Faced with one of those life-altering choices, Patrick Connor could have never foreseen that 30 years later, his fateful decision would put him on the sideline for Super Bowl 50. But Sunday, when the Carolina Panthers tangle with the Denver Broncos in the NFL’s 50th Big Game, it will be Connor — a Bartlesville native, […]
Just in time for the Super Bowl, a new report shows the NFL had a 58 percent increase in concussions this season over the previous season. Rams team physician Matt Matava of Washington University says new rules and protocols are designed to reduce brain injuries. “We like to think these various tools are coming out […]
Last Friday, Dr. Pat Connor sat in his office at OrthoCarolina and pondered his trip to the Super Bowl. He had already been through a busy week, starting with surgery on Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis on Monday morning to insert a plate to protect a broken forearm. Connor spent the week seeing patients, handling […]
Even in a physical and sometimes brutal sport like football, where injuries are almost an occupational hazard, the hit that left Adam Taliaferro paralyzed and motionless on the Ohio Stadium turf was a nightmare. On a head-first tackle late in a loss at Ohio State in 2000, the Penn State defensive back crushed the fifth […]
Early in the second quarter of the Carolina Panthers’ victory over Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7, cornerback Josh Norman had a big collision with running back DeMarco Murray along the sideline. As Norman started to get to his feet, Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis inadvertently bumped into him and knocked Norman back to the ground. Head […]
By: Joseph Person One of my last concussions in college came on a catch against Bucknell University on a beautiful Virginia fall day in 1990. I held onto the football after getting hit on a route down the middle of the field, got up and made my way back to the huddle. I stayed in […]
More than 30 independent concussion clinicians and researchers from around the United States gathered in Pittsburgh this week to propose guidelines for treating concussions and to outline areas in which further research is warranted. On Friday, representatives of the invited group shared key outcomes of the meeting. “First and foremost, the 37 leaders in attendance […]
October 1, 2015 EARTH CITY, Mo. — Technically, the injury timeout has existed since 2012 when the NFL decided to send two independent certified athletic trainers to every game to sit in the press box and look for potential injuries. But while those trainers have been in NFL press boxes across the league for the […]
By J. Brady McCollough, PITTSBURGH — Four Sundays a year, Kent Biggerstaff arrives at his booth in the south end of the Heinz Field press box and anonymously does a job that could change lives. As a certified athletic trainer for more than 40 years, 17 of which were spent as the Pirates head trainer, […]
NEW YORK — Under the NFL’s new medical timeout rule, Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman might not have been on the field with New England trying to score the go-ahead touchdown in Super Bowl XLIX. Edelman appeared dazed after a fourth-quarter hit by Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. The trainer stationed in the press box to watch for potential […]