Ex-wrestler warns of danger of concussions

Chris "Harvard" Nowinski flickers to life on the projection screen at the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center and, within moments, he is goading an unseen WWE rival on the superiority of his Ivy League education. It was an odd schtick, but it was his, and for three years, it was enough to earn the former college football player a good amount of relevance in the pro wrestling community.

Shortly afterward, Nowinski, 32, suffered at least his sixth concussion - all the others were undiagnosed - and it ended his career. But he was the lucky one.

Pro wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and hung himself. Medical tests later reported he had an advanced form of dementia at age 40 because of repeated blows to the brain.

Former NFL players Mike Webster and Terry Long exhibited bizarre behavior before dying at 50 and 45, respectively. They later were diagnosed with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease caused by chronic head injury. Nowinski also said an average of five youth athletes die every year from a head injury.

"I'd never been educated for concussions and I didn't know I had one," said Nowinski, author of "Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis.''

He spoke Sunday at the concussion clinic in Commack as part of his work with Sports Legacy Institute, a non-profit he helped establish that does research and educates on the effects of head injuries. "It led me on an odyssey,'' he said. "There's a lot more going on with concussions in sports."

A concussion is defined as a brain injury caused by a sudden blow to the head, often accompanied by memory loss, disorientation, double vision or nausea.

A major concern is the prevalence of concussions in youth sports. About 50 percent of high school football players exhibited some symptoms of a concussion during a season of play, Nowinski said, "and we simply cannot see all the concussions, no matter how hard we looked."

Often, driven by a competitive urge and pressure from parents and teammates, athletes will re-enter games minutes after having suffered a head injury. That doesn't let them heal properly and may cause more extensive damage to nerve cells, according to research by Nowinski's group and the associated Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.

The best coping method, Nowinski said, is educating parents, young athletes and coaches, getting proper medical attention and allowing plenty of time for healing step by step.

"Kids are not old enough to accept these health risks," he said. "No youth athlete can recover on the same day."

Leonard Framson, clinical director at Ronkonkoma Sports Medicine and Rehab, has coached girls youth soccer. He said the "never sit out" mentality deeply concerns him.

"I think everybody needs to be educated on the causes and effects of these blows to the head," Framson said. "From the neck on up, any jolt to the body can cause [damage]."