Concussion's Effects May Linger for Decades

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Athletes who suffer a concussion can experience a decline in their mental and physical processes more than 30 years later, according to a Canadian study that's the first to identify these kinds of long-term effects.

The researchers examined 40 healthy, former university-level athletes between the ages of 50 and 60. Of those, 19 had suffered a concussion more than 30 years ago, and 21 had no history of concussion.

Compared to those who were concussion-free, the participants who'd been concussed only once or twice in their early adulthood showed declines in attention and memory, as well as a slowing of some types of movement.

The study was published online Jan. 28 in the journal Brain Most research focuses on the immediate, post-concussion period and on deciding when it's safe for a concussed athlete to return to play. The long-term effects of concussion tend to be overlooked.

"This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age," study first author Louis De Beaumont, of the University of Montreal, said in a news release from the journal.

"In light of these findings, athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes, so that they know about the risks associated with returning to their sport," he said.

Follow-up studies are needed to determine if concussion may increase the risk of serious mental and physical decline in old age, De Beaumont added.

More information

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons has more about concussion.

SOURCE: Oxford University Press, news release, Jan. 27, 2009

Walking Meditation

by Steven Smith

In walking meditation, we become aware of the movement of each step. It is a way of using a natural part of life to increase mindfulness. Once you learn the practice, you can do it almost anywhere. It helps us feel fully present on the earth.

Find a place where you can walk back and forth, about ten to twenty steps in length. Keep the hands stationary, either behind the back, at the sides, or in front.

Feel the sensations of standing. Be aware of contact with the ground, of pressure and tension. Feel the entire energy field of the body, how it is all participating in this standing. Feel the hands hanging down...the shoulders weighted...the lower back, the pelvis...each having its own part in keeping the balance of the standing position.

Now bring your attention to the lower part of the body, from the hips downward, the primary foundation of standing. Staying aware, very slowly shift your weight from the left and back of your body to the right, noticing as you do how the sensations change as your balance shifts. Now hold your weight on the left for a moment, aware of the particular sensations in the leg... hips, thighs, legs, knees, calves, feet, toes, not particularly noticing or identifying those parts of the body, but letting the awareness fill the legs. Feel hardness, tension, tightness, heat, vibration, toughness, stiffness, whatever is there.

Now, keeping your weight on the left side, bring your awareness to the right and feel the relative lightness, emptiness, subtler sensations on the right leg. Now, with your awareness still on the right leg, slowly shift your weight to the right side. Let the awareness seep in right down to the bone, sensing the variations of hardness and softness, toughness, and fluidity, pressure, vibration, weight.

Now bring your awareness to the left side again, and move as if you are very slowly pouring water from a full vessel into an empty one. Notice all the changes as you shift your weight to the left side. With your eyes open just enough to hold your balance, very slowly peel your right foot off the ground and move it forward and place it on the ground. With your awareness on the right, shift your weight, bring awareness to the left, feel from the hips and buttocks down the sides, the whole range of sensations. Continue stepping slowly, keeping your awareness on the sensations. When you get to the end of the path, pause briefly and turn around. Center yourself, and be aware of the first step as you begin again.

You can do the walking meditation at different paces: brisk, normal, and very slow and meticulous. The idea is not to walk slowly; the idea is to move mindfully. As your mind begins to quiet, you will see how we notice more when we move slowly. More becomes clear, we get to feel the inter-relationship of mind and body.

If you like labeling, you can say to yourself "walking/walking" or "step/step," or "right/left." Not using the labeling as a cadence that becomes rote, but using it to encourage the awareness of the sensations of walking.

After some time, you can slow down a bit and actually feel more or less two sections of walking, the lift swing and the placing. So the label might be "lift" as you lift and swing, and then "place." It is a little slower, but not so slow that you lose your balance. Lifting , placing, stop. Feel the stopping, feel the turning. Lift and place, it is very simple, you are really just being with walking.

