08.18.2023 - By Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery
For decades, college and professional football players used to ignore even the most painful head injuries and severe concussions. Players were admired for "getting their bell rung" and getting back into the game. "No more", says Dr. Kenneth Kutner - Team Neuropsychologist for the New York Giants for 30 seasons and the lead author of the Sideline Concussion Checklist, one of the first sideline diagnostic tools utilized in the NFL. "Concussions are real" says Dr Kutner. He points out that heroes in action movies give a false image of concussions. "You may get up, but you're going to fall down again. You're not going to go back and fight and beat your adversary. So that is really nice in a movie, but it's nonsense."