Thursday, July 17, 2014

Are boxing Injuries Justified-BBS


Are boxing Injuries Justified-BBS
BBS stands not for Bodu Bala Sena but to Buruwan Bihikarana Sirasa.
This is the second installment related to sports injuries.
Are boxing Injuries Justified?
The simple answer is NO.
Could they be prevented?
The answer is No and Never.
Sirasa is Head in Sinhala and is a Mogul Media meant for headless and heedless guys and girls.
I met an old friend in Kandy today who was guy who retired from Bank to devote his time for social work.
He is an amiable guy with soft spoken way of life, known among his clientele for his free thinking capacity.
The topic to begin was football and I cleverly slanted it to my last blog piece's opening questions, to open a free for all discussion on, in the middle of the pavement.
In this FREE city of Kandy there is no space for free thinkers to gather and discuss something topical.
But there were massive billboards advertising a school boy's last boxing bout.
If we had a sane Mayor in Kandy he would have banned this advertisement for the sake sanity.
Not to be.
My friend told me the mother (she has become an authority in boxing) of the young guy had claimed that there won't be any risk in boxing.
He wanted me to educate the masses.
I think we need a Public Apology from the Moguls without brains who are running Headless. Heedless “Sirasa Media”.
For torturing facts for media gain and misinformation at large.
If you want tone down version of sports injuries please read blog piece, “Are Sports Injuries justified?”.
If you need real facts and figures read the reproduced piece from British Medical Journal (BMJ) below.

Are Sports Injuries justified?
Are Sports Injuries justified?

The simple answer is NO.
Could they be prevented?
The answer is Yes and No.
Why?
We never find perfect gentlemen/ladies playing it by the rules.
What is my resolve/or reaction?
It is always guarded optimism but in reality never achieved.




Reproduction from BMJ.
This predates the TV Media of Sirasa and is from Veritable Print Era.
This is for the Pol Buruwas and Puththalam Buruwas of Our Media to Read.

News Item
Boxing should be counted out, says BMA Report.
Amateur and professional boxing causes brain damage and should be banned, says the BMA IN A LATEST REPORT ON BOXING. The BMA argues that there is now enough evidence for secretary of state for national heritage to call an independent inquiry into the risks. The report, which reviews in detail 20 new research papers on boxing, looks particularly at amateur boxers in Britain. 
Its previous study in 1984 was criticized by the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) for concentrating on foreign studies of professional boxers. The BABA has 35,000 registered amateur boxers between ages of 11 and 35.
We have when Joseph Striclan, a 15 year old British amateur, was killed in his second fight that if anyone throws a punch hard enough it can kill.” said, Dr. Jeffrey Cundy, a member of BMA board of science and education. “the report makes this evidence conclusive. There are now more sensitive techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychometric testing that show that not only is there immediate brain damage after a bout of boxing but also an accumulation of damage that can continue for 20 years after the boxer retires. 
 
There is 15-20% CHANCE A BOXER DEVELOPING DEMENTIA AFTER PROFESSIONAL CAREER.
Our recommendation is simple-people should not hit each other on head (It is alright hitting the Media Head of SIRASA on his Vertex)”.
The report estimates that the heaviest blow in boxing can be equal to a 12 pound padded wooden mallet traveling at 20 miles an hour. A swinging hook to one side of the jaw is the most dangerous as it causes the head to rotate in vertical plane. “All the boxers know that a strong punch landing in this are is likely to lead, to win a knock out, because of the brain damage that this movement produces”, says the report.
The effects on the brain include surface damage to the cortex, particularly the frontal and temporal lobes and multiple tears of neuronal networks called Strich Lesions. 
Tension between the brain tissue and blood vessels can cause bleeding, especially in the substantia nigra and deep periventricula tissues.
In the long term, the BMA's report says, professional boxer are at risk of developing the Punch Drunk Syndrome (our politicians have this syndrome-especially when they are in opposition-most of them in power are moribund and brain damaged), dementia pugilistica. The syndrome, which can develop years later after boxer has retired, results in blurred speech, loss of coordination, dementia and premature death. The report finds conclusive evidence of long term brain damage in professional boxers, but the evidence for amateur boxers, because of the small number studied is less clear (that is the caveat).
The news article goes on;
Learning and Memory Deficit (applies to children)
Other neuropathological studies of boxers' brain show that gliosis and atrophy are concentrated in the medial structures of temporal lobe-limbic system-concerned with memory and behaviour (BMJ forgets to mention about sexual functions).
The report states this is why neuropsychiatric testing of memory and behaviour pattern are more sensitive than imaging in detecting brain damage.




Postscript
Cassius Clay, lately known as Mohammad Ali for his Muslim faith was my favorite star only second to Nelsen Mandela, not due to his achievements in sports arena, but due to his vociferous fight against American War Machine against the Communist Vietnam.
He choose to go to prison for 7 years by refusing the compulsory conscription and his title was striped and he came back and won it.
In my book freedom revisited, I have a special mention of Nelson Mandela and Ali.
Cassius Clay was Classic Figure both in sports and politics.
He has all the features mentioned in this article and BMJ diplomatically avoid mentioning him but it was implied in retrospect.

The lyrics of the “black superman” is another hit in our time.

I dedicate this blog piece to Actor Christopher Reeve and Michael Schumacher, too.

Riding Accident Paralyzes Actor Christopher Reeve

Actor Christopher Reeve, best known for his role as Superman, is paralyzed and cannot breathe without the help of a respirator after breaking his neck in a riding accident in Culpeper, Va., on Saturday.
Reeve suffered fractures to the top two vertebrae, considered the most serious of cervical injuries, and also damaged his spinal cord, John A. Jane, the University of Virginia neurosurgeon treating Reeve in Charlottesville, revealed yesterday. 
 
Reeve, who is 42 and has enjoyed a prolific screen and stage career, was thrown from his horse and landed on his head during the second of three trial events in an equestrian competition. 
 

He was wearing a helmet and a protective vest at the time. 
 

"He has sustained complex fractures to the first and second cervical vertebrae . . .," Jane read from a statement at a news briefing. 

"Mr. Reeve currently has no movement or spontaneous respiration. 
He may require surgery to stabilize the upper spine in the near future."

Michael Schumacher in Critical Condition After Ski Accident


Seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher survived 307 F1 races, winning 91 of them, and his racing career was not without serious accidents. But it was a family ski trip to France that has caused the most serious injury yet for the 44-year-old German. Schumacher was skiing on an unmarked trail with his 14-year-old son at a resort in Méribel in the French Alps on Sunday morning, and reportedly fell and hit his head on a rock. 

It’s said that Schumacher was wearing a helmet.

He was rescued by two members of the ski patrol, and promptly airlifted to a hospital in Moutiers, then transferred to another in Grenoble better equipped to handle head trauma. While initial reports insisted the accident was not serious, the news became more ominous as day turned to night. As Europe went to sleep, its presses printed headlines like The Mirror‘s: “Michael Schumacher Fighting For His Life.”
This is a story that can and will change hourly, but at this point it’s understood that Schumacher underwent emergency brain surgery, and while early reports said he was conscious, subsequent ones confirmed he was in a coma upon arrival in Grenoble.