You are being really detailed, you are not assessing, you are not evaluating. It is a bare awareness, feeling the flow of sensations. When you lift, move, place, notice the shift of weight, the heel peeling off the toe, even the ground. Or you might notice the knee bending, the calf tensing, or the thigh being taut...sometimes you may notice the whole leg simultaneously, another time you might focus on tingling in the toe. Lifting, moving, placing.

Holding your visual field to a minimum--6,8,9 feet--is helpful for a period of time. Then, when you feel like you just can't take it anymore, open up your field of vision, look around, and just be aware of seeing and hearing for a while. It is important to keep a lightness of being.

If you feel flooded with thoughts, just stop for a moment and be aware of thoughts. Let the flood of thoughts come and go and then go back to the walking. You begin to see that nothing is a distraction, as long as you recognize what is there.

Think of it like this... you are starting off on a trek, and you just landed in Katmandu, You are going up to Mustang Valley....you are going to trek up one of these mountains, and there is the goal of reaching the top, there's the desire to get there, and then there's the realization that there is a whole process of getting there, and, along the way, more and more, there is the realization that the process is the goal. At first, you don't have your walking body...you have been busy and confined, muscles aren't loose, bones are a bit stiff....it takes a while for there to be a rhythm between mind and body, to get into that rhythm, to be carried by that rhythm, so that the experience becomes being carried by the mountain, and then the second winds come...and the body just feels in flow, it feels in harmony, it feels in sync with the mountain itself and the movements up and down.

It is the same way in meditation--first it's a stretch, and you feel a resistance, the push, the upward climb....but you can just take your time, keep learning how to settle back, lean back, and tune in to the process, until more and more, you feel carried by it itself, and it becomes restful.

next, Loving-Kindness Meditation

David Foster Wallace on Life and Work

from The Wall Street Journal

"This is not a matter of virtue -- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work
of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting,
which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret
everything through this lens of self."

http://reno.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html

The Benefits of Biofeedback

It's gaining ground as a stress-management tool

Because she was planning to get pregnant, Janelle (who preferred not to give her last

name) decided last year to go off powerful medication for stress-induced migraines in

favor of a more fetus-friendly therapy.

With sensors attached to her fingertips, neck, and abdomen, she spent 20 sessions

learning to relax her muscles and slow her breathing and heart rate while watching a

computer monitor for proof of the desired result. Eventually, she was able to do the

work on her own. "The migraine pain doesn't go away completely," says the 39-year

old from Bethesda, Md., who has remained off medication since her son's birth two

months ago. "But it's been greatly reduced, and I'm able to deal with it better."

Like meditation and yoga, the biofeedback method that Janelle now swears by is

enjoying a sort of renaissance; while it's been around for some 40 years, a growing

body of research has brought it to the mainstream, indicating that it can relieve some

hard-to-manage conditions exacerbated by stress. Many major hospitals and clinics,

including Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Duke University Medical Center,

now offer biofeedback to people with hypertension and jaw pain as well as headaches,

for example. And new pocket-size gadgets have hit the market that let you do it yourself.

Biofeedback's major appeal is that one series of sessions purportedly teaches a set of

skills you can use for life—without side effects. And it's pre-emptive. "Biofeedback teaches

you to identify early signs that stress is starting to get to you and to bring that stress

reaction down before it causes physical symptoms," explains Frank Andrasik, a professor

of psychology at the University of West Florida in Pensacola who serves as editor-in-chief

of the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

Instructions on a computer screen tell you when to inhale and exhale, for example, so

that you practice slowing down, ideally to about six breaths per minute. The point is to

calm your body's autonomic nervous system, which raises your blood pressure and heart

rate when you're stressed. One important effect: an increase in your "heart rate variability,"

those subtle moment-to-moment fluctuations in the pace of your heartbeat.

