Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash
Concussions are a hotbed of controversy in today’s sports world. In recent weeks, a congressional study found the NFL guilty of influencing concussion research, while two major athletes–wrestling star Sasha Banks and Red Sox infielder Brock Holt–suffered brain trauma from collisions while competing.
Me? I’m a 5-foot-3, 25-year-old management consultant living in New York City, whose most impressive athletic achievement is almost winning a JV tennis match in high school. I could hardly have less in common with these professional jocks. But I too endured a concussion, and like many wounded sports pros, I worried about its impact on my career. While the plight of famous athletic figures has garnered high levels of scrutiny–aided in large part by the 2015 feature film Concussion–the typical head injury patient still enters a medical landscape sapped of resources and attention.