#minimal research done on what to do with a concussion

[mothfables]

In Which Wars Picks a Fight With an Apple Tree (& Loses)

“Remind me again why we’re going to every tree?” Wars’ voice is slightly strained as he trails behind Legend, hefting the heavy basket in his arms.

“Because-“ Legend pauses to twist a particularly stubborn apple from its’ stem. “Because I don’t want my apples to rot while I’m not around, and Ravio can only do so much on his own. Besides, it’s not every tree.” One more twist and the apple comes free. He turns to drop it into the basket, shooting the other hero a smug grin. “Just most of them.” Warriors splutters.

The two of them have been out here for a few hours now; after Ravio had mentioned how he’d been worried about finishing the harvest in time Legend had all-but leapt up and made a beeline for the back door. Warriors had followed after him curiously only to find a basket the size of his torso shoved in his arms and told to ‘keep up.’ The other hero had apparently decided to start right this minute and marched straight for the nearest fruit-ladened tree, Wars stumbling after him.

They had to have gone through at least a quarter to a third of the orchard by now, Warriors guesses. Legend has a lot of trees, but not that many. (Part of him suspects the other is going slow on purpose.) Then again, the Captain doesn’t know much about apples, or the care and harvesting thereof. There wasn’t really much of an opportunity, in the city.

He shifts the basket in his arms so it’s more secure before speaking again. “What are you planning to do after this? Surely you’re not keeping all of these.” His voice comes out sharper than intended and he winces. Shit, he’d slipped into what Wind called his ‘knight voice’ for a second there. He sneaks a glance at his brother, who doesn’t seem to have noticed, having moved to the next branch to start working at the apples there.

Legend hums before answering. “Well, yeah, some of ‘em we’ll keep, some we’ll be selling next market day. The rest we’ll bake or turn into cider or something.” He comes back to dump an armful of fruit into the basket. “None of it will be wasted, if that’s what you’re worryin’ about. Even the overripe ones; those get put out for the deer an’ anything else that wants any.”

Wars can’t help but smile at the accent slipping into his brother’s voice, like warm honey over cool mint. It’s something the Veteran tends to keep tight under wraps, to match his voice to the front he puts up for the world. The fact that it’s making an appearance now, and the other is making no move to correct it, shows that he feels comfortable and safe enough to let his walls down- even if it’s just a little.

Following Legend as he moves to the next tree, Warriors takes the time to look around them. Trees heavy with fruit surround them, branches hanging low from the weight. Some are bare, however, and he remembers Legend saying how he’d had to work to bring it back from practically nothing, him and his uncle, before the man died and Legend was left to continue on his own. Even now, to his untrained eye, Warriors can see there’s still much work to be done. But that doesn’t erase all the progress that has been made.

Things continue in this vein for a while, the two of them chatting amiably and occasionally sniping at each other in friendly banter. At one point, Legend sends Wars back to the house to grab another basket when the first becomes too full. Wars complains but does as he’s told, grinning as Legend playfully gripes about him ‘growing soft from all that city-livin’; what, the big, strong Captain can’t carry a single basket?’

Warriors shoots back that he ‘may not be the Rancher, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t done my fair share of heavy lifting!’ Legend cackles. Wars finds himself beaming at the sound, his chest growing warm and full.

He’s so caught up in their banter that he forgets to watch his step; his foot catches in something- a hole or divot in the ground- and he stumbles straight into the low-hanging branches of a nearby tree. The basket tumbles from his hands, apples scattering everywhere as he tries to catch himself. He only succeeds in tangling himself further before his head meets the trunk with a resounding thwack!

Wars slumps against it, dazed, before yelping as he’s bombarded by what feels like at least half a dozen small projectiles from above. He holds up his arms in an attempt to shield his already aching head but it’s over as quickly as it started.

He hears what he thinks must be Legend yelling but his ears are ringing too badly to make out any individual words. Then there are hands on him, pulling him away from the tree and supporting him as he stumbles. Wars presses a hand over his eyes, dizzy.

He blinks and he’s sitting on the porch, Legend next to him. The other hero is fussing, pressing a gentle hand to his head and leaning closer to check his eyes. A scowl fixes itself on his face when he sees Wars looking at him and he removes his hand to cross his arms.

“Y’back with me, city boy? Or do I have t’go an’ call Time or Rulie out here?”

Warriors can’t help it- he laughs. Legend blinks, caught off-guard, before his scowl deepens. That only makes him laugh harder before a spike of pain lances through his skull and he has to stop to press the heels of his palms into his eyes, hissing.

“Serves you right,” his brother grumbles. Even still, he’s gentle as he pulls Wars’ hands down to check his head again. “I think you might have a minor concussion. With how hard you hit that tree I’m surprised it’s not any worse. ‘specially since y’got rained on with apples right after.”

“That’s what those were?!”

Now it’s Legend’s turn to snort at the flabbergasted look on Wars’ face. He leans back, done with his examination. “Sure was. Gotta say, the look on yer face makes me wish I had Wind’s pictobox or somethin’. It was priceless.” He shoots him a smirk.

Wars pouts, but any (admittedly minor) affect it might have had is ruined by his stomach growling. He glances down at it in surprise. It hadn’t been that long since he’d last eaten, had it? ...No, they’ve been out here for hours, that’s right. Damn.

Legend sighs and reaches for something out of his sight. Wars blinks and suddenly there’s an apple being waved in his face. He follows the arm it’s attached to and sees his brother scowling at him, a singular brow raised.

“C’mon, I’m not sitting around here all day.” Legend looks suddenly unsure. “Um. I don’t- know if it’s okay to eat with a concussion but no one ever said not to, so-”

Warriors huffs a laugh and takes the apple, watching Legend deflate with relief. “I’m pretty sure you have to be careful with more serious concussions. If it’s minor like you said, I’ll just have to watch not to hit my head again and drink plenty of water.” He pauses, thinking. “At least, I think that’s right.” ...Listen, he may have learned concussion symptoms and care by necessity in the war, but it’s been a few years and people don’t usually make it a habit of keeping his skills in that department sharp. There’s a reason there’s more than one healer in their party.

Legend’s other eyebrow rises to join the first. Wars coughs and glances away, raising the apple to his mouth and taking a bite.

His own eyebrows shoot up and he finds himself making a delighted sound at the taste. He’d forgotten how good fresh-picked fruit tastes. (No, the stuff from the Champion’s slate doesn’t count. Something about the way it saves things just doesn’t do the flavour right-) Suddenly he’s torn between devouring it on the spot and savouring every bite.

“Lege, I think I love you,” he declares, taking another bite.

The veteran makes exaggerated gagging noises. “C-c’mon, it’s jus’ an apple. I’m not- it’s not even a fuckin’- pie or anythin’.” Wars simply chews louder, swooning dramatically. “Gross.” But he’s smiling, violet eyes bright, and Warriors beams back at him.

In a few more bites he finishes his treat and is left looking down at his empty hands with a forlorn expression. Legend sighs and hands him another apple.

“What’s got you so excited ‘bout these anyway? I thought for sure you’d get like this abou’- I dunno, that dumb fancy food nobles eat or somethin’.”

Warriors ignores the fact that Legend absolutely knows what ‘dumb fancy food’ is, well aware the veteran has been forced by Fable to attend several events in his own era, and simply hums, tapping his feet happily. “Nah, I’ve never really been a fan,” he says eventually, watching Legend’s ear flick in surprise. “It’s just- fresh stuff like this is- was hard to come by, during the war. And then after, when we were focused on rebuilding and everything, it was just as hard. Maybe harder, depending on where you were in the city.” Second apple finished, he wipes his hands on his pants and leans back to soak up the sun. “Especially since a lot of it would spoil by the time it got out to us. So it was always nice, getting something fresh, y’know?”

He sneaks a glance at his brother. Legend is quiet, his gaze unexpectedly thoughtful. Warriors doesn’t mind. He knows his brothers, knows they see the gleaming city, the fancy clothes, the posh people, and think ‘rich, cultured, used to fine things.’ And sure, he’s a little bit of all of those (being the Hero and a highly-respected Captain during a major war you played a huge hand in admittedly has its’ perks), but the truth is he’s always preferred the simpler things.

That’s one reason he loves spending time with his brothers, staying with them in their homes; he gets to see the world like they do, if only a little bit: their comforts and habits, their favourite places and people and foods. They’re all so far from the pomp and rigidness of court life back in his own era, and he loves every minute of it.

He smiles, expression fond, and leans over to knock his shoulder against the vet’s.

“So,” he starts, causing the other to startle, “you said something earlier about baking some of the apples? What do you usually make?”

Just like that, it’s like a switch has been flipped. Purple eyes light up again, and Wars watches as his brother visibly brightens, hands beginning to wave and gesture as he speaks.

“We make a bunch o’ things! It depends on the apples and what you wanna make; there’s a bunch of desserts and dinner stuff an’ drinks an’ all kinds of things! Rav likes apple butter so we usually make at least one or two tubs of that. But we also make pies, tarts, cobblers, stuffed apples... We brew a bunch of cider, too, that’s really good when it gets colder. I think Wind an’ Hyrule would really like the candied apples Ravi makes- ooh, and Time would prolly like apple chips-”

Warriors listened to his brother talk, his expression happy and open. His head still hurts a little, but it’s easy to push back and focus on this- a happy brother by his side, a sunny porch, and a whole bucket of fresh, delicious apples. He rests his weight back on his hands and closes his eyes, determined to enjoy it.

[tiniestbee]

Once Upon a Time in a Collapsed Building

tags : fluff, gn reader, no use of y/n, moderate(?) injury to reader, reader is hospitalized, reader vomits(minimal description), pro hero deku, aged up, happy ending

a/n : this is literally just a deku x reader meet cute, villain aftermath style! excuse the likely shitty formatting, I’m posting from mobile bc otherwise I’ll never post it lol I wrote this back in 2020 and 1000% forgot about it until recently. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Also, I took hella liberties with basically everything. How the hero system works, what first aid training they would have, what a concussion does to you, the list goes on lmao I just wanted a cute scenario, no research for meeeee. If you think I’m missing anything in the tags, please let me know!

A few years after graduating from UA, Deku flew up the ladder at the hero agency he started at and now he’s officially a partner. A sidekick no longer. He got called to a crime scene all by himself, a villain attack on an office building, but he finds himself there just a little too late. The villain was already contained, and now it was just the end of the search and rescue for all the people left in the building.

Deku isn’t really what you would call a “rescue” hero, but he knows how to take direction from the other heroes who have more experience and will always help out since big muscles good for lifting wreckage. He’s doing his thing, thinking that all the civilians have been evacuated when he hears a whimper, like someone was in pain. He shouts for the other heroes then starts searching in earnest, calling out that he heard you, he’s coming, he promises!

Finally he lifts a section of wall and there you are, at the bottom of what looks like the remains of a stairwell, cradling one arm to your chest. In his haste to get down to you, he doesn’t get the wall entirely out of the way, and before you know it he’s throwing himself headlong at you, curling himself around you as best he can as the rubble showers down from above.

Unfortunately, he threw himself a little too hard, and his body colliding with yours knocks your head into the wall behind you. Eyes squeezing shut, you can’t help another whine at the nausea rolling in your stomach and the colors swirling behind your eyelids. For a few moments, you can’t hear anything, and then it’s a rough voice, whispering how sorry he is, he’ll get you out of here, everything is going to be fine.

You shiver when he backs away, as best he can under the debris to try and assess the damage. You didn’t realize how warm he was until he was gone. His hand smooths over your hair in an unthinking gesture of calming, before realizing you had been holding your arm awkwardly when he saw you first.

“Your arm, does it hurt?” He asks, crouching in front of you with a sad smile when you nod and grimace at the pain in your head. He asks a few more questions, fingers ghosting up and down your arm until he decides you’ve only dislocated your shoulder. “I could... put it back in place if you want. Or we could wait for them to dig us out of here first.” You reach out to tap on the closest part of him you can find with your eyes closed, fingers finding purchase on his thigh.

“Go ahead,” You croak out, relaxing more heavily against the wall behind you, your fingertips squeezing into the thick muscle of his thigh the only indication of fear he can see. It’s relatively quick on his end, having done this more than once for his more reckless hero friends. For you, it feels like he’s moving in slow mo until he actually pulls to shift your bone into place, white hot pain burning down your arm and into your torso before settling into a dull ache as the joint settles.

Your mouth starts watering, the blackness behind your eyelids spinning as your stomach roils, all of the pain suddenly too much. You use your grip on his thigh to shove at him, eyes flying open to make sure he gets out of the way before you’re scrambling to your knees, nothing but stomach acid burning its way out of your throat. His warm hand settles on your back, hesitantly at first, then more confident as he starts rubbing small circles, trying to keep his guilty conscience to himself. If he’d waited for the other heroes, or been more careful, you wouldn’t have what is most likely a concussion.

A few minutes pass in relative silence, save for for your dry heaving, until finally your muscles relax, a black cloth suddenly dangling in your field of vision. A handkerchief? Whatever it is, you take it from him and wipe your mouth, balling it up in your hand when you’re done. You stiffen when you try to straighten up, the pounding in your head telling you that is not a good idea, until warm hands settle on your upper arms, fingers curled so loosely they might as well not be there.

