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Concussion and Brain Injury


Towngun
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Increasing evidence links footballers brain damage with heading footballs. But what of shooting sports?


If you watch video evidence of the impact of shogun recoil on the head or perhaps you have taken an iphone video of someone shooting and then slow the video up, you will notice considerable head movement. I would suggest there is cause for concern (research) and perhaps this adds weight to the suggestion that lighter loads should be considered i.e. 24 grams or 21 grams on health grounds?


The most common immediate symptoms of a concussion are headache, confusion (fog like feeling), amnesia, seeing stars/dizziness, ringing in the ears, slurred speech. Later they may be light sensitive, have vertigo, memory complaints, irritability (common in many clay shooter without a concussion).


But consider the longer term impact?
Edited by Towngun
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When a footballer heads a ball or boxer gets punched the damage is caused by the brain hitting the other side of the skull at force.

The recoil of a shotgun or any other shoulder fired gun would naturally follow the shoulder and down the spine.

I don't think the brain is caused to move at all and certinaly not at any force.

I've certinaly not noticed any "considerable" movement akin to a punch or similar, if we did then a round of 100 sporting clays would be like 5 rounds with a boxer and clearly it's not.

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If you watch video evidence of the impact of shogun recoil on the head ..... you will notice considerable head movement.

Does shooting involve significantly greater head movement than running, jumping, rowing, tennis, basketball, trampolining, mountain biking, horse riding, dancing, etc?

 

Obviously recoil can result in flexing of the neck joints, but would the head movement during shooting be sufficiently violent to make the brain crash against the skull and cause concussion? To me it seems rather unlikely, but I have no medical expertise.

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Does shooting involve significantly greater head movement than running, jumping, rowing, tennis, basketball, trampolining, mountain biking, horse riding, dancing, etc?

 

Obviously recoil can result in flexing of the neck joints, but would the head movement during shooting be sufficiently violent to make the brain crash against the skull and cause concussion? To me it seems rather unlikely, but I have no medical expertise.

Agreed.

 

There is no impact on the head like a football or a boxing glove (or a night out in Glasgow), this is a significant factor.

Haha- that too.

The one I was refering too was the one that comes from poor black people using the same water bottle.

Eh?

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Increasing evidence links footballers brain damage with heading footballs. But what of shooting sports?

 

If you watch video evidence of the impact of shogun recoil on the head or perhaps you have taken an iphone video of someone shooting and then slow the video up, you will notice considerable head movement. I would suggest there is cause for concern (research) and perhaps this adds weight to the suggestion that lighter loads should be considered i.e. 24 grams or 21 grams on health grounds?

 

The most common immediate symptoms of a concussion are headache, confusion (fog like feeling), amnesia, seeing stars/dizziness, ringing in the ears, slurred speech. Later they may be light sensitive, have vertigo, memory complaints, irritability (common in many clay shooter without a concussion).

 

But consider the longer term impact?

 

Wasn't this the reason clay loads moved down from 32/34g?

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Thanks, however, I wasn't likely to google 'poor black people sharing a water bottle' and finding that link was I?

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My Dad has always referred to loons as a "head-the-ball". Probably more to do with an old wet Casey

Yes a soaking wet leather caser on a froster winter morning would just about knock your head off if you were to head it.

Don't mention getting it smacked on your thighs, Ooo the pain.

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There was a time when people didn't wear ear defence, cyclists didn't wear head protection, soldiers didn't wear body armour, no one wore seatbelts, most people smoked , women weren't scanned for breast cancer.

 

Knowledge improves all the time so I would be very surprised if shooting doesn't cause problems other than deafness and lead ingestion (indoor ranges).

The yanks are always ahead of the game on these things I was made to snort water to clean out my nostrils by American indoor range officers in the 1980's i thought that they were mad and we wern't allowed to shoot at all without ear defence on outdoor ranges.

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Wasn't this the reason clay loads moved down from 32/34g?

 

Yes it was, at least partly. People forget that recoil such as they experience shooting a 100 clays as little as twice a month is nothing like the scale of those who train for the world events such as the Olympics who may get through 2-3 thousand in a single day at times. Back in the day when 32g loads were the norm I used to wince watching people's heads being thrown violently backwards upon firing, the much lighter guns and lack of decent recoil pads didn't help either.

 

It is true that comparing the jolt from a single shell to the punch received in boxing would give the impression that no real harm is being done by shooting but again you have to see this within the long term context, make no mistake drowsiness and headaches are absolutely signs that the combo of your choice is borderline in terms of protection.

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Christ, don't give them another reason to knock a nail in the shooting coffin FGS!! :rolleyes:

 

The concussive effects to the head from shooting are minimal IMO, well, unless you're putting the stock on your brow! I know numerous people who have shot for 30-40+ years and using their shotguns significantly more rapidly than you would ever do clay shooting (i.e. practical shotgun where you might be firing 5-10 shots in rapid succession at a time) and none (AFAIK) are suffering for it.

 

I've got a few slow-mo videos of a shotgun being fired and the recoil goes into the shoulder and the only apparent force the head is subjected to is it being pulled back by the body with the neck acting as a 'reverse' shock absorber.

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