Research suggests that lower variability is associated with a higher risk of dying from heart

disease. Tall, even waves cross the computer screen as your breathing slows and the stress

response calms; the waves are short and spiky when you're on edge. Sensors also detect an

increase in your hand's skin temperature, a sign you've lowered the level of "fight or flight"

stress hormones that shunt blood away from your extremities and have entered a state

practitioners call "focused calm." The key is to practice so that you get there automatically

when the traffic jams or the boss screams.

In part, biofeedback's resurgence stems from technological advances that provide instant,

easy-to-understand information, says social worker Mary Lee Esty, head of the Neurotherapy

Center in Bethesda, where Janelle was treated. One computer software program displays an

open-mouthed smiling dolphin when all systems are calm and then jumbles the photo if

breathing becomes uneven or rapid. "The timing of the feedback is absolutely critical to

learning what feels right," Esty explains.

Still seeking proof.

Whether biofeedback actually teaches permanent skills remains unproven. But some long-term

studies suggest that patients are still employing the techniques successfully years later. And

though there's evidence that the therapy works better than sham treatments to lower stress-

related aches and pains, it hasn't been tested against standard treatments like aspirin for tension

headaches—though for many people, like Janelle, getting off medication is the goal. A study

published last year in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that people

with mild hypertension who had four weekly sessions of biofeedback experienced a significantly

greater lowering of their blood pressure than those who had stress reduction training without

the feedback.

Evidence is stronger, Andrasik says, that biofeedback helps with non-stress-related conditions

like chronic constipation and urinary incontinencee, where it's used to retrain the muscles

involved in waste elimination. A newer technique called neurofeedback, which uses scalp

sensors to measure brain waves, appears promising for helping restore normal brain wave

function disrupted by head injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe migraines.

The biggest caveat for many people will be lack of insurance coverage. While Aetna and

Kaiser Permanente cover biofeedback for certain stress-related conditions, many companies

don't. The Neurotherapy Center's five-session treatment plan for stress costs about $500;

Janelle's 20 sessions—typical for migraine patients—cost her $2,000 out of pocket.

If you proceed, be sure your practitioner is certified by the Biofeedback Certification Institute

of America, since anyone can hang out a shingle; typically, certified practitioners are also

licensed psychologists. Realize, too, that long-term success often rests, literally, in the hands

of the patient. Psychologist Deborah Stokes, who practices biofeedback in Alexandria, Va., t

ells her patients to practice warming their hands—using a $20 home device from Bio-Medical

Instruments—for 20 minutes a night between sessions. Janelle says she still occasionally

practices the techniques she learned and called on them during childbirth. "It really helped

me focus," she says. "I was able to give birth without an epidural."

By Deborah Kotz, US News & World Report

Lao Tzu Quote

Aikido as Bodywork

(Note the highlighted text in the following article by Ellis Amdur )

Aikido is Three Peaches - Part I

It is very significant that Ueshiba Kishomaru wrote about the book, Takemusu Aiki (reprinted in four sections in Aikido Journal recently) that it is the work most representative of O-sensei’s thinking… . It occurs to me, then, that perhaps we should take him at his word. When Tohei Koichi derisively comments on Ueshiba’s explanations of aikido, saying that all he learned from O-Sensei was the concept of relaxation, but otherwise scorns Ueshibas statements as incoherent gibberish, is it possible that, although Tohei allegedly became a master at relaxing his body in martial arts training exercises, he simply did not understand that Ueshiba was using HIS relaxed body to accomplish very different aims?

It is quickly apparent that what makes O-Sensei even more difficult to understand than he otherwise would be is due to the fact that he freely mixes classical Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism and neo-Shinto concepts and images, often within a single paragraph. But if one claims that Ueshiba’s explanations of Takemusu Aiki were extraneous to the real thing - shihonage/irimi-nage, or aiki-social-work, or relaxation - then we are also choosing to regard him as an idiot savant, one of those eccentrics who, amidst the babble of his autistic process, somehow stumbles on valuable information.

