Word: byrds
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...University of Pennsylvania's Sports Medicine Center, led to rule changes in 1976 that banned "spearing," in which a player uses his helmet as a battering ram to tackle an opponent. Torg had shown that spearing was a leading cause of neck injuries (indeed, experts are debating whether Byrd accidentally speared his teammate). Since the ban, the number of permanent cervical-cord injuries among high school and college players has plummeted from 34 reported in 1976 to just one last year...
...CRUNCH OR A MOAN BUT a horrified hush spreading through the crowd that signaled the ghastly instant. On the Astroturf at Giants stadium, Jets defensive lineman Dennis Byrd lay motionless, unable to move his hands or legs. With all the power of his 266 lbs. of hurtling flesh, Byrd had unintentionally rammed his helmeted head into the chest of his 275-lb. teammate Scott Mersereau. The impact crumpled a vertebra in Byrd's neck, crushing part of the underlying spinal cord as well as plunging dagger-like slivers of bone into the soft, vital nerve tissue...
...Byrd faces the possibility of permanent paralysis from the chest down. But thanks to recent developments in treating spine injuries, he has a far better chance of retaining some control of his body than he would have if the accident had occurred two or three years ago. Within hours of his injury, the football player received two new treatments -- one of them not yet approved in the U.S. -- that could help limit the damage. Although the drugs cannot cure paralysis, they may conserve enough nerve function to make the difference between confinement to a wheelchair and being able to walk...
...drug, which was quickly administered to Byrd, has become a standard treatment for spinal-cord injuries in the U.S., and health authorities are studying proposals that would allow paramedics to inject the steroid at the scene of an accident. Just as important, says Bracken, methylprednisolone has erased the notion that these injuries are hopeless: "It's opened the door to many other studies that may lead to better recovery." Several groups are testing substances that provide the benefits of methylprednisolone without the side effects, which include depressing the immune system...
...Byrd's doctors are also treating the athlete with a ganglioside known as GM- 1, which is a molecule that occurs naturally in cell membranes and seems to help nerve cells communicate. Manufactured by an Italian pharmaceutical company, the experimental drug is currently undergoing clinical trials in the U.S. In a small study completed last year, researchers from the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services gave the drug to 34 patients for four weeks after their injury. One year later, seven had improved markedly. The treatment apparently prevented further damage to the white matter in the cord and perhaps...