Jay Cutler: How Many Concussions is Too Many?

How many concussions Jay Cutler can have before he can no longer play? Is there a point where you are done for the season? Is there a point where your career is ended? I'm trying to get info on this. This web site is more for younger athletes, and not NFL players. Maybe some of us can dig up better information. It sounds like this is still an evolving area of player safety.

Quote:

---

LINK to the web site

How Many Concussions is Too Many?

It’s difficult to say how many concussions are too many. There is no general rule.


The American Academy of Neurology recommends termination of the season after the third concussion within that same season.


Important for coaches and parents of young athletes to understand is that an athlete disqualified for a “season” may need to continue to be held out through successive sports. Each young athlete must be considered on an individual basis. Factors to consider will be the number of concussions sustained and the severity of each concussion.


The risk level for concussion in a particular sport must also be considered as must the athlete’s age and level of participation.


Some other research suggests that an athlete who has sustained three previous concussions in a career should no longer be allowed to participate in contact sport.


What is known is that once an athlete sustains one concussion, he or she is at increased risk for sustaining subsequent concussions.

---

Everyone reacts differently to concussions. There are players that suffer a concussion and they bounce right back the next week (Aaron Rodgers, RG3) then there are players that take weeks or months to return (Sid Crosby, Justin Morneau, Johnathan Toews).

You have players that suffer multiple concussions (Troy Aikman) and they are fine, and you have players that suffer multiple concussions and they are having multiple issues (Jimmy Mac)

There is no set scale unfortunately to say how many is too many. Some times the ill effects of multiple concussions wont show up for years.

As I'm mourning the loss of arguably the most accomplished TV actor in the history of Hollywood (Larry Hagman), I will try to come up with a good comment here.

I think Benji's right on the money with what he said. I'm not medical professional nor a aficionado who has done a lot of reading on the subject of the human anatomy and medicine (see Gray's Anatomy), but I do believe that Cutler will be fine so long as he doesn't suffer through another concussion this season. Most of the time, players get concussed multiple times throughout the course of their careers, and luckily medical science these days has advanced enough to be able to diagnose a concussion relatively quickly and thus attend to the condition quicker than it was done a generation ago. The Bears did right by keep Cutler back in Chicago for the San Francisco game because as much as Jason Campbell got nailed in the game (keep in mind that Campbell sustained injuries to his ribs, most likely in the form of bruising), Cutler could have exacerbated the problem and quite possibly wind up being lost for the season.

Tonight I've been reading what I could find through Google. It looks like multiple concussions are not as big a threat to a player's career IF he is allowed to completely recover after each one. That looks like the #1 thing the Bears can do for Jay Cutler - just be sure he's 100% before letting him play after each concussion.

Since it's brain trauma, I wonder if this diminishes a QB's effectiveness if he rushes back to play too soon? I mean, could he throw more picks or make more bad decisions?

It looks to me, like what doctors know about concussion effects is far from an exact science. But I guess it's common sense that injury to a person's brain is serious stuff.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

Tonight I've been reading what I could find through Google. It looks like multiple concussions are not as big a threat to a player's career - IF - he is allowed to completely recover after each one. That looks like the #1 thing the Bears can do for Jay Cutler. Be sure he's 100% before letting him play after each concussion.

Since it's brain trauma, I wonder if this diminishes a QB's effectiveness if he rushes back too soon?

It looks to me, like what doctors know about concussion effects is far from an exact science. But I guess it's common sense that injury to a person's brain is serious stuff.

---

He'll be fine. I would imagine that he's mostly recovered from the one he suffered at the hands of the Texans after two weeks. I look forward to seeing him in action against the Vikings and hopefully lead us to a big win.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dagan81

He'll be fine. I would imagine that he's mostly recovered from the one he suffered at the hands of the Texans after two weeks. I look forward to seeing him in action against the Vikings and hopefully lead us to a big win.

---

Probably the most important thing is for the offensive line to protect him from being concussed again this year.

Job-1 will be to protect him better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

Probably the most important thing is for the offensive line to protect him from being concussed again this year.

Job-1 will be to protect him better.

---

If that isn't the understatement of the century, I'll kiss my own ass. lol.

Hope that he will be fine. And that you hate to see someone hurt. No matter what jersey or position that they are playing. Hope that Jay will be ok this weekend and ready to go!

ok, so behind this line he can play once every three weeks. So we need at least 3 good QBs that can rotate in after each ones concussion has gone completely away. This is called the Tice rotation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

Tonight I've been reading what I could find through Google. It looks like multiple concussions are not as big a threat to a player's career IF he is allowed to completely recover after each one. That looks like the #1 thing the Bears can do for Jay Cutler - just be sure he's 100% before letting him play after each concussion.

Since it's brain trauma, I wonder if this diminishes a QB's effectiveness if he rushes back to play too soon? I mean, could he throw more picks or make more bad decisions?

It looks to me, like what doctors know about concussion effects is far from an exact science. But I guess it's common sense that injury to a person's brain is serious stuff.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

ok, so behind this line he can play once every three weeks. So we need at least 3 good QBs that can rotate in after each ones concussion has gone completely away. This is called the Tice rotation.

---

If we go through all 3 QB's in one game, then we can have a scarecrow ready to put in the game. Webb can just stick the post in the ground for 3 downs. I realize that we can't score this way, but like now, we can hope the defense scores enough for a win.

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pix...carecrow-m.jpg