OT: Gittleson working to prevent concussions
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Football-concussions-can-be-fought-f…
Interesting article detailing the work former S&C coach Mike Gittleson is doing to try and prevent concussions. Since his retirement he's traveled to 250+ schools preaching the importance of working out the neck muscles.
Nice to see he's making the best of his retirement.
It's great to see that Gittleson now has a mission that is greater than that of training one football team. It is a great niche for him and a service that is greatly needed. The average head weighs as much as a bowling ball. If you want a basis for comparison, try holding a bowling ball out in an outstretched hand and see how long it stays there. Your neck muscles have to stabilize your head on top of your spine all day.
Between this work and more stringent monitoring of players with concussions, football may become a lot safer in the next few years. Congratulations to Gittleson for providing a service that will make a difference in the quality of life for many players after football.
Good for Gittelson, indeed.
It's never too smart to quote Wikipedia, but here I go:
"Concussion may be caused by impact forces, in which the head strikes or is struck by something, or impulsive forces, in which the head moves without itself being subject to blunt trauma (for example, when the chest hits something and the head snaps forward)."
Neck strengthening would definitely help reduce the second type.
That seems to be an obvious candidate for football training, but I never hear much about it. I've seen wrestlers (in days gone by) work out with neck harnesses. Do any of the coaches here have their players do neck exercises?
Gittleson's school of thought (old school 1970's HIT from Art Jones, Dr. Darden, Dr. Ken Leistner, MSU's Ken Mannie, et al) has always emphasized neck training in football:
http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=411888
A little surprised that the article mentions most schools don't emphasize this.
Good to see though, nevertheless!
PS. Mustaches For Michigan starts up in August!
Someone should try to interview Gittleson. That would be interesting. We always hear about how different he is from Barwis, but we (at least I) have never seen Gittleson explain his methods.
Double Post.
Another major preventative measure to slowing concussions would be to actually wear the equipment as it was intended. How many times do you see these kids wearing their chin straps loose or one strap off basically for fashion. Helmets are supposed to be exoskeletons, so to speak, not accessories. I do think that Gittleson's methods will help, but I also think the NCAA should make a rule about proper equipment use to make the biggest difference.
Also, it makes no sense for helmets to have a hard exterior. That just increases the force of impact when they collide. They may look silly, but the helmets with external padding soften the impact considerably.
Perhaps Gittleson has discovered those conditioning pizza boxes can absorb a blow.
