Brain Injury affects all sports

An interesting article appears in today's New York Times, after Injury, an F1 driver's mind must recover also, reporting on the testing and evaluation that takes place in formula one car racing before drivers a permitted to return to the track following any closed head brain injury.

In addition to cognitive evaluations there is a great recognition of the psychological component to mild head injury.  Here is an interesting description of the evaluation that is performed:

“When we evaluate drivers, we evaluate whether a driver is a sponge or is waterproof,” Ceccarelli said. “Waterproof means it is raining but you don’t absorb it. A sponge means it is raining and you absorb it. If you are a sponge, all the details — everything that’s wrong and everything you believe is wrong and everything that you feel around you is negative — affect your mentality and your enthusiasm and your mood.”

The driver who absorbs will have a harder time recuperating from an accident, he said. But another key to how a driver will be affected is whether he was responsible for the accident.

When in doubt--Keep them out!