“I can help?” He suggests quietly, carefully helping you up until your seated between his legs, back to his front with his knees bent on either side. “Just in case. Unstable y’know?” He points up, drawing your attention to the shifting of the wreckage above you, the shouts of heroes finally filtering through the concrete to you. He rests his arms on his knees and laces his fingers together in front of you, all but caging you in. It makes you feel protected, safe enough to close your eyes and let your head drop back against his chest.

He jostles you every few minutes to make sure you don’t fall asleep until a professional can get a look at you, fighting a smile as you groan and weakly swat at his bicep. He knows you must be exhausted, but he can’t risk your health any more than he already has. He thought Uravity was on the scene when he arrived, so surely you’ll be out of there soon.

He’s proved right when the rubble slowly floats away, her wide brown eyes the first thing he sees through the filtered sunlight. She quirks an eyebrow at him, gesturing at you and your position as a hero with a wind control quirk blows the rubble away for her to drop. All he can do is smile and shrug, cradling you in his arms as he stands and uses his quirk to neatly leap out of the little pit.

The next thing you remember is waking up in a hospital, a cottony feeling in your mouth even as an IV drips at your bedside. It’s dark outside and most of the room’s lights are off, so it must be hours later. Glancing around, your eyes lock on a figure in the armchair to your right, slumped forward and breathing slowly. The shock of curly green hair and broad shoulders clues you in. Deku, the hero that had saved you earlier, had come to see you, and for some reason, hadn’t left.

Ochako never did let Deku live down the fact that he met his spouse by giving them a concussion.

[nflfanpointii]

40 is the new 35 when it comes to NFL quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Drew Brees

Back in the day, it was less common for quarterbacks to excel past their mid 30’s. Sure, there was Warren Moon, Vinny Testaverde, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, and John Elway. But that short list is dwarfed by a painfully longer one filled with Hall of Fame quarterbacks who seemed to crap out well short the 40 year marker.

Even these all time greats experienced precipitous drop offs in their mid to late 30’s. For Roger Staubach, Steve Young and Fran Tarkenton, it came at 37. For Bart Starr, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino and Dan Fouts, 36. For Johnny Unitas, George Blanda, Bob Griese, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, 35. For Otto Graham, Joe Namath, and Troy Aikman, 34.

This makes it all the more amazing that so many older quarterbacks are still playing at an elite level in today’s NFL. There might very well be five to seven future Hall of Famers starting in the league right now. Tom Brady and Drew Brees are officially in their 40’s. Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger are both 36. Aaron Rodgers is 34 and Matt Ryan is 33; and both signed extensions in the past couple years at times in their careers when former quarterbacks usually retired.

It’s true, quarterbacks are more protected by the rules of the NFL than ever before, and this certainly has played a part in their new found longevity. In 1978, the league restricted contact between defensive backs and receivers to within five yards of the line of scrimmage. This resulted in a dramatic increase in passing attempts per game, which in turn suddenly made the quarterback position more valuable.

Since 1993, quarterbacks could simply escape the pocket and throw a pass out of bounds without incurring an intentional grounding penalty. This made it harder for pass rushers to get to them before they got rid of the ball, therefore avoiding a sack or quarterback hit.

Roughing the passer penalties have become more and more common as the definition has broadened to include late hits, forcible hits below the knee, hitting the helmet, and landing on the quarterback with one’s own body weight.

Last year, former Packers linebacker Clay Matthews was flagged twice for roughing the passer while making what seemed to be perfectly executed sacks. Ironically, it was probably a hit on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers the previous season that may have led to the rule change that cost the Packers two victories a season later.

One would think that with these modern day quarterbacks dropping back more times throughout a game than ever before, their careers would be shorter, not longer. That’s why I think there’s more to it than the implementation of more rules that inherently protect the quarterback.

Because they played before GMO’s and modern day fast food chains, many old school players of the past had access to better food. But that doesn’t mean they took full advantage of their timely access to healthier lives. Joe Namath smoked cigarettes on the sidelines for god’s sake.

I doubt they were paying attention to the pH of their foods like Tom Brady or paying upwards of $200K a year like James Harrison did on therapy treatments like massage and acupuncture. The modern day athlete has to be almost obsessive in their quest for success. Talent alone won’t cut it anymore if you want to stick around in today’s NFL.

Extremely strict diets, fitness, and recovery programs have taken the place of binge eating like Babe Ruth, snorting cocaine like Diego Maradona, and binge drinking like Lawrence Taylor. The two oldest current quarterbacks in the NFL also happen to keep two of the strictest diet and fitness regimens across all sports.

Drew Brees has been working with Todd Durkin in San Diego, CA since his days with the Chargers. Brees loves working with Durkin every offseason. “Whenever I come back for the summertime to get in the best shape of my life for training camp, he’s always got something new or a few new things that make me feel like we’re way ahead of everybody else.”

What’s interesting to me, however, is that even though Brees isn’t Durkin’s biggest, fastest, or most agile athlete, he may have benefited the most simply because he’s willing to work harder than everyone else. And that’s saying a lot considering Durkin’s vast client list also includes Carson Palmer, Aaron Rodgers, Darren Sproles, LaDainian Tomlinson, Mark Sanchez, Alex Smith, Brandon Cooks, Reggie Bush, Charles Tillman, Zach Ertz, John Brown, Dontrelle Inman, Malcom Floyd, Ryan Griffin, Chase Daniel, Sean Canfield, Josh Freeman, and my fellow Saints Ignatius College Prep alumnus, Igor Olshansky.

”Drew Brees, first and foremost, is a special person. I will probably not have the opportunity to work with a guy like that in the next 20 years. His concentration and focus are amazing, and he works extremely hard. He’s not the biggest guy or the fastest guy, but he’s going to beat you with his athleticism, his smarts and because he’s such a competitor. I don’t care what it is, the dude wants to win at anything. He’s always restless and never satisfied,” said Durkin.

Brees is absolutely methodical in his training and game preparation. “I know where I’m going to be at a specific time,” he says. “I know what I’m going to be doing; I know what needs to be accomplished for me to feel confident and go out there and play at the highest level.”

His focus has shifted from the archaic meathead approach to training he learned in college at Purdue to a more functional and efficient approach. “I think maybe those [exercises] served the purpose at the time.” Drew says. “But now I’ve wised up to the things that I need to do in a position-specific and functional fitness kind of way to benefit me as a quarterback.”

If you have 30 minutes to kill, watch this video of Brees’ workouts with Durkin.

I’ve been a fitness trainer and instructor for 12 years and I’m telling you, Durkin is the real deal. I love his approach to fitness. I stopped lifting heavy weights years ago and have focused more on agility ladder work, TRX training, yoga, and generally maximizing my strength and endurance gains while also minimizing sheering forces on my joints, tendons, and ligaments.

Tom Brady takes his fitness protocol in an even more holistic, and dare I say, Eastern direction. He and his trainer/business partner Alex Guerrero founded the TB12 training facility next to Gillette Stadium in 2013. Guerrero, though highly controversial, isn’t a total quack in my opinion.

Of course claiming his supplements could curemultiple sclerosis, AIDS, concussions, and other diseases with no shred of testing or evidence based proof was incredibly disingenuous and downright dangerous. Settling with multiple investors out of court for defrauding them is no better either.

But I have to hand it to him: he has kept Tom Brady in phenomenal shape to survive and thrive in the NFL past the age of 40. Guerrero earned a Masters Degree in traditional Chinese medicine from a school in LA that closed after losing its’ accreditation. He is not a physical therapist and does not hold any Western degrees that would qualify him to do a lot of the work he does with his clients.

Yet, Guerrero is highly respected and retained by many professional athletes including Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Willie McGinest, Jimmy Garoppolo, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Chris Hogan. Instead of focusing on lifting huge weights and tearing muscle fibers, Guerrero prescribes more body weight moves and exercises with resistance bands that are designed to increase the muscles’ “pliability.”

Brady often sees Guerrero twice daily and receives intensely specific massages in which he tenses the muscles while Guerrero massages them. The goal is to lengthen the muscles and increase their flexibility so that Brady can withstand the weekly car crash that is an NFL football game.

The other main focus is to reduce inflammation in the body by maintaining a strict diet. Brady does not eat white flour, white sugar, MSG, iodized salt, coffee, caffeine, alcohol, fungus, dairy, nightshade vegetables and most types of fruit. This diet may sound strange, but it’s most likely derived from the Ayurvedic tradition which is over 5,000 years old and trusted throughout Asia as much as we trust Western medicine.

The part where Brady and Guerrero lose me is by making sweeping statements like everyone should drink 25 glasses of water a day, or eat this exact diet, or that everyone needs to consume TB12 branded electrolytes or wear TB12 branded muscle recovery pajamas.

I’m not 6’4” and 230lbs; I’m 5’6” and 130lbs, so I don’t need more than 65 ounces of water a day, unless Tom wants me to get hyponatremia and die of brain damage. Don’t just replicate a professional athlete’s diet and fitness regimen. These have been specially tailored to them. If you work for Google and sit at a desk for eight hours a day, you probably shouldn’t eat and drink exactly what Tom Brady does.

It’s okay to be skeptical too. Brees isn’t much more trust-worthy with his shameful peddling of Advocare products. It’s important to rely on evidence-based research conducted by independent bodies without a financial stake in the products they test. Even more important, think for yourself and do your own research before listening to athletes that have a financial stake in the health philosophies they are sharing with the public.

If you aren’t hip to eating according to your Ayurvedic dosha (My dosha is roughly 70% Pitta, 20% Vata, 10% Kapha) like Brady seems to, you can go the Western route and still learn something about how to function at a higher level, no matter what your lifestyle is. Drew and Brittney Brees got food sensitivity blood tests done back in 2004. That’s when Brees found he had significant sensitivities to gluten, dairy, and certain nuts.

“As you can imagine, I was shocked because I was consuming most of these things every day. And just to think how long I’ve had these sensitivities and had continued to feed them. Guys coming in fresh out of college are used to going to the training table and eating and drinking whatever they’re given.”

“In many cases, I see myself as a veteran player – pulling those young guys aside and, as part of teaching young players how to be a pro, talking to them about their diet, their sleep habits and their recovery. They’ll start to ask questions like, ‘Hey Drew, what do you do?’ That’s when I explain to them that I use coconut milk and almond milk products.”

It’s not just Brees’ direct teammates like Reggie Bush, Sean Canfield, Chase Daniel, Brandin Cooks, and Ryan Griffin who have followed his lead when it comes to diet and fitness. “It took the fourth or fifth time hearing, ‘You need to do this,’ and then reading about Drew Brees and Tom Brady and others who are your peers doing it,” Kirk Cousins said. “I realized, ‘If I want to hang with these guys, then it’s time to stop playing around.’”

18 of the 32 quarterbacks starting in the NFL are over 30 years old, and by September that list will grow to 21 with the 30th birthdays of Cam Newton, Tyrod Taylor, and Andrew Luck. Even though five quarterbacks were drafted in the first round last year, there’s a good chance less than a third of the starting quarterbacks in the league will be younger than 30 years old.

40 might be the new 35, and it’s not just because of some changes in the rules. Players are spending highly on optimizing their health and performance through a multitude of practices both new and incredibly old. Cousins is right, it’s time to stop playing around.

[xoheatherkw]

Heart of Gold - beggie

An additional treat for the Riverdale Holiday Exchange 2017. For @buggiekinsx with the prompt: beggie + Christmas (with mistletoe, oh my!)

College/future fic. Actual classes and professors based on personal experience (ugh). I *may* have researched cheesy pick up lines for Reggie. 

Read on AO3 / FF 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 Veronica's celebratory post-finals party was in full swing. Betty was sipping the fruity cocktail that Kevin made for the occasion. She mingled a bit, saying hi to the few acquittances that she made in her first semester at NYU, but ultimately circled back to Kevin and Ethel. 

 Ethel smiled brightly, noticing her before Kevin had. "Betttyyyyyy! You're back," she slurred. 

 Betty inserted herself right in between Kevin and Ethel, running a comforting hand down her friend's arm. "You alright?" She asked. 

 She nodded rather forcefully and slung her arm around Betty's waist. "I missed yoooouuuu," she said affectionately. 

 Betty turned her attention to Kevin. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her." The annoyance in her tone was unmistakable. 

 Kevin simply shrugged. "She needs to let loose, and I am keeping an eye on her. Besides, she deserves it after this semester. I could say the same for you," he said with a pointed look. 

 Betty did not need the reminder. She and Ethel took a course to satisfy one of those pesky general education requirements with the professor from hell. They thought Russian Fairytales would be a piece of cake. In reality, they had more required readings than most of the rest of her classes combined, with pop quizzes nearly every week. It was supposed to be their easy class for the semester. But, at the very least, their non-western requirement for graduation was done and over with. 

 Ethel leaned into her and Betty rubbed her hand up and down Ethel's arm. "Hey, I'm going to get you some water. Okay?" 

 Ethel just hummed in response, slightly swaying in her efforts to stay upright. 

 "You'll keep an eye on her, won't you?" She directed at Kevin. At this rate, Ethel would have a killer hangover tomorrow, and hydrating was key to minimizing it. 

 "Scout’s honor." 

 "You were never an eagle scout," Betty huffed. She gently extracted herself from Ethel and made a bee line for the kitchen. 

 She quickly surveyed the fridge, not finding any water bottles. Either their friends drank all of them, or the more likely scenario was that Veronica forgot to put more in the fridge. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with ice and water. She turned, intent on going back to Ethel, when someone's broad shoulder nearly body checked her. She ended up spilling a little bit on her too tight and too short dress (Veronica's doing). "Hey! Watch where you're going- Mantle?" 

