Recently, a number of people have started blogs focused on Chiari.  From The Blogosphere will occasionally take a look at what's being said about Chiari in the blogs.

The following is reprinted, with permission, from Dr. John Oro's new blog at:

http://www.chiaritimes.com/ChiariTimes/Blog/Blog.html

10/24/07

The risks of vigorous sporting activities following Chiari surgery are unknown. As reported by The Seattle Times and seattlepi.com, football player Brandon Johnson is one person defining the limits.

As a high school sophomore, Brandon developed crippling headaches and dizziness and was found to have a Chiari malformation. Approximately one year after surgical decompression he returned to football. "I wanted to take my chances. If they say I can't play, I want it to be proven that I can't play. If I got hurt, I would get hurt doing something I loved to do."

He worried about his decision. "I was real nervous. Thinking like if I get hit wrong, what will happen? Will I die? All that stuff crossed through my mind.”

After sitting out one year during recovery, he returned to high school football and posted an impressive performance rushing for 3,155 yards and 54 touchdowns in his last two years. After a “heated recruiting battle”, he agreed to play for the University of Washington Huskies.

Although Brandon seems to have made a full recovery and is back to the sport he loves, many features of his case are unknown. The extent of his malformation, the details of the decompression, and the degree of his neurological recovery are not specified in the report and thus decisions about returning to contact sports cannot be made from his experience.

CAUTION: The risks of returning to contact sports are unknown. Each person must discuss with his or her treating surgeon which activities are appropriate following decompression surgery.

Posted by John Oro', MD

11/7/07

On a previous post, I wrote about Brandon Johnson, the high school football player who underwent surgery for the Chiari I malformation and is now playing for the University of Washington Huskies. This month, The Rockford Register Star reports that 16-year-old Doug Lillibridge has also resumed contact sports following surgery for CM-I.

Doug, a multisport athlete, plays soccer, basketball, and baseball. Ryan Webber, Doug’s basketball coach, says:

“Everybody loves him. He’s one of the most popular kids here, and he’s always smiling. He’s very talented. Whatever he wants to do, he can do it. His athleticism is what I marvel at. He’s just a natural at whatever he does.”

However, increasing headaches and dizziness began to take their toll. “The worst was just waking up every day. The mornings were terrible.” Daytime was also difficult with Doug suffering “up to 30-plus headaches per day,” lasting from seconds to hours.

An MRI revealed a Chiari Malformation I and a posterior fossa decompression was performed by Dr. Robin Bowman Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. One month following surgery Doug was allowed to slowly resume sports. His observations made during recovery clearly portray some of the symptoms experienced by many patients with Chiari malformation:

“Every time I’d go to sneeze or cough or anything, I’d wait for the headache to come back. Before the surgery, anything would affect it and make it worse. Laughing, sneezing, coughing. I basically had to have no emotions to have no headaches. But then I could do little things that I couldn’t before. That was one of the first things I noticed.”

Three months after surgery, Lillibridge was allowed to resume contact sports. As to his performance, fellow soccer player Dan Merrill notes: “he’s doing an amazing job. He’s exactly the same as he was for us last year. Probably even better.”

CAUTION: The risks of returning to contact sports are unknown. Each person must discuss with his or her treating surgeon which activities are appropriate following decompression surgery.

Posted by John Oro', MD

11/18/07

The two entries (Brandon, Doug) on returning to contact sports following Chiari surgery have generated significant interest. It is important to remember that most of the medical information about their conditions is not included in the available news articles. The neurological findings, the degree of crowding and brainstem deformity, the details of the surgical decompression, the follow-up results on the MRI scans, and the degree of neurological recovery are not included in the articles. Thus, do not make decisions from their experiences.

CAUTION: The risks of returning to contact sports are unknown. Each person must discuss with his or her treating surgeon which activities are appropriate following decompression surgery.

Posted by John Oro’
   

[Ed. Note:  The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author.  They do not represent the opinions of the editor, publisher, or this publication.]
 

Return To Table Of Contents