Despite what Looney Tunes reruns might indicate, in reality, seeing stars is far from funny.
Recent studies at the University of Pittsburgh and the McGill University Neurological Institute have linked cumulative concussions to the deterioration of brain function and to mental diseases, including early-onset Alzheimer's and dementia.
"The medical community is really picking up on this," said Dr. Gerald Maher, a Massachusetts dentist and Tufts graduate specializing in jaw structure and trauma. "There are all sorts of studies coming out, and they all say the same thing. The problem is that the public doesn't necessarily read these studies, and people don't see concussions as dangerous."
Maher began studying concussions in the late 1970s after his friend Marvin Hagler, a premier American boxer, asked him to examine why some people suffer severely from blows to the head while others walk away apparently unscathed.
Using his dental background, Maher found that jaw placement significantly affects the amount of damage a person will experience in response to head trauma.
"The jaw should be in the best possible place. This doesn't prevent concussions, but it does lessen the severity," he said.
Concussions occur when the brain violently hits the skull, and they are caused by a blow to the head or to the jaw or by whiplash.
"If someone hits you with a baseball bat over the head, you're going to get a concussion, and there's nothing you can do about that," Maher said. "But a blow to the jaw or whiplash — there's a lot you can do to lessen the impact of that."
According to Maher, whose clients include the New England Patriots, mouth guards may lessen the severity of concussions, but they must fit "perfectly" to guarantee any degree of protection.
"They need to be personalized," he said. "You can't buy a mouth guard at a sporting goods store and expect it to protect you."
At Tufts, before athletes are cleared to play a sport, they must utilize a computer-based program to establish a personal baseline of mental activity. In the event of head trauma, players will not be cleared to play until their mental capacity returns to baseline level, said Mark Doughtie, Tufts' director of sports medicine.
Football, soccer, ice hockey and volleyball players suffer the most concussions, Doughtie said. At Tufts, the Sports Medicine Department sees at least 10 to 15 athletes per year with concussions.
"Preventing concussions is obviously somewhat difficult," Doughtie said. "You can teach proper technique, but you can't plan for when two soccer players go to head the ball and one hits the other."
Assistant Professor of Psychology Haline Schendan, a neuroscience and cognitive psychology specialist, said that recuperation generally takes three months — something that is not conducive to most sports seasons.
"The problem with sports is that they don't encourage rest, but any physical exertion may make the brain more vulnerable to severe long-term damage," she said.
"Most people don't know that when neurons [in the brain] die, under most circumstances the lost cells will not come back," she continued.
According to Maher, most people are unaware of the dangers concussions can pose. He recalled that one private high school in Massachusetts, which he declined to name, recently allowed a football player to drive himself home after he suffered a concussion; he was unable to recall his own name for over one hour after the concussion.
"Decisions like that are just idiotic. Concussion awareness is definitely not where it should be," he said.
Freshman Adam Aronson has already experienced two concussions this year, receiving head blows only two weeks apart from one another while playing club soccer for Tufts.
"The first time I wasn't sure what had happened, but the second time I was positive I'd gotten another concussion," Aronson said.
After the first concussion, Aronson said Health Service told him to refrain from athletic activity for one week. When he sustained the second one, he went to the hospital. He has since decided to sit out the rest of the season.
But athletes aren't the only people susceptible to concussions.
The U.S. Army has said that as many as 20 percent of soldiers fighting overseas return with mild traumatic brain injury, which Maher attributes to poorly designed helmets.
Maher said that he has contacted the military several times about a collaboration to better protect American soldiers from brain injury after a lieutenant stationed in Iraq e-mailed him asking for help, but his proposal has been repeatedly declined.
"I haven't gotten past first base here; don't ask me why," he said. "I offered to do it all for exactly zero dollars. I volunteered to go over [to war zones] to train dentists. The money we will be paying in disability pensions will be in the billions. People — athletes, coaches, the Army — just don't always consider how devastating the effects of concussions can be, but soon it will be apparent."