 Reggie was briefly starstruck by the breathtaking beauty in front of him. He had always thought she was beautiful, but seeing her tonight was on a whole other level.

 "Cooper, hey," he said casually. He took the few precious seconds of her swiping the water off her dress to really appreciate her. The deep V dress did wonders to accentuate her assets, and the form fitting burgundy dress hugged her curves in all the right places. Combined with her hair down in waves and a smoky eye, he was impressed that he even got two words out.

 He hadn't even seen her since graduation - nearly six months prior. He wasn’t exactly in her circle in high school, so they didn’t keep in touch. Much to his chagrin.

 Sure, they were going to the same university, but he hadn't had the fortune of bumping into her - literally - until that night. It was only pure luck that Veronica noticed him in the quad the other day and extended an invite to her Christmas themed party before break. 

 Betty brushed off what she could and finally looked up to meet his gaze. The apologetic look on his face made hers soften slightly. "Just try to watch your step next time, okay?" 

 He placed his hand over his heart. "I'm sorry, Betty," he said sincerely. Reggie stepped a bit more into her personal space, enough so he could lean down and whisper in her ear. "I was blinded by your beauty." He pulled back, so he could give her a wink. "I'm going to need your contact information for insurance purposes."

 Betty let out a good laugh, setting down the glass on the counter as to not spill any more. "Wow, does that line actually work on girls here?" She gently wiped the wetness pooling at her lash line from laughing so hard. 

 "You'd be surprised," he said with a smirk.

 "Then I have less faith in my gender than I previously thought." She shook her head slightly, not the least bit surprised. Reggie was always a charmer. 

 "How have you been, Betty?" 

 She smiled softly. "I've been good, Reggie. I'm so glad the semester is over though." 

 "I hear you on that one. Dr. Alas was a tough grader for my Western Civilization class. I worked my ass off and got an A-." 

 "You had Dr. Alas too? Which section?" Surely, she would have noticed if they were in the same class, wouldn’t she? Although the class size was over a hundred people.

 "I was in his 9am class. Remind me not to take a class that early." He missed a few classes due to hitting his snooze too many times. 

 "Ahh, the 9am section conflicted with my Creative Writing class. I was in his afternoon section." Betty was thankful she scheduled classes with a two-hour break for lunch, as she recently discovered her love affair for naps during lunch. And it better prepared her for her afternoon classes, so it was a win-win. 

 "Small world, Cooper. Small world," he muttered. 

 She ran her hand down his arm, squeezing his hand briefly before dropping it. "I need to get back to Ethel. Maybe I'll see you later?" 

 He stepped back and ran his hand across the back of his neck. "Yeah, of course. See you around." 

 She picked up the glass with the same hand that grabbed Reggie's hand. The cool touch did nothing to calm the warmth his skin left behind. 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 About an hour later, the party had died down a little bit. Betty took advantage of not being needed at that very moment and she made herself another drink and collapsed on the sofa. Her dress moved on its own accord up her thighs just a touch more than she was comfortable with, but didn't have the energy to care. 

 She just had to wait a little longer until it was socially acceptable to go to bed at her own party, and lock herself in her room to get some sleep. 

 "You're not falling asleep, are you?" The familiar voice had Betty picking her head up from the back of the couch and opening her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them. 

 "No, just resting my eyes… So, we meet again, Reggie," she said. 

 "Do you mind if I sit?" He pointed at the free spot next to her. 

 "Course not." She turned slightly so she could prop her head up on the back of her hand, crossing her legs and tugging her dress down with the other hand.  He sat down on the spot next to her, accidentally brushing his knee against hers. If she noticed, she didn't back away. "Sorry about running off earlier. I needed to make sure Ethel was okay." 

 "No worries. How’s she doing?" 

 "She’s good. She’s in the kitchen with Ronnie. They ordered pizza."

 Her eyes started to droop on their own accord. The late-night studying was really taking its toll, and all she wanted to do all break is sleep. And maybe eat Christmas cookies. 

 "That's good. You know, if you're too tired, I can head out. I'm sure you get plenty of beauty rest." He threw another wink her way. 

 She patted his knee gently, not bothering to remove her hand afterward. "You're smooth Reggie, I'll give you that. But no, I think I can stay awake long enough to catch up with a friend." 

 "Yeah, I'd like that Betty." The warmth of her skin was already distracting him, even through his jeans. But he didn't dare say anything to stop her. "So, let me guess, you're majoring in Journalism?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at her. 

 "You know me too well, Reggie. Are you playing football here?" 

 "No, actually. I was offered a scholarship, but since my parents could afford to send me here, I figured I should get out before I have too many concussions." At least he had the option available to him. 

 "Sounds logical. Let me guess what you're majoring in... Business?" She predicted.

 "History actually. I want to be a teacher." 

 She smiled. "I could see that." 

 She only then registered that her hands were tracing patterns on his knee. She found that she didn't want to stop, mesmerized by the animated story Reggie was telling her about how he wanted to follow his own passion instead of following in his father's footsteps. She felt drawn to him in a way she hadn't, with anyone, in a while. And every now and then he'd look at her with such an intensity that it nearly took her breath away. 

 They even discovered they were in the same Statistics class next semester, both preferring that choice over the calculus option to satisfy their math requirement. 

 They laughed and just caught each other up on their lives since graduation.

 She was genuinely having a good time. And she found that she wasn’t even tired anymore.

 “Betty,” Ethel interjected.

 Betty pulled back and shook her head to clear her mind. She found herself becoming more enamored with Reggie, the more time she spent with him.  

 Reggie's hand stilled, having found her arm at some point during their conversation and was running his fingers up and down her delicate skin.

 Betty turned around to find the source, her eyes landing on a very tired yet blissfully happy Ethel. She was a cute and happy drunk, just content to be with her friends.  

 “Can you take me home? Kevin is preoccupied with a guy from his Economics class.”                  

 Betty rolled her eyes at that. That was the one thing she asked of him, considering she decorated for the party all afternoon. But, he’s been in kind of a funk lately, so she couldn’t blame him too much.

 She smiled warmly at her friend. “Yeah, sure. I’ll order us a Swift.” She turned back to Reggie, finding herself surprisingly disappointed that she would have to leave. “I’m just going to ride with her and make sure she gets home safe. I’ll be back, if you’ll still be here?” She raised an eyebrow.

 A couple quick taps on her phone said their Swift would be there in approximately ten minutes.

 He leaned back on the couch, spreading his arms across the back. Play it cool, he thought. “Yeah, yes. I mean, probably – I’ll probably still be here,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He internally groaned over his fumbling. Real smooth.

 Betty placed a gentle hand on his arm and smiled. “I’m just going to use the restroom, and grab my coat from my bedroom,” she directed at Ethel. “Meet me by the foyer?”

 Ethel nodded and went off to locate her own coat in their hallway closet.

 Betty excused herself to the restroom.

 When she exited and turned towards her bedroom, she bumped into another broad shoulder for the second time that night. She and Reggie ran into each other - quite literally- in the hallway near the bathroom. Her hands landed on his shoulders and he gripped her waist to steady himself. Neither one of them moved from their embrace.

 "You should really watch where you're going," she breathed out. 

 “We need to stop meeting like this, Cooper.” He let out a light chuckle. Either he was really lucky to keep running into Betty, or the universe was taunting him with the unobtainable.

 Just then, Veronica appeared in the hallway, intent on going to the restroom. Until she saw something much more interesting.

 "Ooh, look who's under the mistletoe! You know what that means." She slightly stumbled as she took another step forward, extending her finger to point at the pair. "Betty and Reggie, K-i-s-s-i-n-g.” 

 Betty rolled her eyes. Tipsy Veronica was even less inhibited than usual, and she had been trying to set Betty up for months. As much as they wanted to stay together, the long distance was too much for her and Trev and they broke up about a month into the semester. He was planning on going to school on the west coast next year, so it was only a matter of time anyways. 

 The gentle caress on her waist brought her back to the present.

 The pair leaned back slightly. They looked up, seeing the mistletoe that Betty nearly forgot Veronica had hung (all throughout their apartment). She wasn't sure if she should be cursing or thanking Veronica in this moment. She knew Reggie's reputation of being a play boy, but that was not the impression she got from their conversation that night. In fact, he seemed more focused on schoolwork than she'd seen in his entire four years of high school combined. 

 His heart was racing, and he gripped Betty's waist a little tighter. He couldn't believe his luck of running into her under the mistletoe. He had the hugest crush on her all throughout high school. But between her childhood crush on Archie, her relationship with Jughead that crashed and burned, and then dating Trevor her senior year... He just never had the chance to ask her out. That didn't even address the fact that she was way out of his league. He noticed the way she gripped his shoulders and her flushed cheeks, so maybe he had a shot after all. 

 Betty started to lean in, determined to capture his lips in a kiss. 

 "We don't have to," Reggie confessed.  

 "I know." She continued forward. She found herself wanting to kiss him, rather than being forced to. If she was being honest with herself, she had a little bit of a crush on him senior year. But she was dating Trev. She thought the crush fizzled out, but seeing him tonight, the exact opposite was true.

 Her lips almost brushed his when he turned his cheek, planting a kiss near the corner of her mouth instead.  

 He brought his lips close to her ear, and spoke low, just above a whisper. “I don’t want our first kiss to happen because we have to.” His brought his thumb up to her cheek and brushed her skin. “I could really see myself falling for you.”

 She let out a shaky breath. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

 He pulled back and brought his hand up to caress her cheek, looking lovingly into her eyes. He spoke quietly, so only she could hear. “I’ve never said that to another girl, because I’ve never meant it before. Just with you, Betty.” He lowered his lips and placed a kiss to her cheek for the second time that night.

 The phone in her hand buzzed, causing her to regrettably extract herself from his grip. She read over the message and her eyes went wide. “Shit! I need to go.” She spun around quickly and ran off to her room to get her coat. She had her arm in one sleeve and was struggling with the other as she returned to Reggie, still a little dazed from their interaction.

 “I need to go take Ethel home. But I’ll see you when I get back.” This time, it was more of a direction instead of a question, and he found himself nodding.

 She placed a brief kiss to his cheek and rushed off to get Ethel before the Swift left without them.

 “Well, well. That was an interesting development,” Veronica said more towards herself than at Reggie.

 He smirked. “I’m really glad I ran into you the other day, Ronnie.” He smiled to himself and went to track down a beer to calm his nerves.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 Betty returned to their apartment, and noticed that the party had died down substantially in the time it took her to make sure Ethel got home safe. She dropped off her coat in her room and started to look for Reggie.

 She went through the kitchen, the living room, the office, then their formal living room… and nothing. She looped back to the kitchen to find Veronica.

 “Hey V. Have you seen Reggie?” Betty leaned her elbows on the counter.

 “B, I never thought I’d see the day where you and Reggie would be an item.” Veronica tapped her fingernails on the counter.

 “We’re not-”

 “Yes, I know, you’re not an item,” she said, making quotations with her fingers. “Not yet anyways. Make no mistake, I approve.” She sent Betty a devilish smirk.

 Betty let out a sigh. “So, have you seen him?”

 Veronica pointed out towards their balcony. “He went outside right before you got home.”

 Betty pulled her best friend into a hug, before turning around and heading towards the balcony.

 “I expect many double dates in our future,” Veronica shouted after her.

 Betty rolled her eyes and scooped up her cardigan from the back of the couch. She tugged it on and held it shut with one hand, not bothering to button it as she stepped onto the balcony.

 The sound of her closing the sliding door alerted Reggie of her presence.

 He took the last swig of his beer and turned to face her. “Hey mini Cooper.” He smirked and took in the sight of her.

 She laughed and took a few steps towards him. “Hey Reggie.”

 “Aren’t you cold?” He pointed at her clothing, or lack thereof. She had on a thin cardigan and her legs were bare past the very short length of her dress.

 She walked the rest of the way towards him on the balcony, stopping right in front of him. She plucked the beer bottle out of his hand and set it on the ledge. She placed a tentative hand on his chest. “You see, I know this guy. He puts up this tough exterior, and truthfully, I used to think he was a jerk, sometimes… but secretly he has a heart of gold. I figured he might offer to keep a girl warm,” she suggested.

 He brought his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against his chest. “Yeah, I think I know that guy. He had a huge crush on you all throughout high school,” he said sincerely.

 Betty’s eyes went wide before softening her expression into a tender smile. “You did not.”

 He brought his hands over her arms, rubbing them up and down to generate some heat for her. “Yeah, I did. And I never thought a girl like you would give me the time of day. You’re out of my league,” he said solemnly.

 She brought her hands to circle around his neck and inched herself closer. “Well if you remember anything about me, you know I don’t like people making decisions for me.”

 He nodded. “Trust me, I remember. The next move is yours, Betty.”

 Betty looked up at him through her lashes, thankful for the first time that night that she was wearing heels. All she had to do was tilt up slightly to capture his lips in a kiss. Her eyes flitted from his eyes to his lips, and back up again.

 The kindness and sincerity in his eyes is what made her decision for her. She smiled slyly and leaned in to press a kiss firmly on his lips. He smiled into the kiss and thought how perfectly their lips fit together and how right he felt when he was with her. She threaded her fingers through his hair and swiped her tongue across his bottom lip asking for access. He granted it and pulled her tighter, his hands splaying across her back. She hummed happily into the kiss, only pulling away once their kiss left her breathless.

