Published in the March-April 2014 issue of MyLIFE magazine
People who love football know all about the long snap, but former NFL player Brian Jennings wants everyone to know what’s new about brain injuries and concussions. Even before his 13 seasons as a gifted long snapper with the San Francisco 49ers, Jennings played in hundreds of games and practices. Then, in 2005, he suffered a concussion that still affects his life almost a decade later.
When his stellar professional football career ended in 2012, Jennings knew he had some very important work left to do—because of his concussion. These days, he’s in the process of starting a foundation that will revolutionize the way concussions are managed and treated, and he wants people to know what’s, well … ahead.
In 2012, he studied how young athletes who suffered concussions were managed medically. The protocol at the time was, and still is, lots of rest. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends total rest after a concussion, with constant evaluations prior to returning to play, Jennings noted, but this is very different from the way he managed his own post-concussion care. The period for rest can last a long time, he explained, and can compromise the body’s ability to function in many ways. While rest helps prevent the lasting effects of a concussion (frequently referred to as post concussion syndrome), a new way of rehabilitation— beyond just total rest—is being evaluated.
“Complete rest,” Jennings said, “means no physical exercise, no mental concentration, avoiding exposure to light. Players ‘recover’ from their concussion with rest. But what if they don’t really recover?”
Here’s the rest on rest: It can lead to mental inactivity, muscle atrophy and possibly even fear of returning to a normal lifestyle.
“When I played in the NFL, I would never let an injury ‘rest,’” Jennings shared. “Rest would result in compensation patterns, limit my abilities, possibly lead to other injuries and put me out of a job. So, with my team of experts, ‘rest’ was not how we treated injuries, including concussions. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were developing an integrated, multidisciplinary treatment and rehabilitation program specifically for concussions. Now, I’m working to develop that program to make it available and affordable to anyone suffering a concussion.”
The goal is to develop this program for athletes, soldiers and those who have been or are incarcerated.
Watch for news about The Concussion Care Foundation. Jennings is pouring his energy into creating the organization to educate and promote greater awareness about the prevention of traumatic brain injuries, help find research solutions and advocate this new recovery opportunity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young people are the group at highest risk for traumatic brain injuries and subsequent permanent disabilities. Statistics covering a recent 10-year span in the United States show that head injuries increased 60 percent during that time frame. Hospital emergency rooms treat more than 173,000 cases of head trauma per year just for patients under the age of 19.
Jennings believes that his foundation, a study plan and research partners will come together soon because, more and more, science is showing that concussion is not an injury that occurs only during high-impact sports. And, more needs to be discovered in terms of appropriate treatment and potential cures.
He plans to keep his head in this game for a long time to come.
Brian Jennings
Concussion Care Foundation
7119 E. 1st Ave.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(602) 579-3414