Dazzlers Corner: Concussions in Wrestling, CTE
By Ken Dunlop
Concussions in Wrestling, CTE.
This is a very serious column and it’s very close to my heart. CTE ( Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) which is caused by concussions and sub concussions. In the wrestling world most wrestlers have suffered from concussions, during my career I had 16 concussions that I know off and god knows many sub concussions.
There are two neurologists fighting the cause and doing so much research into this, in Victoria there’s Professor Alan Pearce at Latrobe University and his NSW counterpart Dr Rowena Mobbs in North Sydney, they are working with the Australian Sports Brain Bank, they are involved in a struggle with both the AFL and NRL who both don’t want to be involved with their research, burying their heads in the sand. In the AFL there have been people like Danny Frawley, Shane Tuck, Polly Farmer, Craig Stewart and Ted Fidge and in the NRL Paul Green, Wally Lewis, Steve Mortimer, Mario Fenech, Kyle White and Mark Carroll. God only knows how many pro Boxers suffer and Soccer players, it’s a very broad disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia are all apart of CTE, they are currently researching if MND is also linked with CTE.
Some of the symptoms include Anxiety, Depression, Headaches, Loss of attention or concentration, Short term memory loss and loss of balance. I am on a volunteer study program with Dr Rowena Mobbs due to all my concussions and I do have a couple of symptoms like the short term memory loss and loss of balance. Every two years l get an MRI of the brain and I do different types of tests yearly just so they can spot any early signs.
There are a number of Australian wrestlers who have suffered from most of the diseases that I have mentioned, some have already passed away and the others living with it, l can’t name any of them without their families permission. I believe that if wrestling in each State had a governing body all these injuries can be reported. When I was promoting in the 90s l had very strict protocols with concussion, if anyone had suffered one they had to sit out for 2 weeks and also have a letter from their local GP to state that they were fit to return to the ring. I really hope that all promotions today have that same standard. I urge all wrestlers to sign up to the Australian Sports Brain Bank to donate their brains on their passing, this sadly is the only way that research can take place.
This is a horrible thing to talk about but it’s such a serious situation that everyone should learn more about and discuss, the young wrestlers today should be able to ask their promotion what is your concussion policy, if they don’t have one simply don’t work for them. I wish everyone one of you Good Health.