 He rested his forehead against hers and brought his hand up to caress her cheek. “Wow,” he whispered against her lips.

 She smiled brightly. “Yeah,” she agreed.

 “So, what now?”

 Her hands played with the hair at the nape of his neck, his eyes closing at the sensation. “Pick me up at seven tomorrow?”

 He smiled and reconnected their lips in a sweet kiss. “Now that, I can arrange.”

 She smiled into the kiss. “It’s a date.”

[stephenmccull]

Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough.

There’s a gap in Scott Olsen’s memory for the night of Oct. 25, 2011.

The Iraq War vet remembers leaving his tech job in the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a BART train to join an Occupy Oakland protest against economic and social inequality.

He remembers standing near protesters who faced off with Oakland police officers bristling with riot gear.

He remembers being carried away by other protesters.

But not the moment when a “bean bag” round fired from an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury that forced him to relearn how to talk.

What happened to Olsen was not unique or isolated. Time and again over the past two decades ― from L.A. to D.C., Minneapolis to Miami ― peace officers have targeted civilian demonstrators with munitions designed to stun and stop, rather than kill. As many as 60 protesters suffered head wounds during recent Black Lives Matter events, including bone fractures, blindness and traumatic brain injuries.

For years, activists and civil libertarians worldwide have urged police to ban less-lethal projectiles from use for crowd control. The United Kingdom ceased using them that way decades ago.

MRIs from 2011 (left) and 2013 show the initial and then permanent damage Scott Olsen incurred after an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury.(Scans courtesy of Scott Olsen)

But an investigation by USA Today and KHN found little has changed over the years in the United States.

Beyond the Constitution and federal court rulings that require police use of force to be “reasonable,” there are no national rules for discharging bean bags and rubber bullets. Nor are there standards for the weapons’ velocity, accuracy or safety. Congress and state legislatures have done little to offer solutions.

While locations and demonstration types vary, a pattern has emerged: Shooting victims file lawsuits, cities pay out millions of dollars, police departments try to adopt reforms. And, a few years later, it happens again. Law enforcement officers, typically with limited training, are bound only by departmental policies that vary from one agency to the next.

Sometimes referred to as kinetic impact projectiles, less-lethal ammunition includes bean bags (nylon sacks filled with lead shot), so-called rubber bullets that actually are tipped with foam or sponge and paintball-like rounds containing chemical irritants. Velocity and range vary greatly, but they can travel upwards of 200 mph. The rounds were developed to save lives by giving police a knock-down option that can disable threats from a safe distance without killing the target.

But, over decades of use, munitions that originally were touted as safe and nonlethal have proven otherwise:

In 2000, a protester at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles lost an eye. Seven years later in the same city, scores of migrant-rights demonstrators were wounded amid a fusillade of less-lethal rounds.

In 2001, when rioting broke out in Tucson after the University of Arizona lost the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, a student lost an eye to a bean bag.

In 2003, 58 people were injured in Oakland when officers launched a barrage of wooden pellets and other devices during anti-Iraq War protests. To settle court claims, the city adopted new crowd control policies. Eight years later, Olsen was struck down.

In 2004, in Boston, a college student celebrating a Red Sox victory was killed by a projectile filled with pepper-based irritant when it tore through her eye and into her brain.

Brandon Saenz lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas this June.(Courtesy of Brandon Saenz’s lawyer, Daryl Washington)

The past two months have been especially telling, with dozens maimed or hurt amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations: Photographer Linda Tirado, 37, lost an eye after being hit by a foam projectile in Minneapolis. Brandon Saenz, 26, lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas. Leslie Furcron, 59, was placed in a medically induced coma after she was shot between the eyes with a bean bag round in La Mesa, California. And, in Portland, Oregon, 26-year-old Donavan La Bella suffered facial and skull fractures when he was shot by a federal officer with a less-lethal round.

“Nothing has changed,” said attorney Elizabeth Ritter, 59, one of several people shot in the head by an impact munition at a 2003 protest in Miami. A video later surfaced showing police supervisors laughing about her shooting. “It’s fairly sickening to me. We have a systemic, deeply ingrained problem.”

‘We’re Just in a Circle’

From a law enforcement perspective, less-lethal weapons are essential tools in a continuum of force. A sponge-tipped round or a pouch full of pellets can stop a violent act without putting the officer in peril — and without killing the suspect.

Police leaders typically condemn the indiscriminate firing into peaceful crowds but characterize such incidents as conduct violations rather than weaponry problems.

Steve Ijames, a retired officer who developed programs for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, blames “boneheaded policemen” and a training gap for the misuse of arms. Law enforcement instruction focuses almost entirely on how to use less-lethal force against individual suspects, Ijames noted, and not on crowd-control scenarios that occur only sporadically.

Still, when demonstrations morph into disturbances, less-lethal devices are often dusted off and pressed into duty.

“What is the alternative?” asked Sid Heal, a retired commander from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “We’re stuck with the tools we have. And if you take one away, we’re going to have to go to something else, and it will probably be harsher.”

The National Institute of Justice spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on initiatives to collect data and start developing national standards for less-lethal weapon safety after the Boston student’s death in 2004. Funding dried up after a few years, and the efforts died.

Against that backdrop, Congress has shown little interest in regulating bean bags and rubber bullets. And national law enforcement leadership groups have repeatedly punted when given an opportunity.

After the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2014, 2015 and 2017 would have banned state and local law enforcement from using key federal grant dollars for less-lethal weapons. The measure never made it out of committee.

In 2017, a coalition of law enforcement groups representing police leaders and unions, which gathered to study use of force, published a consensus policy and discussion paper. The groups advocated a ban on police use of martial arts weapons — but did not extend it to less-lethal munitions.

A White House task force established after the Ferguson protests recommended “annual training” but little more for less-lethal weapons.

In June, 13 U.S. Senate Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to investigate the alleged misuses of rubber bullets and bean bags against Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

“Although intended to only cause minimal harm, such weapons may cause significant injury,” the senators wrote. “Better information is needed to identify deficiencies in the training and use of these less-lethal weapons.”

The Justice Department’s inspector general has launched an investigation of federal officers’ response to protest activity in Portland and Washington, D.C., the watchdog announced Thursday. Leaders of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Oversight committees this month had asked the office to review federal officers’ “violent tactics” used against protesters in those cities and elsewhere.

And, in California, several Democratic legislators introduced a measure in June that would ban the police use of less-lethal munitions to disperse demonstrators. Except in riot conditions, the proposed law says, kinetic energy projectiles “shall not be used by any law enforcement agency against an assembly protected by the First Amendment.”

Charles Mesloh, a former police officer, a certified instructor and a longtime researcher on less-lethal weapons, said the status quo is “unacceptable,” but he sees little chance that national standards will be imposed for training, weapon safety and use.

“I’ve been doing this long enough, I just — we’re just in a circle,” said Mesloh. “We’ll have some lip service … and there’ll be some mandated training, and then we’ll just go right back to where we were.”

Los Angeles: Searching for a Less-Lethal Alternative

On her desk, Carol Sobel keeps a photo showing her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.(Courtesy of Carol Sobel)

Carol Sobel, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney, keeps an unusual photo on her desk. It shows her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.

That’s the impact of a police projectile that struck her between the eyes as she stood outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention with a mainly peaceful crowd.

“My head snapped back and it hurt,” she said. “It was inconceivable to me that someone would shoot me in the face.”

Over the past two decades, Los Angeles police have repeatedly used less-lethal firepower on demonstrators, injuring hundreds and generating lawsuits that Sobel helped prosecute.

Los Angeles police turned to bean bags as an alternative to live ammo after 1992 rioting triggered by the acquittal of officers who beat a Black man named Rodney King. As violence swept the city, police at first hunkered down, doing little to maintain order, then launched an aggressive crackdown. Ten people were killed by officers.

In the aftermath, the department was criticized simultaneously for brutality and for failure to defend the community. Bean bag rounds and later 40mm projectiles emerged as options that were supposed to allow officers to protect themselves and the city without deaths or lawsuits.

With the new arsenal, police in 2000 descended on protesters at MacArthur Park during the convention. Witnesses said demonstrators were shot in the back with rubber bullets as they tried to disperse. The city approved $4.1 million in payments to more than 90 people hurt during the melee.

Among the shooting victims was Melissa Schneider, who secured a $1.4 million settlement after being blinded in one eye. Two decades later, Schneider said she still wakes up with excruciating pain where the eye used to be and frequently vomits as a result of migraines.

Schneider said she was shaken watching internet videos of protesters injured in recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations: “I immediately started sobbing — not for me, but for them and the journey they had ahead,” she said. “Things need to change. And it’s really sad. It’s been 20 years, and this is still happening.”

Seven years after Schneider was maimed, Los Angeles police were back in MacArthur Park using batons, horses and less-lethal rounds during an immigrant-rights protest. More than 250 people were injured. An internal review determined projectiles were launched into crowds and at peaceful protesters. Although such weapons are supposed to be used to stop lawbreakers, no demonstrator was arrested.

This time, city taxpayers forked out $13 million to settle civil complaints. The Police Department agreed to four years of court supervision, with rules banning the use of less-lethal rounds against peaceful protesters.

By 2015, amid a national controversy over police killings, Los Angeles police leaders were touting less-lethal weapons as part of a kinder, gentler approach. The agency in 2017 adopted a progressive policy requiring officers to try de-escalation tactics before opening fire.

But in May, when protests erupted after the death of George Floyd, police in Los Angeles unleashed bean bags and sponge rounds. A lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter alleges “that the training of the LAPD in the use of these potentially lethal weapons was absent, seriously deficient, or intentionally indifferent to the known serious harm that can result.” The complaint, with Sobel as lead attorney, seeks an emergency ban on the use of less-lethal arms for crowd control.

Lawyers for the city argued a blanket ban would hamstring efforts to maintain law and order.

Los Angeles police leaders declined to be interviewed for this article because it deals with personnel matters and issues that “will eventually be fleshed out in a complete, independent after-action report.”

Sobel said she’s seen it all before: “There is absolutely no institutional memory in the LAPD. That’s No. 1. And No. 2 — they don’t care.”

Boston: ‘Everything Just Kind of Went Away’

Victoria Snelgrove leaned against a railing of a parking garage at Fenway Park, waiting for the crowd to dissipate so she could drive home from a raucous Red Sox celebration. Then Boston police fired the projectile that tore through her eye and into her brain.

The home team had just defeated the New York Yankees to win the 2004 American League Championship. Sox fans rejoiced in the streets around the stadium. After some set fires and threw bottles, police began launching projectiles.

Snelgrove, a 21-year-old college student and sports enthusiast who aspired to be an entertainment reporter on television, slipped into a coma. Her parents made the excruciating decision to remove life support hours later.

The family collected $5 million in damages — reportedly the city’s largest settlement in history at the time. Snelgrove’s death spurred Boston police to convene a panel to figure out what went wrong.

Colleagues, friends and teachers of Victoria Snelgrove gather at Emerson College on the first anniversary of her death.(David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Among the commission’s findings: Boston had acquired its launchers less than a year earlier, without an adequate understanding of safety issues. The manufacturer had suggested rounds would not break the skin.

But a second protester had a projectile lodged in his forehead, and a third suffered a gaping wound to the cheek.

The commission said police needed more training on how to use less-lethal weapons, particularly in crowd-control situations. It called for the National Institute of Justice to collect and disseminate comprehensive information on a burgeoning array of less-lethal projectiles. And it urged the federal government to develop minimum safety standards with a testing program overseen by an independent agency such as the institute.

Those recommendations were championed by Sen. Ted Kennedy, who said, “The growing use and the false sense that they are completely safe are leading to the kind of avoidable tragedy that shocked all of us in Boston.”

NIJ awarded grants to a Wayne State University researcher, Cynthia Bir, to help develop standards. Over several years, study groups were formed. Testing modes were developed.

Then, according to Bir, Tasers and other equipment became more widely used by police. As interest in rubber bullets and bean bags waned, the Great Recession depleted funding. Research efforts dissolved along with prospects for standards for less-lethal weapons.

“NIJ gave us a fair amount of funding to look at this issue and then … the focus switched to Tasers,” Bir said. “Everything just kind of went away.”

The NIJ did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

Rick Wyant, a forensic scientist who served on an NIJ panel, said standards could be imposed by tying them to federal law enforcement grants. Otherwise, unregulated arms can continue putting the public at risk, he said.

“I can go in my garage and develop something, and if I get a [police] chief to sign off on it and deploy it, that’s all that needs to happen,” Wyant said.

‘Policing Has to Have a Reckoning’

U.S. law enforcement and defense agencies spend about $2.5 billion annually on less-lethal weapons and ammunition, according to Anuj Mishra, an analyst with MarketsandMarkets, a research firm based in India. That’s almost half the global total and includes sales of tear gas and Tasers as well as projectile weapons.

Mishra said less-lethal weapons sales have taken off with a proliferation of new products. More than a half-dozen companies supply U.S. police departments with plastic and rubber bullets, paintball-type rounds, launchers and less-lethal projectiles fired from 12-gauge shotguns.

Sales are driven by personal relationships, internet advertising and trade shows where police try out the latest models on shooting ranges, industry executives say.

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology,” said Eugene Paoline, professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. “They like toys.”

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology. They like toys.”

Less-lethal weapons became part of a national conversation after the deadly 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri. As police agencies responded to protests with military-style tactics, criticism mounted from medical, civil rights and activist groups that condemn the use of less-lethal projectiles to break up demonstrations.

