Concussions suffered by high profile stars such as Chris Paul of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets and Sidney Crosby of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins have US sports leagues cracking down on blows to the head.
NHL general managers meet next week with protecting players high upon their list of topics, while the NBA is consulting with a neurologist and pondering tougher league protocols for dealing with concussions by next season.
Crosby has been sidelined since Jan. 6 after hard blows to the head twice in five days during games.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who guided his club to a Super Bowl crown last month, missed a game during the NFL season after suffering two concussions.
MLB’s Minnesota Twins has been without first baseman Justin Morneau since last July because of a concussion.
Concussions or similar symptoms have sidelined an average of nine NBA players during each of the past five seasons, including eight so far this season, the most recent being Paul, who went down on Sunday and was stretchered off the court.
In the past three weeks, Miami’s Mike Miller, San Antonio’s Gary Neal and Vince Carter of Phoenix have suffered blows to the head in NBA contests as the league looks to adopt tougher measures in line with new NFL and NHL rules against improper hits.
The NFL has tougher regulations on allowing players back into games after they have suffered head injuries, while the NHL has cracked down on hits from behind, although no move has been made to ban fighting from the sport.
The NHL was left reeling last week after it was revealed that Bob Probert, a former NHL tough guy who died last year at age 45, had a degenerative brain disease and had left his brain to doctors so it could be examined for signs of chronic trauma. Two other former NHL players have brains that show similar signs of stress.
More than 350 NHL players have left their brains to Boston University so they can be examined in hopes of educating future generations about the impact and stress the sport can bring.
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