Blog

Former Green Bay Packers running back Dorsey Levens, one of four former players suing the league for post-football impairment issues stemming from brain injuries, has produced a powerful, 24-minute documentary titled, “Bell-Rung.”

The yet-to-be-aired documentary spotlights the haunting number of concussions suffered by several former players, including the career-ending toll on ex-Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns running back Jamal Lewis.

In the documentary’s first draft viewed by USA TODAY, Levens interviews 10 Atlanta-area NFL players, focusing heavily on Lewis and former Philadelphia Eagles kick returner Ellis Hobbs. The latter’s career ended after a thunderclap, Nov., 2010 hit against the New York Giants left Hobbs lying temporarily paralyzed.

• MORE: Players still hiding concussions

• VIDEO: Bell-Rung documentary first look

Levens, 41, Lewis, 32, former Detroit Lions safety Ryan Stewart, 38, and former linebacker Fulton Kuykendall, 58, filed their lawsuit against the league and NFL Properties Dec. 22 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. It is one of a half dozen suits this month brought by former players accusing the league of concealing the harmful effects of concussions until last year. The four ex-players are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.

League vice president of communications Greg Aiello vehemently denied the claims made by the Atlanta four and other player lawsuits.

“The NFL has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so,” Aiello said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. “Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit. It stands in contrast to the league’s actions to better protect and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions.”

Narrated by NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes, “Bell-Rung” reveals Lewis sustained “eight to nine” concussions during his 10-season career. Current San Diego Chargers 14-year veteran linebacker Takeo Spikes said he suffered “close to 15 to 20.” “It’s so deep it really makes you wonder, ‘If I had a son, do I really want him to play this game?”‘ said Spikes.

Levens, whose primary post-football issue is sleeplessness, hopes to warn about the need for further safeguards against the insidious side effect of playing America’s most popular sport.

“The lawsuit is more about raising awareness on concussions and trying to light a fire under the NFL to help these guys who are struggling,” said Levens, a Comcast Southeast NFL analyst. “I found there’s a great need for guys, especially with health care.

“You envision playing pro football for however many years; making some good money; retiring and enjoying life. And the quality of life is not what it needs to be for a lot of these guys.

“I’m just trying to get them the medical help they need — sooner than later.”

Lewis claimed he suffered a Week 1, 2009 concussion with the Browns and said in “Bell-Rung,” “I played 10 more games after that initial hit” until he was diagnosed after a Nov. 29 loss against Cincinnati, “With post-concussion syndrome. But this came from Week 1.”

Lewis, who rushed for 2,066 yards with the 2003 Ravens, was released by Cleveland Feb. 17, 2010.

“When I actually came to… the doctors asked me just regular questions, ‘Where are we? What’s the date? Who are we playing?’ Honestly, I couldn’t answer the first question he asked me. It was just so simple,” Lewis said in the documentary.

Lewis said he suffered his last concussion in a 2009, season-opening loss to Minnesota, but was re-inserted though he couldn’t answer the medical staff’s initial question.

“I’m like, ‘I don’t know. Let’s go. I’m ready to go,”‘ Lewis said.

“He (the team doctor) put me back out in the game. After I couldn’t answer any more questions, it was more of, ‘Hey, we’ve got to go. We don’t have another running back.’

“I’ve got a concussion. It’s an unseen injury. It’s something you really can’t see and diagnose right now on the sideline… So they put me back out there.”

The Browns declined comment, deferring to league spokesman Greg Aiello’s earier response to last Thursday’s lawsuit.

“Jamal is suffering more headaches than anything else,” Levens said.

“There are other guys who don’t want to be named who have serious issues with depression, irritability and need help.”

Hobbs and wife, Monique are still awaiting workman’s compensation benefits for surgery to stabilize a disc injury suffered from a Nov. 21, 2010 hit on a kick return.

“They keep delaying these rulings,” Monique Hobbs said.

Fast forward to last week. Independent certified athletic trainers were mandated to be in press boxes and have direct sideline communication to better protect players against team training staffs missing concussions as occurred at least twice this season.

Levens advocates having an independent neurologist on the sideline to ensure players don’t return to games with concussions as happened with Browns quarterback Colt McCoy and San Diego Chargers guard Kris Dielman.

“That’s eventually where it is going to go where the league has an independent neurologist on the sideline because that’s what’s needed,” said SIRIUS XM NFL Radio analyst Jim Miller, a former NFL quarterback.

NFLPA president Kevin Mawae said a mandated independent neurologist is under discussion:

“The NFLPA will continue to be in favor of putting into practice measures that will protect the short and long-term health of our players. Concussions will always be a concern in the game of football because of the nature of the game.

“The return-to-play protocol is an evolving process that in some cases needs to be looked at with greater scrutiny, all in an effort to protect the men who play.”