Physicians for Human Rights, for example, contends that kinetic-impact bullets “are not an appropriate weapon to be used for crowd management and specifically for dispersal purposes.”

Rohini Haar, an emergency room physician and researcher at the University of California-Berkeley, co-authored research in 2017 with Physicians for Human Rights on the damage inflicted by less-lethal rounds. A study of nearly 2,000 shooting victims found that 3% died and 15% were permanently disabled.

Haar’s takeaway: “Policing has to have a reckoning,” and that would include a ban on rubber bullets and more regulation of all less-lethal weapons in crowd-control scenarios.

By contrast, police and government inquiries after the Ferguson protests resulted in no clear guidelines for the use of plastic and bean bag rounds. A task force created by President Obama, which urged federal investigations of inappropriate use of police equipment and tactics during demonstrations, recommended little more than “annual training.”

Eleven of the nation’s top law enforcement leadership organizations in 2017 developed what they called a “National Consensus Policy on Use of Force.” The white paper lacks detailed direction for less-lethal munitions while stressing that even vague guidance is “not intended to be a national standard by which all agencies are held accountable.”

In the aftermath of George Floyd demonstrations, that report was updated this month. But wording on less-lethal weaponry remained the same: It urges police to ban martial arts weapons such as blackjacks and nunchucks, but avoids a recommendation on less-lethal projectiles, leaving decisions to individual agencies.

Terrence Cunningham, who took part in the review as president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said after inquiries for this story that he now supports a consensus policy for less-lethal munitions. “We definitely need some kind of foundational standards,” said Cunningham, now the association’s deputy executive director.

Meanwhile, the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit think tank, last year convened 225 police chiefs, officers, industry representatives and academics for yet another symposium on police use of force. The forum’s 45-page report endorses less-lethal arms as a sometimes controversial part of the law enforcement toolkit and emphasizes that the weapons “often do not work as desired.”

‘Bad Optics’ and ‘Unfunded Mandates’

Law enforcement experts point out there are about 18,000 police forces in the United States, and it may be impossible to develop homogeneous standards or practices that work in communities ranging from New York City to Minooka, Illinois.

“Most agencies in America are 50 people or less. They don’t have big budgets,” said Don Kester, head of training for the National Tactical Officer Association. “You write a [detailed] policy and all the chiefs say you’ve created an unfunded mandate” for equipment and training.

The alternative — and the reality — is a system in which each agency decides which weapons to use, what training to provide and what policies to enforce.

All operate on the same underlying function, as spelled out by Ed Obayashi, an attorney and deputy chief of California’s Plumas County Sheriff’s Office: “to inflict pain to gain compliance and to disperse a crowd.” If protesters ignore police instructions, he added, firing on the overall crowd could be justified depending on circumstances.

Obayashi allowed that videos taken during recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations presented “bad optics” for less-lethal weapons. But a full story can’t be presented from films, he said while asserting that the overall response by U.S. peace officers was “very controlled and did not cause a measurable number of serious injuries.”

“When law enforcement gives an order to disperse, and that doesn’t happen, we don’t have a lot of options,” agreed Wade Carpenter, the police chief in Park City, Utah, who oversees IACP’s firearms and tactical committees. “Whenever we have individuals that are trying to incite these riots, there is a level of force that has to be used.”

Oakland: ‘A Series of Cascading Events’

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview.

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

Olsen now tends bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

The projectile that struck Olsen’s head in 2011 was launched despite previous, similar incidents that resulted in lawsuits, independent investigations, court orders and police reforms.

James Chanin, an Oakland attorney who filed some of the civil actions, and won settlements, tells about a “long history of alleged civil rights violations” by the city’s police force.

In April 2003, protesters against the Iraq War blocked a Port of Oakland entrance at a marine terminal. A lawsuit described how police moved to break up the demonstration, firing wooden dowels to skip them off the ground at protesters, shooting bean bag rounds into the crowd, and setting off stinger grenades that scattered chemical irritants and small balls.

Sri Louise Coles, a lead plaintiff in one of the cases, alleged in a lawsuit that she suffered face and neck wounds from a projectile and additional injuries when an officer rammed her with a motorcycle.

In settling that case, Oakland agreed to new crowd-control and management policies. Less-lethal munitions “shall not be used for crowd management, crowd control or crowd dispersal,” the policy instructed, and such devices “may never be used indiscriminately against a crowd or group of persons.”

Eight years later, Olsen was near the front of an Occupy Oakland demonstration when police declared the gathering an illegal assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse.

Officers then launched a fusillade of less-lethal munitions, including the round that struck Olsen.

As other protesters rushed to his aid, an Oakland police officer deployed a chemical canister into the group, an independent investigation later found.

Police said afterward they did not see Olsen had been wounded, so they did not fulfill a mandatory requirement to render medical aid and immediately start a formal investigation of the shooting. The independent investigation commissioned by the city called the Police Department’s account “unsettling and not believable.”

The review also said the decision to use less-lethal munitions “may or may not have been reasonable” based on the Police Department’s existing policy at the time. “We recommend that further research should be conducted to identify and evaluate other munitions that are less prone to cause injuries, but are still effective as crowd control devices,” the reviewers concluded.

The review compared the city’s crowd-control effort to an aviation disaster caused not by a single mistake but by “a series of cascading events.” In Oakland’s case, the tragedy stemmed in part from years of “diminishing resources” and “increasing workload.”

The city ultimately agreed to a $4.5 million settlement with Olsen.

Once again, Oakland revised policies and training. For several years, Chanin said, the cycle of protests, shootings and lawsuits seemed to stop.

Then George Floyd demonstrations broke out, and so did the less-lethal weapons. According to a federal complaint filed in June by the Anti Police-Terror Project, Oakland officers indiscriminately launched projectiles, flash-bangs and tear gas into crowds and at individuals.

Attorneys for both sides in the case stipulated to an agreement that forbids Oakland police from using less-lethal weapons against demonstrators.

For Olsen, now tending bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm, the memory with a hole came flooding back.

“We passed these regulations and policies to control the use of less-lethal weapons,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to see other people’s lives affected as mine was. … Police have shown they do not care about these kinds of controls, so the next step is to take those weapons away from them.”

Elizabeth Lawrence, Hannah Norman and Liz Szabo of KHN contributed to this story.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough. published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

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Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough.

There’s a gap in Scott Olsen’s memory for the night of Oct. 25, 2011.

The Iraq War vet remembers leaving his tech job in the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a BART train to join an Occupy Oakland protest against economic and social inequality.

He remembers standing near protesters who faced off with Oakland police officers bristling with riot gear.

He remembers being carried away by other protesters.

But not the moment when a “bean bag” round fired from an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury that forced him to relearn how to talk.

What happened to Olsen was not unique or isolated. Time and again over the past two decades ― from L.A. to D.C., Minneapolis to Miami ― peace officers have targeted civilian demonstrators with munitions designed to stun and stop, rather than kill. As many as 60 protesters suffered head wounds during recent Black Lives Matter events, including bone fractures, blindness and traumatic brain injuries.

For years, activists and civil libertarians worldwide have urged police to ban less-lethal projectiles from use for crowd control. The United Kingdom ceased using them that way decades ago.

MRIs from 2011 (left) and 2013 show the initial and then permanent damage Scott Olsen incurred after an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury.(Scans courtesy of Scott Olsen)

But an investigation by USA Today and KHN found little has changed over the years in the United States.

Beyond the Constitution and federal court rulings that require police use of force to be “reasonable,” there are no national rules for discharging bean bags and rubber bullets. Nor are there standards for the weapons’ velocity, accuracy or safety. Congress and state legislatures have done little to offer solutions.

While locations and demonstration types vary, a pattern has emerged: Shooting victims file lawsuits, cities pay out millions of dollars, police departments try to adopt reforms. And, a few years later, it happens again. Law enforcement officers, typically with limited training, are bound only by departmental policies that vary from one agency to the next.

Sometimes referred to as kinetic impact projectiles, less-lethal ammunition includes bean bags (nylon sacks filled with lead shot), so-called rubber bullets that actually are tipped with foam or sponge and paintball-like rounds containing chemical irritants. Velocity and range vary greatly, but they can travel upwards of 200 mph. The rounds were developed to save lives by giving police a knock-down option that can disable threats from a safe distance without killing the target.

But, over decades of use, munitions that originally were touted as safe and nonlethal have proven otherwise:

In 2000, a protester at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles lost an eye. Seven years later in the same city, scores of migrant-rights demonstrators were wounded amid a fusillade of less-lethal rounds.

In 2001, when rioting broke out in Tucson after the University of Arizona lost the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, a student lost an eye to a bean bag.

In 2003, 58 people were injured in Oakland when officers launched a barrage of wooden pellets and other devices during anti-Iraq War protests. To settle court claims, the city adopted new crowd control policies. Eight years later, Olsen was struck down.

In 2004, in Boston, a college student celebrating a Red Sox victory was killed by a projectile filled with pepper-based irritant when it tore through her eye and into her brain.

Brandon Saenz lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas this June.(Courtesy of Brandon Saenz’s lawyer, Daryl Washington)

The past two months have been especially telling, with dozens maimed or hurt amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations: Photographer Linda Tirado, 37, lost an eye after being hit by a foam projectile in Minneapolis. Brandon Saenz, 26, lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas. Leslie Furcron, 59, was placed in a medically induced coma after she was shot between the eyes with a bean bag round in La Mesa, California. And, in Portland, Oregon, 26-year-old Donavan La Bella suffered facial and skull fractures when he was shot by a federal officer with a less-lethal round.

“Nothing has changed,” said attorney Elizabeth Ritter, 59, one of several people shot in the head by an impact munition at a 2003 protest in Miami. A video later surfaced showing police supervisors laughing about her shooting. “It’s fairly sickening to me. We have a systemic, deeply ingrained problem.”

‘We’re Just in a Circle’

From a law enforcement perspective, less-lethal weapons are essential tools in a continuum of force. A sponge-tipped round or a pouch full of pellets can stop a violent act without putting the officer in peril — and without killing the suspect.

Police leaders typically condemn the indiscriminate firing into peaceful crowds but characterize such incidents as conduct violations rather than weaponry problems.

Steve Ijames, a retired officer who developed programs for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, blames “boneheaded policemen” and a training gap for the misuse of arms. Law enforcement instruction focuses almost entirely on how to use less-lethal force against individual suspects, Ijames noted, and not on crowd-control scenarios that occur only sporadically.

Still, when demonstrations morph into disturbances, less-lethal devices are often dusted off and pressed into duty.

“What is the alternative?” asked Sid Heal, a retired commander from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “We’re stuck with the tools we have. And if you take one away, we’re going to have to go to something else, and it will probably be harsher.”

The National Institute of Justice spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on initiatives to collect data and start developing national standards for less-lethal weapon safety after the Boston student’s death in 2004. Funding dried up after a few years, and the efforts died.

Against that backdrop, Congress has shown little interest in regulating bean bags and rubber bullets. And national law enforcement leadership groups have repeatedly punted when given an opportunity.

After the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2014, 2015 and 2017 would have banned state and local law enforcement from using key federal grant dollars for less-lethal weapons. The measure never made it out of committee.

In 2017, a coalition of law enforcement groups representing police leaders and unions, which gathered to study use of force, published a consensus policy and discussion paper. The groups advocated a ban on police use of martial arts weapons — but did not extend it to less-lethal munitions.

A White House task force established after the Ferguson protests recommended “annual training” but little more for less-lethal weapons.

In June, 13 U.S. Senate Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to investigate the alleged misuses of rubber bullets and bean bags against Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

“Although intended to only cause minimal harm, such weapons may cause significant injury,” the senators wrote. “Better information is needed to identify deficiencies in the training and use of these less-lethal weapons.”

The Justice Department’s inspector general has launched an investigation of federal officers’ response to protest activity in Portland and Washington, D.C., the watchdog announced Thursday. Leaders of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Oversight committees this month had asked the office to review federal officers’ “violent tactics” used against protesters in those cities and elsewhere.

And, in California, several Democratic legislators introduced a measure in June that would ban the police use of less-lethal munitions to disperse demonstrators. Except in riot conditions, the proposed law says, kinetic energy projectiles “shall not be used by any law enforcement agency against an assembly protected by the First Amendment.”

Charles Mesloh, a former police officer, a certified instructor and a longtime researcher on less-lethal weapons, said the status quo is “unacceptable,” but he sees little chance that national standards will be imposed for training, weapon safety and use.

“I’ve been doing this long enough, I just — we’re just in a circle,” said Mesloh. “We’ll have some lip service … and there’ll be some mandated training, and then we’ll just go right back to where we were.”

Los Angeles: Searching for a Less-Lethal Alternative

On her desk, Carol Sobel keeps a photo showing her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.(Courtesy of Carol Sobel)

Carol Sobel, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney, keeps an unusual photo on her desk. It shows her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.

That’s the impact of a police projectile that struck her between the eyes as she stood outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention with a mainly peaceful crowd.

“My head snapped back and it hurt,” she said. “It was inconceivable to me that someone would shoot me in the face.”

Over the past two decades, Los Angeles police have repeatedly used less-lethal firepower on demonstrators, injuring hundreds and generating lawsuits that Sobel helped prosecute.

Los Angeles police turned to bean bags as an alternative to live ammo after 1992 rioting triggered by the acquittal of officers who beat a Black man named Rodney King. As violence swept the city, police at first hunkered down, doing little to maintain order, then launched an aggressive crackdown. Ten people were killed by officers.

