Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies have placed first baseman Justin Morneau on the seven-day concussion disabled list after Morneau suffered his third concussion since 2010. Morneau’s first two concussions happened while he was with the Minnesota Twins, one in 2010 and one in 2011. His most recent injury happened on a diving play in which his neck was jarred when he hit the ground.
The topic of concussions hits right at home for me. I’ve suffered three separate concussions in my lifetime, two while playing high school football, and one after falling down the stairs this past Thanksgiving night. The most recent concussion has affected my life in ways I never thought possible.
I’ve developed sleeping problems as a result of anxiety from PTSD that I was diagnosed with about a month after the concussion. I now have to take a sleeping pill, along with an anxiety medication and a narcolepsy medicine, that are all directly related to the fall.
I would argue that concussions are one the scariest physical injuries to deal with. If you break a bone or tear a muscle, it can be repaired; but if you bruise your brain, there is no telling how your body will react. My first two concussions were completely different. I was mainly dealing with just headaches with the first one, but after the second one, I was shut down for the rest of the season, and it ended up forcing me to hang up my cleats.
If Morneau is having any of the issues that I’ve experienced with concussions, there is no reason for him to continue to put his body and mind in harm’s way, no matter how much love he has for the game. Morneau is married and a son and daughter, and he needs to realize that he should walk away from baseball before he does some serious damage to his brain.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer For www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.
