ARE PEOPLE GETTING THE MESSAGE?
NEW BRAINTREE, MA June 30, 2012 I read an L.A. Times story featuring Kevin Robinson, a 40-year old athlete who rides BMX bicycles in the elite X-Games competition. By his own admission he had has 50 concussions including one that rendered him near coma and a second that resulted in 2 weeks of having limited language. I would say his physician's would rather he not continue in the sport and save his brain for other things like taking care of his children and living a long healthy life. But surprisingly Robinson says to retire form the sport would go against his principles and be inconsistent with his "personality".
How can anyone hear that and expect that Mr. Robinson is anything but selfish and foolhardy? At the same time he insists that athlete's should always wear helmets when they ride but admits he has sustained all of his injuries while wearing a helmet. He described himself as a BMX rider to the core and is unconvinced that he is in any substantive risk of long term consequence to his brain and overall health. At the same time the L.A. Times reported that Robinson was a close friend with former San Diego Charger Junior Seau who committed suicide this spring. Seau's death has been linked to concussion-related chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Seau sustained dozens of concussions during his 20 year NFL career and suffered with depression. Arguably Mr. Robinson thinks only of himself and remains stuck in an adolescent time warp when he espouses the belief that until he has proof that concussions are bad for you he will continue on riding as always. He even goes on to say that if his 6-year old son wants to follow in his footsteps than that is good enough for him. Someone needs to wake this guy up. Not only is he making a living riding a child's bicycle but he lacks adult judgment and has either been asleep for the last 10 years or already has cognitive impairment and lacks simple reasoning. Robinson is waiting until the C-T scan he has had over 50 times results in an abnormal finding. Someone needs to explain to Robinson that C-T and MRI never or rarely show evidence of structural brain injury and waiting any longer continues to put himself at risk for serious neurological deficits and psychopathology later in life.