In the aftermath, the department was criticized simultaneously for brutality and for failure to defend the community. Bean bag rounds and later 40mm projectiles emerged as options that were supposed to allow officers to protect themselves and the city without deaths or lawsuits.

With the new arsenal, police in 2000 descended on protesters at MacArthur Park during the convention. Witnesses said demonstrators were shot in the back with rubber bullets as they tried to disperse. The city approved $4.1 million in payments to more than 90 people hurt during the melee.

Among the shooting victims was Melissa Schneider, who secured a $1.4 million settlement after being blinded in one eye. Two decades later, Schneider said she still wakes up with excruciating pain where the eye used to be and frequently vomits as a result of migraines.

Schneider said she was shaken watching internet videos of protesters injured in recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations: “I immediately started sobbing — not for me, but for them and the journey they had ahead,” she said. “Things need to change. And it’s really sad. It’s been 20 years, and this is still happening.”

Seven years after Schneider was maimed, Los Angeles police were back in MacArthur Park using batons, horses and less-lethal rounds during an immigrant-rights protest. More than 250 people were injured. An internal review determined projectiles were launched into crowds and at peaceful protesters. Although such weapons are supposed to be used to stop lawbreakers, no demonstrator was arrested.

This time, city taxpayers forked out $13 million to settle civil complaints. The Police Department agreed to four years of court supervision, with rules banning the use of less-lethal rounds against peaceful protesters.

By 2015, amid a national controversy over police killings, Los Angeles police leaders were touting less-lethal weapons as part of a kinder, gentler approach. The agency in 2017 adopted a progressive policy requiring officers to try de-escalation tactics before opening fire.

But in May, when protests erupted after the death of George Floyd, police in Los Angeles unleashed bean bags and sponge rounds. A lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter alleges “that the training of the LAPD in the use of these potentially lethal weapons was absent, seriously deficient, or intentionally indifferent to the known serious harm that can result.” The complaint, with Sobel as lead attorney, seeks an emergency ban on the use of less-lethal arms for crowd control.

Lawyers for the city argued a blanket ban would hamstring efforts to maintain law and order.

Los Angeles police leaders declined to be interviewed for this article because it deals with personnel matters and issues that “will eventually be fleshed out in a complete, independent after-action report.”

Sobel said she’s seen it all before: “There is absolutely no institutional memory in the LAPD. That’s No. 1. And No. 2 — they don’t care.”

Boston: ‘Everything Just Kind of Went Away’

Victoria Snelgrove leaned against a railing of a parking garage at Fenway Park, waiting for the crowd to dissipate so she could drive home from a raucous Red Sox celebration. Then Boston police fired the projectile that tore through her eye and into her brain.

The home team had just defeated the New York Yankees to win the 2004 American League Championship. Sox fans rejoiced in the streets around the stadium. After some set fires and threw bottles, police began launching projectiles.

Snelgrove, a 21-year-old college student and sports enthusiast who aspired to be an entertainment reporter on television, slipped into a coma. Her parents made the excruciating decision to remove life support hours later.

The family collected $5 million in damages — reportedly the city’s largest settlement in history at the time. Snelgrove’s death spurred Boston police to convene a panel to figure out what went wrong.

Colleagues, friends and teachers of Victoria Snelgrove gather at Emerson College on the first anniversary of her death.(David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Among the commission’s findings: Boston had acquired its launchers less than a year earlier, without an adequate understanding of safety issues. The manufacturer had suggested rounds would not break the skin.

But a second protester had a projectile lodged in his forehead, and a third suffered a gaping wound to the cheek.

The commission said police needed more training on how to use less-lethal weapons, particularly in crowd-control situations. It called for the National Institute of Justice to collect and disseminate comprehensive information on a burgeoning array of less-lethal projectiles. And it urged the federal government to develop minimum safety standards with a testing program overseen by an independent agency such as the institute.

Those recommendations were championed by Sen. Ted Kennedy, who said, “The growing use and the false sense that they are completely safe are leading to the kind of avoidable tragedy that shocked all of us in Boston.”

NIJ awarded grants to a Wayne State University researcher, Cynthia Bir, to help develop standards. Over several years, study groups were formed. Testing modes were developed.

Then, according to Bir, Tasers and other equipment became more widely used by police. As interest in rubber bullets and bean bags waned, the Great Recession depleted funding. Research efforts dissolved along with prospects for standards for less-lethal weapons.

“NIJ gave us a fair amount of funding to look at this issue and then … the focus switched to Tasers,” Bir said. “Everything just kind of went away.”

The NIJ did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

Rick Wyant, a forensic scientist who served on an NIJ panel, said standards could be imposed by tying them to federal law enforcement grants. Otherwise, unregulated arms can continue putting the public at risk, he said.

“I can go in my garage and develop something, and if I get a [police] chief to sign off on it and deploy it, that’s all that needs to happen,” Wyant said.

‘Policing Has to Have a Reckoning’

U.S. law enforcement and defense agencies spend about $2.5 billion annually on less-lethal weapons and ammunition, according to Anuj Mishra, an analyst with MarketsandMarkets, a research firm based in India. That’s almost half the global total and includes sales of tear gas and Tasers as well as projectile weapons.

Mishra said less-lethal weapons sales have taken off with a proliferation of new products. More than a half-dozen companies supply U.S. police departments with plastic and rubber bullets, paintball-type rounds, launchers and less-lethal projectiles fired from 12-gauge shotguns.

Sales are driven by personal relationships, internet advertising and trade shows where police try out the latest models on shooting ranges, industry executives say.

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology,” said Eugene Paoline, professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. “They like toys.”

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology. They like toys.”

Less-lethal weapons became part of a national conversation after the deadly 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri. As police agencies responded to protests with military-style tactics, criticism mounted from medical, civil rights and activist groups that condemn the use of less-lethal projectiles to break up demonstrations.

Physicians for Human Rights, for example, contends that kinetic-impact bullets “are not an appropriate weapon to be used for crowd management and specifically for dispersal purposes.”

Rohini Haar, an emergency room physician and researcher at the University of California-Berkeley, co-authored research in 2017 with Physicians for Human Rights on the damage inflicted by less-lethal rounds. A study of nearly 2,000 shooting victims found that 3% died and 15% were permanently disabled.

Haar’s takeaway: “Policing has to have a reckoning,” and that would include a ban on rubber bullets and more regulation of all less-lethal weapons in crowd-control scenarios.

By contrast, police and government inquiries after the Ferguson protests resulted in no clear guidelines for the use of plastic and bean bag rounds. A task force created by President Obama, which urged federal investigations of inappropriate use of police equipment and tactics during demonstrations, recommended little more than “annual training.”

Eleven of the nation’s top law enforcement leadership organizations in 2017 developed what they called a “National Consensus Policy on Use of Force.” The white paper lacks detailed direction for less-lethal munitions while stressing that even vague guidance is “not intended to be a national standard by which all agencies are held accountable.”

In the aftermath of George Floyd demonstrations, that report was updated this month. But wording on less-lethal weaponry remained the same: It urges police to ban martial arts weapons such as blackjacks and nunchucks, but avoids a recommendation on less-lethal projectiles, leaving decisions to individual agencies.

Terrence Cunningham, who took part in the review as president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said after inquiries for this story that he now supports a consensus policy for less-lethal munitions. “We definitely need some kind of foundational standards,” said Cunningham, now the association’s deputy executive director.

Meanwhile, the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit think tank, last year convened 225 police chiefs, officers, industry representatives and academics for yet another symposium on police use of force. The forum’s 45-page report endorses less-lethal arms as a sometimes controversial part of the law enforcement toolkit and emphasizes that the weapons “often do not work as desired.”

‘Bad Optics’ and ‘Unfunded Mandates’

Law enforcement experts point out there are about 18,000 police forces in the United States, and it may be impossible to develop homogeneous standards or practices that work in communities ranging from New York City to Minooka, Illinois.

“Most agencies in America are 50 people or less. They don’t have big budgets,” said Don Kester, head of training for the National Tactical Officer Association. “You write a [detailed] policy and all the chiefs say you’ve created an unfunded mandate” for equipment and training.

The alternative — and the reality — is a system in which each agency decides which weapons to use, what training to provide and what policies to enforce.

All operate on the same underlying function, as spelled out by Ed Obayashi, an attorney and deputy chief of California’s Plumas County Sheriff’s Office: “to inflict pain to gain compliance and to disperse a crowd.” If protesters ignore police instructions, he added, firing on the overall crowd could be justified depending on circumstances.

Obayashi allowed that videos taken during recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations presented “bad optics” for less-lethal weapons. But a full story can’t be presented from films, he said while asserting that the overall response by U.S. peace officers was “very controlled and did not cause a measurable number of serious injuries.”

“When law enforcement gives an order to disperse, and that doesn’t happen, we don’t have a lot of options,” agreed Wade Carpenter, the police chief in Park City, Utah, who oversees IACP’s firearms and tactical committees. “Whenever we have individuals that are trying to incite these riots, there is a level of force that has to be used.”

Oakland: ‘A Series of Cascading Events’

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview.

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

Olsen now tends bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

The projectile that struck Olsen’s head in 2011 was launched despite previous, similar incidents that resulted in lawsuits, independent investigations, court orders and police reforms.

James Chanin, an Oakland attorney who filed some of the civil actions, and won settlements, tells about a “long history of alleged civil rights violations” by the city’s police force.

In April 2003, protesters against the Iraq War blocked a Port of Oakland entrance at a marine terminal. A lawsuit described how police moved to break up the demonstration, firing wooden dowels to skip them off the ground at protesters, shooting bean bag rounds into the crowd, and setting off stinger grenades that scattered chemical irritants and small balls.

Sri Louise Coles, a lead plaintiff in one of the cases, alleged in a lawsuit that she suffered face and neck wounds from a projectile and additional injuries when an officer rammed her with a motorcycle.

In settling that case, Oakland agreed to new crowd-control and management policies. Less-lethal munitions “shall not be used for crowd management, crowd control or crowd dispersal,” the policy instructed, and such devices “may never be used indiscriminately against a crowd or group of persons.”

Eight years later, Olsen was near the front of an Occupy Oakland demonstration when police declared the gathering an illegal assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse.

Officers then launched a fusillade of less-lethal munitions, including the round that struck Olsen.

As other protesters rushed to his aid, an Oakland police officer deployed a chemical canister into the group, an independent investigation later found.

Police said afterward they did not see Olsen had been wounded, so they did not fulfill a mandatory requirement to render medical aid and immediately start a formal investigation of the shooting. The independent investigation commissioned by the city called the Police Department’s account “unsettling and not believable.”

The review also said the decision to use less-lethal munitions “may or may not have been reasonable” based on the Police Department’s existing policy at the time. “We recommend that further research should be conducted to identify and evaluate other munitions that are less prone to cause injuries, but are still effective as crowd control devices,” the reviewers concluded.

The review compared the city’s crowd-control effort to an aviation disaster caused not by a single mistake but by “a series of cascading events.” In Oakland’s case, the tragedy stemmed in part from years of “diminishing resources” and “increasing workload.”

The city ultimately agreed to a $4.5 million settlement with Olsen.

Once again, Oakland revised policies and training. For several years, Chanin said, the cycle of protests, shootings and lawsuits seemed to stop.

Then George Floyd demonstrations broke out, and so did the less-lethal weapons. According to a federal complaint filed in June by the Anti Police-Terror Project, Oakland officers indiscriminately launched projectiles, flash-bangs and tear gas into crowds and at individuals.

Attorneys for both sides in the case stipulated to an agreement that forbids Oakland police from using less-lethal weapons against demonstrators.

For Olsen, now tending bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm, the memory with a hole came flooding back.

“We passed these regulations and policies to control the use of less-lethal weapons,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to see other people’s lives affected as mine was. … Police have shown they do not care about these kinds of controls, so the next step is to take those weapons away from them.”

Elizabeth Lawrence, Hannah Norman and Liz Szabo of KHN contributed to this story.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough. published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[dinafbrownil]

Less-Lethal Weapons Blind, Maim and Kill. Victims Say Enough Is Enough.

There’s a gap in Scott Olsen’s memory for the night of Oct. 25, 2011.

The Iraq War vet remembers leaving his tech job in the San Francisco Bay Area and taking a BART train to join an Occupy Oakland protest against economic and social inequality.

He remembers standing near protesters who faced off with Oakland police officers bristling with riot gear.

He remembers being carried away by other protesters.

But not the moment when a “bean bag” round fired from an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury that forced him to relearn how to talk.

What happened to Olsen was not unique or isolated. Time and again over the past two decades ― from L.A. to D.C., Minneapolis to Miami ― peace officers have targeted civilian demonstrators with munitions designed to stun and stop, rather than kill. As many as 60 protesters suffered head wounds during recent Black Lives Matter events, including bone fractures, blindness and traumatic brain injuries.

For years, activists and civil libertarians worldwide have urged police to ban less-lethal projectiles from use for crowd control. The United Kingdom ceased using them that way decades ago.

MRIs from 2011 (left) and 2013 show the initial and then permanent damage Scott Olsen incurred after an officer’s 12-gauge shotgun crashed into the left side of his head, fracturing his skull and inflicting a near-fatal brain injury.(Scans courtesy of Scott Olsen)

But an investigation by USA Today and KHN found little has changed over the years in the United States.

