there are no helmets in sumo where head to head contact is often the rule, not the exception.

Considering that this contact is produced on a daily basis over many years and there is no head protection, I would think that the chances of incurring eventual brain damage from sumo to at least some degree would be quite high, possibly higher than an American football player would have.

I believe that John Gunning once remarked that the effects of head to head contact over the years can be quite noticeable with some retired rikishis.

I realize that this problem is endemic to sumo. Head to head contact is part of its very nature and it’s doubtful if anything can be done to change that.

Even so, is the NSK doing anything at all to address the problem? I would think that periodic routine EEG tests might at least show up potential problems. Whether something like that would be practical and would even be accepted is another matter. Suppose a rikishi shows some signs of possible brain damage. Would he be required to reduce his training and/or wear some sort of protective headgear in practice? Would the use of head protection in practice even be allowed because it would be such a severe break from tradition? Could the rikishi even be forced to retire prematurely because of the discovery of abnormal brain activity?

I would guess that the last thing those governing sumo would want are ex-rikishis having chronic headaches and/or walking around in a semi-dazed condition during their later lives. But as noble as those thoughts may be, whether anything can be done to prevent them from occurring is at best questionable.

Any comments?

Edited April 22, 2016 by sekitori

[hamcornheinz 839]

There is something most people don't consider- protection isn't necessarily protection. MMA fighters are much less likely to suffer concussion than boxers, and open-fist fighters much less likely that MMA fighters, because a 1000 newton punch in MMA gloves is much more likely to knock someone out with the smaller glove, while the big glove just spreads the impact over time and leaves the receiver just conscious enough to take another, heavier punch. These large scale concussions aren't the result of 4 or 5 big concussions in fights or games but rather small concussions accumulating during practice. So not having helmets may not be that bad of a thing. Also, a lot of rikishi avoid head impact, Toyonoshima for example, and prefer to take the impact on the shoulder (obviously they can't avoid it all the time).

[Dapeng 236]

Probably it is the risk rikishi have to take. If they wear head protection like NFL players, they will use heads for offensing, resulting in more severe concussion.

Maybe rikishi should be trained to avoid direct head to head bumping at the tachiai.

[Motemakuru 26]

Concussions have become a super big deal in the scripted world of pro wrestling, too, especially newsworthy with the recent retirement of Daniel Bryan due to a series of concussions and post-concussion seizures. A lot of the top guys (John Cena, Kevin Nash, Mick Foley, RVD) said they'll donate their brains to research after their death, and it seems like the recently deceased Chyna's brain is currently being studied for evidence of CTE. All of this is fairly recent news (the Wellness Program wasn't around a decade ago), but at least they're moving in the right direction.

I wonder what EEG scans of rikishi would reveal - while they're not intentionally trying to bump heads, my guess is they're taking more hard head bumps than most pro wrestlers take.

[Benevolance 2,511]

The topknot absorbs all the impact.

[Senkoho 552]

Hidenoumi always keeps his head as far away from the opponent's as possible at the tachi-ai.

Now that I think about it, Hakuho also never goes for head to head contact at tachi-ai.

Am I right?

[RabidJohn 1,858]

The topknot absorbs all the impact.

What a ridiculous notion!

The trouble with helmets and the like is that they give the participant a false sense of security. Sure, a good helmet will protect the bones of skull, but it's the sponge-like contents of the skull floating in fluid that cause the problems. The brain gets shaken and, even worse, rotated within the cranial cavity, and head 'protection' does nothing to prevent it. In fact helmet wearers, such as American footballers, clash heads even more because they're wearing helmets, and each impact is another few brain cells damaged...

I regularly wince at the noise an inveterate head-cracker like Harumafuji can generate at the tachi-ai, but I can't see a way to prevent it that wouldn't render Sumo unrecognisable.

Education to make sure all rikishi know the risks certainly wouldn't hurt, but then I'd give them the personal freedom to take that risk if they wish.

[wuli 67]

we need foam rubber hats, to help the topknot!

[hamcornheinz 839]

The topknot absorbs all the impact.

What a ridiculous notion!

The trouble with helmets and the like is that they give the participant a false sense of security. Sure, a good helmet will protect the bones of skull, but it's the sponge-like contents of the skull floating in fluid that cause the problems. The brain gets shaken and, even worse, rotated within the cranial cavity, and head 'protection' does nothing to prevent it. In fact helmet wearers, such as American footballers, clash heads even more because they're wearing helmets, and each impact is another few brain cells damaged...

