Former NFL players may be plagued with chronic headaches

[madokie]

Study finds ex-NFL members average 19 days of headaches a month; past concussions a likely cause, expert says.

(HealthDay)—Some retired NFL players live with nearly constant headaches, and their misery is frequently punctuated with skull-splitting migraines, a new study reports.

An evaluation of eight retired football pros found that the former players averaged more than 19 headache days per month. Twelve of those 19 days involved migraines, said study author Dr. Frank Conidi, director of the Florida Center for Headache & Sports Neurology in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

"Almost every other day these players are having migraines, and some were actually having them every day," said Conidi, who is scheduled to present his findings Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society in Los Angeles. Findings presented at meetings are generally considered preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

By comparison, the average incidence of headache for all men is three to four a month, he said.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-nfl-players-plagued-chronic-headaches.html

[malthaussen]

1. That's a rather small sample pool...

... not that I doubt the conclusions, but I think they'd need something a little more extensive if they wanted to use it in court.

-- Mal