Beyond the Constitution and federal court rulings that require police use of force to be “reasonable,” there are no national rules for discharging bean bags and rubber bullets. Nor are there standards for the weapons’ velocity, accuracy or safety. Congress and state legislatures have done little to offer solutions.

While locations and demonstration types vary, a pattern has emerged: Shooting victims file lawsuits, cities pay out millions of dollars, police departments try to adopt reforms. And, a few years later, it happens again. Law enforcement officers, typically with limited training, are bound only by departmental policies that vary from one agency to the next.

Sometimes referred to as kinetic impact projectiles, less-lethal ammunition includes bean bags (nylon sacks filled with lead shot), so-called rubber bullets that actually are tipped with foam or sponge and paintball-like rounds containing chemical irritants. Velocity and range vary greatly, but they can travel upwards of 200 mph. The rounds were developed to save lives by giving police a knock-down option that can disable threats from a safe distance without killing the target.

But, over decades of use, munitions that originally were touted as safe and nonlethal have proven otherwise:

In 2000, a protester at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles lost an eye. Seven years later in the same city, scores of migrant-rights demonstrators were wounded amid a fusillade of less-lethal rounds.

In 2001, when rioting broke out in Tucson after the University of Arizona lost the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, a student lost an eye to a bean bag.

In 2003, 58 people were injured in Oakland when officers launched a barrage of wooden pellets and other devices during anti-Iraq War protests. To settle court claims, the city adopted new crowd control policies. Eight years later, Olsen was struck down.

In 2004, in Boston, a college student celebrating a Red Sox victory was killed by a projectile filled with pepper-based irritant when it tore through her eye and into her brain.

Brandon Saenz lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas this June.(Courtesy of Brandon Saenz’s lawyer, Daryl Washington)

The past two months have been especially telling, with dozens maimed or hurt amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations: Photographer Linda Tirado, 37, lost an eye after being hit by a foam projectile in Minneapolis. Brandon Saenz, 26, lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas. Leslie Furcron, 59, was placed in a medically induced coma after she was shot between the eyes with a bean bag round in La Mesa, California. And, in Portland, Oregon, 26-year-old Donavan La Bella suffered facial and skull fractures when he was shot by a federal officer with a less-lethal round.

“Nothing has changed,” said attorney Elizabeth Ritter, 59, one of several people shot in the head by an impact munition at a 2003 protest in Miami. A video later surfaced showing police supervisors laughing about her shooting. “It’s fairly sickening to me. We have a systemic, deeply ingrained problem.”

‘We’re Just in a Circle’

From a law enforcement perspective, less-lethal weapons are essential tools in a continuum of force. A sponge-tipped round or a pouch full of pellets can stop a violent act without putting the officer in peril — and without killing the suspect.

Police leaders typically condemn the indiscriminate firing into peaceful crowds but characterize such incidents as conduct violations rather than weaponry problems.

Steve Ijames, a retired officer who developed programs for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, blames “boneheaded policemen” and a training gap for the misuse of arms. Law enforcement instruction focuses almost entirely on how to use less-lethal force against individual suspects, Ijames noted, and not on crowd-control scenarios that occur only sporadically.

Still, when demonstrations morph into disturbances, less-lethal devices are often dusted off and pressed into duty.

“What is the alternative?” asked Sid Heal, a retired commander from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “We’re stuck with the tools we have. And if you take one away, we’re going to have to go to something else, and it will probably be harsher.”

The National Institute of Justice spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on initiatives to collect data and start developing national standards for less-lethal weapon safety after the Boston student’s death in 2004. Funding dried up after a few years, and the efforts died.

Against that backdrop, Congress has shown little interest in regulating bean bags and rubber bullets. And national law enforcement leadership groups have repeatedly punted when given an opportunity.

After the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2014, 2015 and 2017 would have banned state and local law enforcement from using key federal grant dollars for less-lethal weapons. The measure never made it out of committee.

In 2017, a coalition of law enforcement groups representing police leaders and unions, which gathered to study use of force, published a consensus policy and discussion paper. The groups advocated a ban on police use of martial arts weapons — but did not extend it to less-lethal munitions.

A White House task force established after the Ferguson protests recommended “annual training” but little more for less-lethal weapons.

In June, 13 U.S. Senate Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to investigate the alleged misuses of rubber bullets and bean bags against Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

“Although intended to only cause minimal harm, such weapons may cause significant injury,” the senators wrote. “Better information is needed to identify deficiencies in the training and use of these less-lethal weapons.”

The Justice Department’s inspector general has launched an investigation of federal officers’ response to protest activity in Portland and Washington, D.C., the watchdog announced Thursday. Leaders of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Oversight committees this month had asked the office to review federal officers’ “violent tactics” used against protesters in those cities and elsewhere.

And, in California, several Democratic legislators introduced a measure in June that would ban the police use of less-lethal munitions to disperse demonstrators. Except in riot conditions, the proposed law says, kinetic energy projectiles “shall not be used by any law enforcement agency against an assembly protected by the First Amendment.”

Charles Mesloh, a former police officer, a certified instructor and a longtime researcher on less-lethal weapons, said the status quo is “unacceptable,” but he sees little chance that national standards will be imposed for training, weapon safety and use.

“I’ve been doing this long enough, I just — we’re just in a circle,” said Mesloh. “We’ll have some lip service … and there’ll be some mandated training, and then we’ll just go right back to where we were.”

Los Angeles: Searching for a Less-Lethal Alternative

On her desk, Carol Sobel keeps a photo showing her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.(Courtesy of Carol Sobel)

Carol Sobel, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney, keeps an unusual photo on her desk. It shows her with a goose-egg wound to her forehead and two black eyes. What’s not visible in the picture is the concussion, sinus fracture and more than six months of headaches.

That’s the impact of a police projectile that struck her between the eyes as she stood outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention with a mainly peaceful crowd.

“My head snapped back and it hurt,” she said. “It was inconceivable to me that someone would shoot me in the face.”

Over the past two decades, Los Angeles police have repeatedly used less-lethal firepower on demonstrators, injuring hundreds and generating lawsuits that Sobel helped prosecute.

Los Angeles police turned to bean bags as an alternative to live ammo after 1992 rioting triggered by the acquittal of officers who beat a Black man named Rodney King. As violence swept the city, police at first hunkered down, doing little to maintain order, then launched an aggressive crackdown. Ten people were killed by officers.

In the aftermath, the department was criticized simultaneously for brutality and for failure to defend the community. Bean bag rounds and later 40mm projectiles emerged as options that were supposed to allow officers to protect themselves and the city without deaths or lawsuits.

With the new arsenal, police in 2000 descended on protesters at MacArthur Park during the convention. Witnesses said demonstrators were shot in the back with rubber bullets as they tried to disperse. The city approved $4.1 million in payments to more than 90 people hurt during the melee.

Among the shooting victims was Melissa Schneider, who secured a $1.4 million settlement after being blinded in one eye. Two decades later, Schneider said she still wakes up with excruciating pain where the eye used to be and frequently vomits as a result of migraines.

Schneider said she was shaken watching internet videos of protesters injured in recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations: “I immediately started sobbing — not for me, but for them and the journey they had ahead,” she said. “Things need to change. And it’s really sad. It’s been 20 years, and this is still happening.”

Seven years after Schneider was maimed, Los Angeles police were back in MacArthur Park using batons, horses and less-lethal rounds during an immigrant-rights protest. More than 250 people were injured. An internal review determined projectiles were launched into crowds and at peaceful protesters. Although such weapons are supposed to be used to stop lawbreakers, no demonstrator was arrested.

This time, city taxpayers forked out $13 million to settle civil complaints. The Police Department agreed to four years of court supervision, with rules banning the use of less-lethal rounds against peaceful protesters.

By 2015, amid a national controversy over police killings, Los Angeles police leaders were touting less-lethal weapons as part of a kinder, gentler approach. The agency in 2017 adopted a progressive policy requiring officers to try de-escalation tactics before opening fire.

But in May, when protests erupted after the death of George Floyd, police in Los Angeles unleashed bean bags and sponge rounds. A lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter alleges “that the training of the LAPD in the use of these potentially lethal weapons was absent, seriously deficient, or intentionally indifferent to the known serious harm that can result.” The complaint, with Sobel as lead attorney, seeks an emergency ban on the use of less-lethal arms for crowd control.

Lawyers for the city argued a blanket ban would hamstring efforts to maintain law and order.

Los Angeles police leaders declined to be interviewed for this article because it deals with personnel matters and issues that “will eventually be fleshed out in a complete, independent after-action report.”

Sobel said she’s seen it all before: “There is absolutely no institutional memory in the LAPD. That’s No. 1. And No. 2 — they don’t care.”

Boston: ‘Everything Just Kind of Went Away’

Victoria Snelgrove leaned against a railing of a parking garage at Fenway Park, waiting for the crowd to dissipate so she could drive home from a raucous Red Sox celebration. Then Boston police fired the projectile that tore through her eye and into her brain.

The home team had just defeated the New York Yankees to win the 2004 American League Championship. Sox fans rejoiced in the streets around the stadium. After some set fires and threw bottles, police began launching projectiles.

Snelgrove, a 21-year-old college student and sports enthusiast who aspired to be an entertainment reporter on television, slipped into a coma. Her parents made the excruciating decision to remove life support hours later.

The family collected $5 million in damages — reportedly the city’s largest settlement in history at the time. Snelgrove’s death spurred Boston police to convene a panel to figure out what went wrong.

Colleagues, friends and teachers of Victoria Snelgrove gather at Emerson College on the first anniversary of her death.(David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Among the commission’s findings: Boston had acquired its launchers less than a year earlier, without an adequate understanding of safety issues. The manufacturer had suggested rounds would not break the skin.

But a second protester had a projectile lodged in his forehead, and a third suffered a gaping wound to the cheek.

The commission said police needed more training on how to use less-lethal weapons, particularly in crowd-control situations. It called for the National Institute of Justice to collect and disseminate comprehensive information on a burgeoning array of less-lethal projectiles. And it urged the federal government to develop minimum safety standards with a testing program overseen by an independent agency such as the institute.

Those recommendations were championed by Sen. Ted Kennedy, who said, “The growing use and the false sense that they are completely safe are leading to the kind of avoidable tragedy that shocked all of us in Boston.”

NIJ awarded grants to a Wayne State University researcher, Cynthia Bir, to help develop standards. Over several years, study groups were formed. Testing modes were developed.

Then, according to Bir, Tasers and other equipment became more widely used by police. As interest in rubber bullets and bean bags waned, the Great Recession depleted funding. Research efforts dissolved along with prospects for standards for less-lethal weapons.

“NIJ gave us a fair amount of funding to look at this issue and then … the focus switched to Tasers,” Bir said. “Everything just kind of went away.”

The NIJ did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

Rick Wyant, a forensic scientist who served on an NIJ panel, said standards could be imposed by tying them to federal law enforcement grants. Otherwise, unregulated arms can continue putting the public at risk, he said.

“I can go in my garage and develop something, and if I get a [police] chief to sign off on it and deploy it, that’s all that needs to happen,” Wyant said.

‘Policing Has to Have a Reckoning’

U.S. law enforcement and defense agencies spend about $2.5 billion annually on less-lethal weapons and ammunition, according to Anuj Mishra, an analyst with MarketsandMarkets, a research firm based in India. That’s almost half the global total and includes sales of tear gas and Tasers as well as projectile weapons.

Mishra said less-lethal weapons sales have taken off with a proliferation of new products. More than a half-dozen companies supply U.S. police departments with plastic and rubber bullets, paintball-type rounds, launchers and less-lethal projectiles fired from 12-gauge shotguns.

Sales are driven by personal relationships, internet advertising and trade shows where police try out the latest models on shooting ranges, industry executives say.

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology,” said Eugene Paoline, professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. “They like toys.”

“Cops are always looking for gadgets. They’re always looking for new technology. They like toys.”

Less-lethal weapons became part of a national conversation after the deadly 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri. As police agencies responded to protests with military-style tactics, criticism mounted from medical, civil rights and activist groups that condemn the use of less-lethal projectiles to break up demonstrations.

Physicians for Human Rights, for example, contends that kinetic-impact bullets “are not an appropriate weapon to be used for crowd management and specifically for dispersal purposes.”

Rohini Haar, an emergency room physician and researcher at the University of California-Berkeley, co-authored research in 2017 with Physicians for Human Rights on the damage inflicted by less-lethal rounds. A study of nearly 2,000 shooting victims found that 3% died and 15% were permanently disabled.

Haar’s takeaway: “Policing has to have a reckoning,” and that would include a ban on rubber bullets and more regulation of all less-lethal weapons in crowd-control scenarios.

By contrast, police and government inquiries after the Ferguson protests resulted in no clear guidelines for the use of plastic and bean bag rounds. A task force created by President Obama, which urged federal investigations of inappropriate use of police equipment and tactics during demonstrations, recommended little more than “annual training.”

Eleven of the nation’s top law enforcement leadership organizations in 2017 developed what they called a “National Consensus Policy on Use of Force.” The white paper lacks detailed direction for less-lethal munitions while stressing that even vague guidance is “not intended to be a national standard by which all agencies are held accountable.”

In the aftermath of George Floyd demonstrations, that report was updated this month. But wording on less-lethal weaponry remained the same: It urges police to ban martial arts weapons such as blackjacks and nunchucks, but avoids a recommendation on less-lethal projectiles, leaving decisions to individual agencies.