In Ueshiba’s first statements, he defines aikido as the Way of union and harmony of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Note that very significant trinity, which later, one footnote suggests, come into fruition in a circle. He gives many definitions of aikido, but I see a trinity here as well: as a purification rite, as a procedure to make kotodama possible, and a means of protection of all of creation.

Ueshiba defines the aikido practitioner as one who assists in the administration of the Universe by serving as a sword. Note: “as a sword,” not “with a sword.” It is significant that he uses the word tsurugi rather than katana. The straight sword was associated with ancient days and ancient ways, the primordial semi-myth, semi-history of the Yamato people who are described in Kojiki. Therefore, he is very clearly not saying that aikidoka should become God’s sheriff, wandering the world and righting wrongs. This is a spiritual pursuit, not a vigilante activity.

Ueshiba states that the primary divine work is … “unifying with God in harmony.” It is remarkable that Ueshiba states that in putting spirit and body in order, these are independent of each other. In short, spiritual austerities OR practice of the martial art of aikido are each only half of aikido. The realization of this harmony will not take place through prayer or meditation or good works or any other spiritual practice, nor will it take place merely by practicing aikido in our Yoshinkan, Aikikai, Ki no Kenkyukai or other training halls. These two activities must be pursued in parallel, not together. Thus, one can’t train the spirit simply by a sufficiency of tenchinage.

He likens aikido to the work of insects, fish, birds, and other animals in cleaning up impurities. By using this image, he is saying that just as that which makes an insect most insect is its chewing up rotten wood or carrion, that which makes a human being truly human is purifying ourselves from all sins and impurities. This, he is saying, is why we are alive.

In Part 2 of his first talk, he once again offers that infuriating and inspiring concept that Aikido is the work of love. And this love is very clearly linked in the meandering exposition that follows with a fundamental rupture between the two creator gods, Izanagi and Izanami. In brief, these two deities who exemplify the yin and yang forces of the cosmos, are divorced due to their creativity. Izanami is so damaged by her birthing of the fire god that she passes on to the underworld. Izanagi, in a near-mirror image of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, misses his wife dearly, and goes down to Hades to see her. He is horrified by her disfigurement, and she is enraged by his rejection. She pursues him, first by agents that are emanations of herself (a she-demon, and an army). Izanagi forestalls the former with a sword and the latter by casting three peaches behind him. Fiinally Izanami herself pursues him, only to be blocked by a huge boulder at the doorway between the two realms. Consider the archetypal meaning here. Izanami is terribly damaged in giving birth, (creation bears destruction within it), and the demonic resides within the most beneficent of forces. Izanagi gives his wife no compassion whatsoever, even though she was destroyed giving birth to his son. There is a fundamental rupture between the worlds. Izanami threatens to kill a thousand people a day, and Izanagi counters by saying he will build 1500 birth huts a day.

O-Sensei states that aikido is the three peaches cast behind Izanagi to forestall Izanami’s hellish minions. They are not the agent of reunification of these two dieties; they are the means to keep each divine energy in its proper realm. He states that the practice of aikido is the embracing of the three worlds: the world of Appearance, the Subconscious World, the Divine world. Note that the subconscious world is elsewhere defined as Hades. Therefore, unlike a simple dualism of Yin and Yang, which merely must be balanced, in Ueshiba’s cosmos the human being provides a vital third force, emanating from the world of Appearances. Rather than a happy-ever-after fairly tale of reunification of estranged deities, humanity, through aikido, keeps things in their proper realm. Harmony, not merger. What makes aikido martial, what makes it a manifestation of the sword (tsurugi) rather than mere meditation is that, like the three peaches (yet another trinity) cast behind Izanagi, it maintains the forces of the universe in their proper roles.

I am less qualified to discuss kotodama than any other area in Ueshiba’s talk, but it seems clear that he is mapping out the energies of the cosmos, and procedures to shape and work these energies in order to advance toward the perfection of the entire world in order to establish a Heaven on Earth. In short, when Heaven is ON Earth, the trinity of the three worlds with become the circle, with Heaven, Earth and Humanity in harmony.