I regularly wince at the noise an inveterate head-cracker like Harumafuji can generate at the tachi-ai, but I can't see a way to prevent it that wouldn't render Sumo unrecognisable.

Education to make sure all rikishi know the risks certainly wouldn't hurt, but then I'd give them the personal freedom to take that risk if they wish.

I'm 95 percent sure he was joking..

[Nantonoyama 252]

I saw the motion picture that was recently released about concussions in american football and I found it very interesting although I know barely nothing about this sport.

In Rugby football, concussions are taken more and more seriously by authorities and substitutions are more and more frequent, but the amount of head contact in this sport is tremendous, while in sumo it is possible to avoid head-to-heads. Rikishis stunned are quite rare and amongst the various health problem a rikishi can have in his career and after his career, concussions are not, and by far, the most important.

[Katooshu 3,335]

Read this today and thought it might be worth sharing. The gist is that even blows which do not lead to concussions can cause serious long term problems. Now think of all those harites, forearms, and tachiai head clashes that we constantly see...often the rikishi brush them off but there is still damage being done.

Boston University School of Medicine releases findings that show comparatively minor hits to the head can cause long lasting damage

Article

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a disease that has been exhibited in hundreds of athletes who have incurred repeated blows to the head, throughout their careers in contact and combat sports. CTE causes parts of the brain to slowly die, resulting in issues such as memory loss, depression, dementia, and increased suicidality.

The damage to the brain is caused by a protein named pTau. It was previously thought that this protein was released inside the brain, in greater amounts than what occurs naturally, when concussion symptoms are experienced.

However, a new study by the Boston University School of Medicine and College of Engineering, suggests that the process that culminates in CTE does not require any concussion symptoms at all. In other words, blows to the head — which do not cause the sufferer to be knocked unconscious, experience dizziness, or lingering headaches — are enough to cause degenerative damage to the brain.

“The concussion is really irrelevant for triggering CTE,” said Dr. Lee Goldstein, an associate professor at Boston University, when interviewed by The Washington Post. “It’s really the hit that counts.”

Goldtein’s study involved the analysis of teenage brains that had suffered brain injuries alongside the brains of mice that had been made to endure head trauma.

“We were surprised that the brain pathology was unrelated to signs of concussion,” he said. “Including altered arousal and impaired balance, among others. Our findings provide strong causal evidence linking head impact to TBI and early CTE, independent of concussion.”

Goldstein said that these findings may explain why approximately 20 percent of athletes with CTE never suffered a diagnosed concussion.

The study also succeeded in adding much needed clarity to the confusing world of head injuries; which often sees concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and CTE mislabeled and misunderstood.


“So concussion may or may not be a TBI and equally important not having a concussion may or may not be associated with a TBI. A concussion doesn’t tell you anything about a TBI. Nor does it tell you anything about CTE,” said Goldstein.

Goldstein tried to further simplify things for The Post.

According to him, a concussion is a syndrome; meaning it is a collection of symptoms. The symptoms which have been grouped into what we refer to as a concussion include dizziness, loss of consciousness, light sensitivity, and headaches. These symptoms are usually triggered when the brain is made to rotate within the skull because of force.

A TBI is different from concussions. These are actual injuries that involve damage to brain tissue. These can be caused by the brain shifting back and forth, or side to side, violently within the brain as a result of force. This was the case in the death of Tim Hague last year.

CTE is a “bona fide neurodegenerative disease,” said Goldstein. “It will progress independently of whether you have future hits and a lot of people think that the injury is the disease and it’s not. There is an injury and then it goes on to spread in the brain, like other neurodegenerative diseases.”

It is still generally believed that blows to the head which are severe enough to cause concussion symptoms will result in CTE. However, this new study showed that blows which do not trigger the concussion symptoms can also trigger the disease.

Goldstein said these findings meant that concussion protocols in organized sports might not do anything to prevent someone eventually suffering from CTE. Concussion protocols usually assess athletes who have suffered a blow to the head to determine if they have concussion like symptoms. If they do, athletes are generally pulled from a game or prescribed a period of inactivity to ‘recover.’

However, athletes who have been hit in the head, but do not show concussion symptoms, often continue to play (or fight) and then endure additional subconcussive blows to the head; which we now know can cause CTE.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Katooshu