Lou Gehrig may not have had Lou Gehrig's disease

[katty]

more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38739308/ns/health-mens_health/

In the 71 years since the Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” despite dying from a disease that would soon bear his name, he has stood as America’s leading icon of athletic valor struck down by random, inexplicable fate.

A peer-reviewed paper to be published Wednesday in a leading journal of neuropathology, however, suggests that Gehrig’s demise — and that of some other athletes and soldiers given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — might have been catalyzed by injuries only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain trauma.

Although the paper does not discuss Gehrig specifically, its authors in interviews acknowledged the clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., and the Boston University School of Medicine, the primary researchers of brain damage among deceased National Football League players, said that markings in the spinal cords of two players and one boxer who also received a diagnosis of A.L.S. indicate that those men did not have A.L.S. at all. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussionlike trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways.

[Tutankhamun]

1. If it's proven Gehrig didn't have it, we should rename it: Steven Hawking's disease.

[MadMaddie]

2. We never really hear about Lou Gehrig having a

history of concussions...

[dflprincess]

4. In his day no one knew that concussions were a big deal

this is from the article in the Mpls Star Tribune"

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/100950649.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

...Today, head injuries are taken much more seriously than in Gehrig's day, when baseball players didn't even wear batting helmets. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has been on the disabled list since July 7, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard of the Wild has been sidelined for a year, both following concussions during games.

No such test (on his spinal cord) could be done on Gehrig because his remains were cremated; his name doesn't even appear in the study. But the Yankees legend had a well-documented history of significant concussions on the baseball field, and perhaps others as a football halfback in high school and at Columbia University.

News reports during his career show that he was knocked unconscious at least four times while at bat, playing first base and in a post-game brawl with fellow baseball icon Ty Cobb. Given that, it's possible that Gehrig's renowned commitment to playing through injuries like concussions, which resulted in his legendary streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games, could have led to his condition.

Gehrig's symptoms first surfaced in 1938 when his hands began to ache and his legs and shoulders gradually weakened. At spring training in 1939, even casual observers could see that something was quite wrong. That May, he missed his first game in 14 years, ending his historic streak, and by June he was headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. At the time, ALS was a virtually unknown disease, and doctors described it as a form of "infantile paralysis" resembling polio. With no known cause or cure, it eventually causes the loss of muscle control throughout the body. ALS had been in the medical books since 1869, but after 1939, everyone knew it as "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

[hootinholler]

3. Go Figure. n/t