Recently, the NFL has focused on improving its procedures for ensuring that players who have suffered concussions are prevented from returning to action until their brains have healed.
The more prudent approach? Finding ways to keep concussions from happening.
Though the league is exploring various ideas in this regard, such as helmet-free offseason practices and advanced helmet-padding technology, there’s a new proposal that focuses on bolstering the situation inside the skull.
Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reports that a retired heart surgeon has proposed a simple plan for using supplements to guard the brain against concussions.
“The whole concept is to change the body so the response to brain injury is less traumatic,” Dr. W. Dudley Johnson tells Cole. “This is a prophylactic measure, but it’s with everyday, over-the-counter, normal natural products you can find in the store.”
(Does he mean supplements like StarCaps?)
The goal is to prevent inflammation of the brain when it’s bruised as a result of a concussion. And Dudley says he has submitted a proposal to the NFL. (The league office, however, tells Cole that the proposal can’t be located. I think they have supplements to help with that, too.)
Johnson is seeking $600,000 to fund a study that would research the value of the suggested supplements. In the interim, the Steelers already are using one of the supplements -- fish oil -- in the hopes of reducing the impact of concussions. The Packers reportedly are interested in Johnson’s ideas as well.
As the league continues to wrestle with this inherent reality of playing football, any ideas for preventing concussions should be fully explored, especially if those ideas can be used by players at every level of the sport.
Then again, getting a 13-year-old to take his daily dose of fish oil might be even more of a challenge than designing a helmet that prevents concussions altogether.