“The more testimonies there are, the more we will progress,” assures a neurosurgeon

While footballer Raphaël Varane has just launched a call for better treatment of concussions in football, a neurosurgeon confirms the importance of prevention in all sports.

“The more testimonies there are, the more we will progress”declared Jean Chazal, neurosurgeon, university professor and honorary dean of the Clermont-Ferrand medical faculty, interviewed Tuesday April 2 on franceinfo, after the testimony of Raphaël Varane in the newspaper L’Equipe.

The Manchester United defender and former French international is calling for better treatment of concussions in football, revealing that he himself suffered them several times during his career. Jean Chazal affirms that despite the “perfectly established scientific data”There is “still people who doubt” of the dangerousness of certain actions in sport. The neurosurgeon says he is fighting “to prevent head trauma in all sports whatever they may be”.

franceinfo: You have preached in the desert on this theme for a long time, can the speaking of a champion like Raphaël Varane have a strong impact?

Jean Chazal: The more testimonies there are, the more we will progress. Concussion in sport – rugby but all sports – is a bit of a sea serpent. The first articles in the world medical scientific literature appeared in 1998. 26 years ago. There have been refinements and today, the scientific data is perfectly established. But even in sports that are known to cause concussions, like rugby, there are still people who doubt. So we have to drive home the point and it’s difficult.

How does it work in the brain?

The brain is an organ that is soft, a bit like a sponge but has the consistency of gelatin. Put gelatin in an iron box, as the brain is in a rigid skull box which is the cranial bone, if you shake the metal box, the gelatin will be damaged. The brain is the same. He is fragile. The brain of homo sapiens is not made to suffer head trauma, direct or indirect.

Without having concussions, can the brain be weakened by doing certain actions and can this lead to degeneration?

There are sub-concussive conditions, that is to say that we suffer head trauma without immediate consequences, without short and medium term consequences. And then, when we do an autopsy of these brains, we realize that there are micro-lesions and that by adding one to the other, they constitute more significant, degenerative lesions, as we found in Alzheimer’s or Charcot’s disease. These are called sub-concussive states. I am fighting to prevent head trauma in all sports whatever they may be.