My thesis here is supported because Ueshiba clearly states that not only are the sins of humanity purged through Takemusu Aiki, but, he states, those of the entire Universe. The universe rests on three poles, one of which is humanity itself. The means to universal purification is kotodama. Aiki’s role in this, he states, is to protect love. Once again, aikido’s function in Ueshiba’s cosmos is the application of a protective force that enables the work of kotodama to occur.

Ueshiba describes himself as a deity - both Fudomyo, a deity to defeat evil, and a Boddhisatva, (a not-exactly-divine-but-somehow-closely-so) human who has devoted his life to the salvation of all beings. He then states, “I asked questions to myself and then understood. I have the universe inside me. Everything is in me. I am the Universe itself so there is no me. Moreover, since I am the Universe there is only me and no other.” If this is, to use the psychological term, a grandiose narcissistic inflation, then one can understand the irritation of those like Tohei. But if I might allow myself an editorial koan, “Jorai asked, ‘Do the grandiose narcissistically inflated have the Buddha nature?’ Senzan replied, ‘SUUUUUUUUU’”

When Ueshiba describes aikido as a religion without being a religion, he is stating that aikido vivifies religion from empty spiritualism, because of its dynamic qualities: it purifies, it actively relegates energies to their proper realm and it is, by definition, that which protects.

Ueshiba beautifully states, “The Earth has already been perfected…. Only humanity has not yet completed itself. This is because sins and impurities have penetrated into us. The forms of aikido techniques are preparation to unlock and soften all joints of our body.” ATTENTION HE JUST EXPLAINED AIKIDO PRACTICE!!!!! He defines why and how he created his method of training, distilled from his previous martial studies, why he selected out the techniques he did, and why he excluded others.

Practice is for the purpose of creating a body that is not only analogous to the enlightened spirit, but makes the enlightened spirit possible. He concludes his first talk: “Thus, aikido harmonizes with all nature while purifying sins and impurities. I, Ueshiba, would like to repair and firmly rebuild this world in correct order through the gate of martial arts.”

To bring this back to the mundane, I certainly do not see this as a prohibition into the research of technique. But it is clear that anything, however practiced, that would interfere with the simultaneous functions of purification and protection of the ordering of the universe, so that the divine work (kotodama) can take place, cannot be termed Ueshiba’s aikido.

Finally, speaking of narcissistic inflation, I am anything but a scholar, and I simply skipped a lot of things in the first essay - doctrine, detailed exposition of cosmology - that I don’t know anything about. But what I do understand seems quite clear to me. Rather than dismissing Ueshiba as speaking incoherent archaic mysticism, I believe that he left us a clear statement of what he was trying to accomplish, one that makes aikido far more challenging and enthralling than the idea that it’s watered-down Daito-ryu for the masses; that it’s a merely a method of conflict resolution techniques, sketched out physically, so we can integrate them in our psychology sessions or human resources actions; that it’s “love” as defined in Western terms such as agape or caritas; or that it is a martial art that’s “just as tough as yours is.” Any and all of these may be useful and even true, but I hope I’ve been able to illustrate that Ueshiba clearly said he was doing something else. Clearly - not obscurely at all. Given a spare moment and the blessings of the gods of the purple smoke, I may try again with some of his later essays at another time.

Author: Dueling with O-Sensei & Old School, as well as the new Instructional DVD: “Ukemi from the Ground Up.”

www.ellisamdur.com

Brain Injury Checklist

SYMPTOMS OF BRAIN INJURY

Any brain function can be disrupted by brain trauma: excessive sleepiness, inattention, difficulty concentrating, impaired memory, faulty judgment, depression, irritability, emotional outbursts, disturbed sleep, diminished libido, difficulty switching between two tasks, and slowed thinking. Sorting out bonafide brain damage from the effects of migraine headaches, pain elsewhere in the body, medications, depression, preoccupation with financial loss, job status, loss of status in the community, loss of status in the family, and any ongoing litigation can be a formibable task.

