The soldier athlete. The athlete warrior.
Though their worlds are disparate, soldiers and athletes are alike in seeking physical and psychological perfection as ways to defeat their challengers. Conquering — in combat or on the playing field — is at their competitive core.
A less glorious common bond? The confounding concussion.
“People say ‘mild’ concussion, but I don’t think there really is such a thing,” NHL star Sidney Crosby said after he was checked into the boards during a Jan. 5 game and later diagnosed with a concussion. “I think it’s a serious thing.”
Crosby hasn’t played an NHL game in 11 months.
Better known in the medical community as traumatic brain injury (TBI), a concussion, in its milder forms, defies easy detection and treatment. It’s a so-called “invisible” injury, the secrets to debilitating symptoms such as headache, dizziness and inattention buried deep within brain tissue.
Sport and military researchers have stepped up concussion studies over the last decade — propelled by neuroscience breakthroughs and better scanning techniques, such as ultrasensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging — within their specific populations.
Athletic-related concussions typically come from the head striking a solid object or having it whipped from the side. The majority of military personnel returning from Afghanistan with TBIs were wounded by supersonic shock waves emanating from improvised explosive devices. The brain is rocked when shock waves enter the body and create pressure that drives through the skull.
By Mary Ormsby
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1085969--the-hurt-locker-room-bond
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