Browns president Mike Holmgren revealed McCoy wasn’t checked for a concussion suffered on a vicious, Dec. 8 helmet-to-helmet hit by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Because Browns trainers and doctors were tending to other players when the hit occurred and because McCoy exhibited no immediate concussion symptoms when he had his injured hand checked on the sideline, McCoy’s return two plays later prompted the independent trainer oversight.

McCoy hasn’t been able to play since.

Miller suggests using the more advanced helmet and mouthpiece technology that can alert to possible head injuries.

“Riddell has these new helmets and mouthpieces, the Riddell G-Shock series,” Miller said. “I had their guy on during the offseason and some college teams use them.

“The helmets have computer chips and mouthpieces with sensors that register G-forces. It would send a signal to the sideline where the medical staff knows this player has just taken a 5-G hit — an indicator that this player has just taken a significant blow to the head.”

Doctor Kevin Guskiewicz of the league’s head, neck and spine committee said, “Less than 10% of all concussions involve loss of consciousness.”

“Mike Holmgren doesn’t hold a press conference every day,” CBS analyst Rich Gannon said. “Clearly, this is a big deal.

“A lot of these players are not going to tell you they’re having a hard time remembering… because they don’t want to come out of the game.”

According to Levens, too many ex-players are showing the ravages of too many concussions and must be better protected from their core instinct.

“I know I have post-concussion syndrome,” said former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. “I have a memory issue. And as I grow older, it seems to become a little more challenging.

“There were times when I walked out there and really wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Who knows how many concussions I had?”

Here are some questions to consider as we turn the calendar pages:

Why did Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy retire? It’s not really clear why the two-term politician, an apparent success at his job, decided to step down instead of seeking a third term. He’s turned over more than $4 million in campaign funds to District Attorney Thomas Spota. But there’s a cloud there.

Indeed, it was never clear why Levy, 52, bolted from the Democratic Party to the Republicans in early 2010 nor why he thought for a minute he could be the party’s nominee for Governor versus Andrew Cuomo. Is it possible there was some quid-pro-quo by Spota, by which Levy agreed to step down in return for not being prosecuted? Could we see Levy in court next month copping a plea for some offense, with a penalty waived because he’s no longer in office?

Who killed the people found around Gilgo Beach? Suffolk cops have now found and identified Shannan Gilbert, 24, the prostitute reported missing a year ago whose disappearance led to the discovery of nine more bodies of people missing since 1996.

Steve Bellone, Suffolk’s new Democratic County Executive, has fired Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, who has stated repeatedly there was one killer. Spota had criticized Dormer’s statements, too. It will be up to new Commissioner Edward Webber to transform the probe and find the killer – or killers.

What happens with criminals convicted on bad evidence from the Nassau crime lab? Nassau’s police crime lab had been shuttered for months and an investigator appointed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman characterized it as inept and bureaucratic.

Now it’s reopened under a special panel headed by former Sen. Michael Balboni, (R-East Williston). But hundreds of defendants convicted in Nassau could potentially seek to have their cases reopened because of it. Thankfully, only two convictions have been thrown out so far.

Are our high schools unethical? Twenty Nassau teenagers have been arrested in the SAT cheating scandal that began with the September arrest of Samuel Eshaghoff, 19, of Great Neck, who was charged with receiving as much as $3,600 for taking the tests for as many as 15 students. The school roster includes Great Neck North H.S., Great Neck South H.S., Roslyn H.S., North Shore Hebrew Academy H.S. and St. Mary’s H.S.

Trials are pending. The College Board hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to investigate exam security. If the cases are actually tried, it will be fascinating to see what arguments the defense makes about difficulties of college admission and the “everybody does it” phenomenon.

Will we ever save money by consolidation? Since 2008, New Yorkers have had the power to petition to consolidate special districts, including school, park, sewer and fire districts. But with 124 school districts and hundreds of special ones, virtually none have been merged.

Suffolk’s Gordon Heights Fire District residents have been trying to abolish it for three years but haven’t succeeded. Their fire taxes are quadruple their neighbors. Most other districts ran public relations campaigns, hired lobbyists – often defeated politicians – to mount big anti-consolidation campaigns.

All these districts are expensive, along with our dozens of villages. Using the Freedom of Information Act, I found documents that showed Great Neck lawyer, Stephen G. Limmer, is pulling in annual fees exceeding $675,000 serving as Village Attorney for Great Neck, Kings Point and Roslyn Estates as well as counsel for the Water Authority of Great Neck North plus a $62,500 state pension as a reward for 20 years’ service. That’s in addition to compensation from his law practice.

Will consolidation come? Don’t hold your breath.

Total compensation of workers nationally and on Long Island edged up in 2010 over the prior year, perhaps evidence of, as one local expert put it, “the beginnings of a recovery.”

According to statistics released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, total compensation — wage and salary disbursement, plus employer contributions to social insurance and pension funds — grew by 2.2 percent nationally between 2009 and 2010, slightly higher than the 1.8 percent inflation rate during the period.

