Kim Gorgens

Kim Gorgens is a world-class neuropsychologist and her main topic in this lively-talk is how to protect your brain against concussions. Her concern for concussions is primarily because around four million kids get concussions every year and these numbers are only from those who got treated in a medical center. Also, she’s a mom of a young boy and she wants to protect him from various accidents that can lead to serious damage such as a concussion as he gets more athletic.

In the lively-talk, the neuropsychologist shows a video where a football player gets hit by an opposing player. The hit transfers 103 gs of force and to suffer a concussion you need to suffer an impact of 95 gs. This indicates that physical sports are very dangerous because a normal hit to the head that a heavyweight boxer delivers corresponds to a force of 58 gs. In addition, she defines that a concussion does not mean a loss of consciousness but simply a change of consciousness such as dizziness or even fatigue. She also indicates that the younger you are, the most likely you can suffer from a concussion. Per example, a high school athlete is three times more vulnerable to suffer a concussion than a college athlete. Kim Gorgens even confirms that a concussion is a serious problem because you’re more vulnerable to get another one once you were already affected by a first concussion and the long-term symptoms get worse as the number of concussions increase. These are the main reasons that explain the concern of this neuropsychologist towards protecting young adults and their brains.

The interesting fact about this lively-talk is at the end of the video she mentions many aspects that can reduce or completely avoid concussions. She indicates that the first thing to do is to inform yourself about these head injuries. Also, you need to speak up towards coaching staff or the school personnel to know how old the equipment is and other various information. Another important aspect that surprised me is the fact that a bill that requires young kids under eighteen to wear a helmet while riding a bike got refused when it was announced to a committee. This bill would have being great because a helmet can reduce the G force of half its force and many concussions would be avoided.

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