The extent and the severity of cognitive neurologic dysfunction can be measured with the aid of neuropsychological testing. Neuropsychologists use their tests to localize dysfunction to specific areas of the brain. For example, the frontal lobes play an essential role in drive, mood, personality, judgment, interpersonal behavior, attention, foresight, and inhibition of inappropriate behavior. The ability to plan properly and execute those plans is known as "executive function." Frontal lobe injury is often associated with damage to the olfactory bulbs beneath the frontal lobes. Patients may note reduced or altered sense of smell. One recent study (Varney 1993) showed that 92% of brain injured patient suffering anosmia (loss of smell) had ongoing problems with employment, even though their neuropsychological testing was relatively normal.

The effects of brain injury on the patient may be equaled or even surpassed by the effect on the patient's family. Brain injuries are known for causing extreme stressors in family and interpersonal relationships.

In general, symptoms of traumatic brain injury should lessen over time as the brain heals but sometimes the symptoms worsen because of the patient's inability to adapt to the brain injury. For this and other reasons, it is not uncommon for psychological problems to arise and worsen after brain injury.







SYMPTOM CHECKLIST

A wide variety of symptoms can occur after "brain injury." The nature of the symptoms depends, in large part, on where the brain has been injured. Below find a list of possible physical and cognitive symptoms which can arise from damage to specific areas of the brain:



Frontal Lobe: Forehead

• Loss of simple movement of various body parts (Paralysis).
• Inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete multi-stepped tasks, such as making coffee (Sequencing).
• Loss of spontaneity in interacting with others.
• Loss of flexibility in thinking.
• Persistence of a single thought (Perseveration).
• Inability to focus on task (Attending).
• Mood changes (Emotionally Labile).
• Changes in social behavior.
• Changes in personality.
• Difficulty with problem solving.
• Inability to express language (Broca's Aphasia).

Parietal Lobe: near the back and top of the head

• Inability to attend to more than one object at a time.
• Inability to name an object (Anomia).
• Inability to locate the words for writing (Agraphia).
• Problems with reading (Alexia).
• Difficulty with drawing objects.
• Difficulty in distinguishing left from right.
• Difficulty with doing mathematics (Dyscalculia).
• Lack of awareness of certain body parts and/or surrounding space (Apraxia) that leads to difficulties in self-care.
• Inability to focus visual attention.
• Difficulties with eye and hand coordination.

Occipital Lobes: most posterior, at the back of the head

• Defects in vision (Visual Field Cuts).
• Difficulty with locating objects in environment.
• Difficulty with identifying colors (Color Agnosia).
• Production of hallucinations.
• Visual illusions - inaccurately seeing objects.
• Word blindness - inability to recognize words.
• Difficulty in recognizing drawn objects.
• Inability to recognize the movement of object (Movement Agnosia).
• Difficulties with reading and writing.

Temporal Lobes: side of head above ears

• Difficulty in recognizing faces (Prosopagnosia).
• Difficulty in understanding spoken words (Wernicke's Aphasia).
• Disturbance with selective attention to what we see and hear.
• Difficulty with identification of, and verbalization about objects.
• Short term memory loss.
• Interference with long term memory.
• Increased and decreased interest in sexual behavior.
• Inability to catagorize objects (Categorization).
• Right lobe damage can cause persistent talking.
• Increased aggressive behavior.

Brain Stem: deep within the brain

• Decreased vital capacity in breathing, important for speech.
• Swallowing food and water (Dysphagia).
• Difficulty with organization/perception of the environment.
• Problems with balance and movement.
• Dizziness and nausea (Vertigo).
• Sleeping difficulties (Insomnia, sleep apnea).

Cerebellum: base of the skull

• Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements.
• Loss of ability to walk.
• Inability to reach out and grab objects.
• Tremors.
• Dizziness (Vertigo).
• Slurred Speech (Scanning Speech).
• Inability to make rapid movements.