Nassau and Suffolk counties saw total compensation of workers rise, though Suffolk’s was largest, at 3.3 percent, more than twice the 1.4 percent inflation rate for Long Island.

“The overall figures really reflect the business cycle,” said Pearl Kamer, chief economist for the Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group. She was responding to data showing a decline in compensation in the region between 2008 and 2009, followed by the slight increase since, which she said “reflected the beginnings of a recovery.”

Total compensation for workers in Suffolk was estimated at nearly $40.9 billion in 2010, up from $39.6 billion in 2009, according to the bureau’s statistics. Suffolk’s compensation was the fifth-largest among the largest counties in what the bureau called the “Mideast region” comprising New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. In the region, Manhattan’s compensation was highest, an estimated $279.2 billion in 2010, up from $262 billion the year before.

Nassau’s compensation grew at a slower pace, 1.7 percent — barely above the region’s inflation rate — for an estimated 2010 compensation of $40.5 billion, up from $39.8 billion in 2009, the data show. One explanation for slower compensation growth in Nassau could be that Suffolk has more high-paying manufacturing jobs than Nassau — $4 billion in compensation in the industry in Suffolk versus $1.6 billion in Nassau.

Personnel experts on the Island report seeing more demand from companies to fill jobs, and in some cases higher salaries.

“Employers are more flexible to pay more money to the right person with the right skills,” said Barbara Viola, owner of Viotech Solutions, an information technology staffing and consulting firm in Farmingdale.

Jason Banks, executive vice president for Lloyd Staffing in Melville, said, “There is definitely more activity in the marketplace,” Banks said, “definitely more demand for talent in the marketplace.”

Kamer said the growth in compensation represented a “real increase in purchasing power” since the increase was slightly greater than inflation. She added, however, “that doesn’t mean consumers spent that increase. They may have paid down debt. This is why sales tax revenue is relatively flat.”

The data also provided compensation by industry, with government — particularly at the local level — and the “health care and social assistance” industries having the largest payrolls on the Island.

Kamer said government jobs on Long Island number about 208,300 out of 1.23 million total jobs, “so it’s a big chunk of our job base.” And most of those local government jobs, she said, are of “relatively high-paid” teachers.

She saw good news and bad in those statistics.

“Government is a weak point in the economy simply because we don’t have the fiscal capacity to maintain government spending at its current levels,” Kamer said. “Health care is a plus for the economy. It is the only industry that grew throughout the recession on Long Island.”

As a small business owner in Westchester, the recent articles and letters concerning the Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax are missing the point. The MTA tax is a nuisance to be sure, since it has quarterly and end-of-year filing requirements that are different from the state tax and all other filing/taxing requirements. However, at 0.34 percent of payroll, it really doesn’t affect hiring decisions. Instead of focusing on this tax, please focus on the real job killers in New York, which are the New York unemployment tax (currently at over 10 percent of payroll), and the Workers Compensation Insurance (also at over 10 percent of payroll). New York has the dubious honor of having among the highest costs (for employers) for these two taxes, along with the lowest pay-outs (for workers).

Steve Miller

Pleasantville

Despite increased use of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA), there is a notable lack of consensus about optimal postoperative treatment. Aquatic therapy has been shown to have a beneficial effect, and it is typically begun two weeks after surgery, after the wound has healed. According to a new study published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, beginning aquatic therapy just 6 days after TKA may lead to improved results, while delaying its onset an additional week may be more appropriate after a THA.

“This multicenter study demonstrates that the timing of physiotherapy measures, such as aquatic therapy, has clinically relevant effects after TKA,” says lead investigator Thoralf R. Liebs, MD, of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Schleswig-Holstein Medical Center, Kiel, Germany. “Ours is one of the few studies that demonstrates a clinically important effect on the health-related quality of life after TKA by a factor that can be influenced by the healthcare professional. The intervention is simple to administer, and requires limited extra input from the health care professional.”

THA and TKA patients were randomly assigned to receive aquatic therapy beginning either 6 days or 14 days after the procedure. In both groups, therapy lasted 30 minutes, three times a week, up to the fifth postoperative week. Physical function, pain, and stiffness were evaluated 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after the procedure.

After hip arthroplasty, all measurements at every follow-up period were better in the patients who began aquatic therapy after the wound had healed. In contrast, all mean outcomes were better in the group that began therapy 6 days after knee arthroplasty.

“THA has a high rate of patient satisfaction, and patients report an improved quality of life after the procedure. Additional interventions, such as early aquatic therapy, may not lead to much improvement,” Dr. Liebs hypothesizes. “After TKA, patients are less satisfied, so the additional intervention has a greater effect. The hydrostatic force of water reduces effusion in the knee joint. Because the knee capsule is closed after TKA, reduced effusion leads to less pain. In THA, the joint capsule is not closed, so the effect of reduced effusion is less.”