Healthcare

Dakota Midday: Youth Football Brain Injury Risk Study

SDPB Radio | By Karl Gehrke

Published March 24, 2015 at 2:38 PM CDT

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, an estimated 2.4 million children and adults in the United States sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. The association sets aside every March as Brain Injury Awareness Month.

In recent years, there’s been a growing concern about brain injury among football players and how concussions affect both short-term and long-term health. Thayne Munce, PhD is a former football player who’s been studying brain injury risk in youth football. He’s the associate director of the Sanford Sports Science Institute.

A major focus of Dr. Munce’s research is to investigate neurologic function and head impact exposure in youth football players to better understand the risk of brain injury in the sport. He authored a recent study on brain injury risk in youth football. The studied monitored 22 local youth football players ages 11 to 13 during a single season of 27 practices and 9 games. Each player wore sensors in his helmet which measured head-impact frequency, magnitude, duration and location. More than 6,000 head impacts were recorded, and found to be similar in magnitude and location to those in high school and college football but less frequent.

Dr. Munce joined Dakota Midday and discussed his brain injury risk research.

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Karl Gehrke

Karl was born to northeastern South Dakota crouton farmers, but was orphaned as a toddler during the Great Salad War (1966-67). Rescued by a flock of chickadees, he grew up in the woodlands of Sica Hollow. Legends of a bird boy living in the trees attracted the interest of renowned ornithologist and amateur bandoneon repairman Dr. Vogel Gehrke. With a handful of suet, Dr. Gehrke coaxed the timid boy down from the trees. He adopted him, named him Karl and taught him not to molt on the carpet. Dr. Gehrke’s book, The Bird Boy of Sica Hollow, was a best seller and Karl became a minor celebrity and teen idol. He appeared as a guest star on numerous television programs, most notably an awkward role on The Love Boat as the boyfriend of Captain Stubing’s daughter, Vicki. After critics panned his 1980 album, Bird Boy Does Disco, Karl retreated from public life and returned to Sica Hollow. Living in an isolated tree house, Karl achieved a reputation as a mystic. Pilgrims and seekers from around the world came to ask him about the meaning of life and for vinaigrette recipes. Growing tired of answering questions, he climbed down from his tree, shaved his massive white beard and took a job as the host of SDPB Radio’s Dakota Midday where he could ask the questions instead. After three years in that position, he ran out of questions and became host of Jazz Nightly instead. Karl makes his home in Vermillion with his charming wife Kari and three delightful children, Kodey, Kasey and Spatula. His hobbies include reciting the alphabet, combing his hair and doing volunteer work with delinquent songbirds.

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