Terrence Cunningham, who took part in the review as president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said after inquiries for this story that he now supports a consensus policy for less-lethal munitions. “We definitely need some kind of foundational standards,” said Cunningham, now the association’s deputy executive director.

Meanwhile, the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit think tank, last year convened 225 police chiefs, officers, industry representatives and academics for yet another symposium on police use of force. The forum’s 45-page report endorses less-lethal arms as a sometimes controversial part of the law enforcement toolkit and emphasizes that the weapons “often do not work as desired.”

‘Bad Optics’ and ‘Unfunded Mandates’

Law enforcement experts point out there are about 18,000 police forces in the United States, and it may be impossible to develop homogeneous standards or practices that work in communities ranging from New York City to Minooka, Illinois.

“Most agencies in America are 50 people or less. They don’t have big budgets,” said Don Kester, head of training for the National Tactical Officer Association. “You write a [detailed] policy and all the chiefs say you’ve created an unfunded mandate” for equipment and training.

The alternative — and the reality — is a system in which each agency decides which weapons to use, what training to provide and what policies to enforce.

All operate on the same underlying function, as spelled out by Ed Obayashi, an attorney and deputy chief of California’s Plumas County Sheriff’s Office: “to inflict pain to gain compliance and to disperse a crowd.” If protesters ignore police instructions, he added, firing on the overall crowd could be justified depending on circumstances.

Obayashi allowed that videos taken during recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations presented “bad optics” for less-lethal weapons. But a full story can’t be presented from films, he said while asserting that the overall response by U.S. peace officers was “very controlled and did not cause a measurable number of serious injuries.”

“When law enforcement gives an order to disperse, and that doesn’t happen, we don’t have a lot of options,” agreed Wade Carpenter, the police chief in Park City, Utah, who oversees IACP’s firearms and tactical committees. “Whenever we have individuals that are trying to incite these riots, there is a level of force that has to be used.”

Oakland: ‘A Series of Cascading Events’

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview.

If Scott Olsen struggles to recall what happened when police shot him with a bean bag round, his sentiments about the Oakland Police Department are crystal clear: “I think bad things,” Olsen, now 33, said during a recent phone interview. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

Olsen now tends bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm. (Judy Griesedieck for USA TODAY)

The projectile that struck Olsen’s head in 2011 was launched despite previous, similar incidents that resulted in lawsuits, independent investigations, court orders and police reforms.

James Chanin, an Oakland attorney who filed some of the civil actions, and won settlements, tells about a “long history of alleged civil rights violations” by the city’s police force.

In April 2003, protesters against the Iraq War blocked a Port of Oakland entrance at a marine terminal. A lawsuit described how police moved to break up the demonstration, firing wooden dowels to skip them off the ground at protesters, shooting bean bag rounds into the crowd, and setting off stinger grenades that scattered chemical irritants and small balls.

Sri Louise Coles, a lead plaintiff in one of the cases, alleged in a lawsuit that she suffered face and neck wounds from a projectile and additional injuries when an officer rammed her with a motorcycle.

In settling that case, Oakland agreed to new crowd-control and management policies. Less-lethal munitions “shall not be used for crowd management, crowd control or crowd dispersal,” the policy instructed, and such devices “may never be used indiscriminately against a crowd or group of persons.”

Eight years later, Olsen was near the front of an Occupy Oakland demonstration when police declared the gathering an illegal assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse.

Officers then launched a fusillade of less-lethal munitions, including the round that struck Olsen.

As other protesters rushed to his aid, an Oakland police officer deployed a chemical canister into the group, an independent investigation later found.

Police said afterward they did not see Olsen had been wounded, so they did not fulfill a mandatory requirement to render medical aid and immediately start a formal investigation of the shooting. The independent investigation commissioned by the city called the Police Department’s account “unsettling and not believable.”

The review also said the decision to use less-lethal munitions “may or may not have been reasonable” based on the Police Department’s existing policy at the time. “We recommend that further research should be conducted to identify and evaluate other munitions that are less prone to cause injuries, but are still effective as crowd control devices,” the reviewers concluded.

The review compared the city’s crowd-control effort to an aviation disaster caused not by a single mistake but by “a series of cascading events.” In Oakland’s case, the tragedy stemmed in part from years of “diminishing resources” and “increasing workload.”

The city ultimately agreed to a $4.5 million settlement with Olsen.

Once again, Oakland revised policies and training. For several years, Chanin said, the cycle of protests, shootings and lawsuits seemed to stop.

Then George Floyd demonstrations broke out, and so did the less-lethal weapons. According to a federal complaint filed in June by the Anti Police-Terror Project, Oakland officers indiscriminately launched projectiles, flash-bangs and tear gas into crowds and at individuals.

Attorneys for both sides in the case stipulated to an agreement that forbids Oakland police from using less-lethal weapons against demonstrators.

For Olsen, now tending bee colonies and chickens on a small Wisconsin farm, the memory with a hole came flooding back.

“We passed these regulations and policies to control the use of less-lethal weapons,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to see other people’s lives affected as mine was. … Police have shown they do not care about these kinds of controls, so the next step is to take those weapons away from them.”

Elizabeth Lawrence, Hannah Norman and Liz Szabo of KHN contributed to this story.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/less-lethal-weapons-blind-maim-and-kill-victims-say-enough-is-enough/

[sunsetofdoom]

OKAY GET READY A WILD MOBITINE ASK APPEARS: how do Satine, Obi-Wan and Maul act when one of them catches a cold?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU

I’M GONNA DO ALL THREE OF THEM BECAUSE. GUESS WHAT. I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE THIS PAIRING.

When Obi-wan gets sick:

He pretty much does that thing he does on the battlefield where he goes “what concussion?? what broken ribs??? i’m fine, I’m always fine, who me??? FINE.” He’ll do his usual routine of staying up for hours reading and researching, steadily ignoring the way his “light sniffles” are becoming “my whole body hurts, my eyes are swimming, and my nose is running like a faucet”. And when someone brings him food, they’ll find a half-awake mess of a former Jedi, blearily staring at a page that he’s read three times and can’t seem to remember. And that’s when they call in Maul to come and grab him. Who will take him by the shoulders- despite the stuffy-nosed protests of “I’b fide i swear just lemme...” and drag his sorry ass upstairs. Possibly bringing one of the books just to shut him up. Obi-wan can’t stop talking on a good day, when he’s sick, drunk, or tired he gets infinitely more talkative. Maul just listens, rubbing his back as they walk, letting him yammer whatever he wants. He asks what the book was about and lets Obi-wan go on about it for the whole walk.

Satine is the type to immediately jump into Caretaker Action, but she’s always fucking busy too. Let’s say she’s back in her apartments for lunch, sitting and reading some bullshit paperwork, when her boys come in and Obi-wan- who looked a little pale and was coughing, the night before, but is now red-faced and dazed and holding his nose shut in disgust at what won’t stop coming out of it. Her immediate response is to put on tea, along with some horrible mixture of “all-natural” ingredients that her late elder brother used to force on her when she was sick. And settle a blanket nest on the couch, so she and Maul can keep an eye on him without hanging out in the bedroom. And popsicles from the freezer, six water bottles, and two boxes of tissues.

When she’s done gathering things, she sits and pets Obi-wan’s hair while he wrinkles his nose at the half-cup of strong-smelling cold remedy she mixed, with tea right next to him to wash it down. She picks something boring to watch that he won’t feel like he’s missed anything if he falls asleep.

And then her lunch break is over, and she has to return to her day job. So she kisses his forehead and instructs Maul to take care of him. Of course, she’ll message them on the text comm every hour. If they need anything they should ring her. Maul nods through all of this worry and bustle and slowly nudges her out the door.

Duty calls.

When Maul gets sick:

See, Maul is very used to being in pain. He’s used to hurting, and, unfortunately, hurting alone. If he gets delirious, he gets tetchy, and he’s not great with touch when he isn’t at 100%.

So he’ll retreat to the place he feels safest. Which is sometimes a little abandoned building in Sundari’s outskirts that he’s laid claim to, with food rations, stashed weaponry, reinforced doors, and blankets and clothes that he stole away specifically because they smell like Obi-wan and Satine, whose scents comfort him even if he can’t bear their actual presence. (This is Mobitine ‘verse’s answer to his Creepy Hate Shrine in Rebels btw) If he ends up here, he leaves them notes and updates by text, telling them that he’s safe, he just can’t deal with people right now.

But other times he holes up in their bedroom, tucked up in a corner of their bed. He’s not theatrical about being sick; in fact he tries to minimize the symptoms as much as possible. (never show weakness, if you show weakness you show the enemy an easy route to your death-) He just curls up with a box of tissues and a water bottle, maybe a book or show if he’s feeling adventurous. Cat curls up with him, usually. She knows when her Big Cat is not well. (have I told you about Cat yet??? I should just write this shit already)

And even when they know he can’t handle extensive physical contact, Satine and Obi-wan try to comfort him. Obi-wan brings books to read aloud to him, sat comfortably on the other side of the bed and reading to the large pile of blankets which presumably has Maul at the bottom. (At least once, when Maul has gotten paranoid, he has left Obi-wan reading to a decoy blanket-pile while he holes up in his safehouse.) Satine leaves him small gifts, food that he likes, extra tissue boxes, drapes more blankets on him when he sleepily wriggles out from under a few. Accepting comfort becomes easier as the days go by.

When Satine gets sick:

See, the thing about Satine Kryze is that she’s about the only person in the Galaxy that can rival Obi-wan Kenobi for being a GIANT WORKAHOLIC. Before her boys came into the picture, she would pretty regularly spend all morning in meetings, all afternoon in committees, have big political dinners, and then stay up horrifically late doing paperwork. She takes so much on her shoulders because she feels like she can’t trust others to do it Right. (author side-eyes Almec super hard) Even with her boys around, she overworks herself- they occasionally have to put their collective feet down and say, no, you don’t get to go to another meeting today, because you’re exhausted. And yet, government work waits for no-one.

She downs a terrific amount of Space Vitamin C, takes that vinegar-cinnamon-and-lemon-juice cold remedy three times a day (this is an actual thing that my stepmom makes me drink, it’s gross but it clears the SHIT out of your sinuses) and she Perseveres. For... probably half a day.

When she starts falling asleep halfway through her afternoon, Maul and Obi-wan are called to collect the Duchess before she makes herself worse. They each take an arm and guide/drag her back to the rooms, getting her into an incredibly hot shower, washing her hair. (Maul makes Obi-wan do that bit. Has he mentioned that hair is weird and gross and he’s glad he doesn’t have any??) And then they set up in a blanket fort, letting her doze across their laps while they watch some old Mando show that was on the networks when she was a child. (It’s hilariously violent, not allowed to be shown anymore because it’s a bad influence on the new generation. Satine’s nostalgia value remains, though.) 

Maul probably makes some kind of Nightbrother recipe that Savage taught him, bone broth with spices, and adds a few vegetables to make it more palatable for his humans. Obi-wan makes So Much tea. It’s a big comfort party.

I love this fucking pairing.

[javier080-blog]

Activity #1 Concussions

David Boogaard video

When I watched the Video about the early life and eventual death of David Bugaard, I learned many things. I got to learn a lot more about the sport of Hockey and how different it is from other sports like baseball and basketball. It taught me that many professional hockey players ar exposed to the league very early and do not have the same condition of 1 year in college before playing professionally. This definitely seems to have a huge effect on young players because they do not get that education and basic values needed to coexist in society. I learned about all the risks that sports can have if not played the right way. I will definitely try to be more careful when playing dangerous sports from now on! I learned about the dangers of concussions and the extreme consequences that they can have on your life. I liked learning about the science behind all the levels of severity in concussions and what the different side effects are. I think my opinion about concussions has changed after watching the video and learning how important my brain is and how easy it is to damage it.

Personally it affected me because I always play soccer and have to hit the ball with me head. Specifically being part of a soccer team as a defender that has to head the ball constantly, I now see why I was experiencing many of the side effects that were stated in the video like seeing stars or feeling slightly disoriented. This is the reason why I do not think that players should even fight anymore after learning about all the injuries as well as long term of effects that these players could face. I do not think that it was entirely Boogard’s fault for his own death because he was determined from a very early age to make it to the NHL no matter what. Even if it meant fighting for a living. He did not seem to have a very strong support team to help him out with his problems and they did not really take any concern for all the pain he had to endure. That’s is why I believe that his family is partially to blame as well as the NHL for deciding to keep rules the same. The NHL knew about the effect that fighting could have on a player’s brain. They did not put a maximum on the amount of fights in a game or even try to change the protocol to make sure that a player’s brain fully heals. Especially after the death of Boogaard, who was a very good player, the NHL minimized the research done by the institute that warned the NHL about CTE. More than 20 dead former N.F.L. players and many boxers have had C.T.E. diagnosed. And now, the fourth hockey player(Boogaard) of four examined was found to have had it too. But this was different. The others were not in their 20s, not in the prime of their careers like Derek. That goes to show how much pain he must have actually endured.

Your head is made up of neurons created when you are born. They are not like most common organs that duplicate. This is why I do not believe that players should continue to fight in the NHL. The scientists on the far end of the conference call told the Boogaard family that they were shocked to see so much damage in someone so young. It appeared to be spreading through his brain. The neurons lost when players fight will NEVER be brought back and it comes down to the fact that these players are literally trading neurons cells for money. Who is more to blame, the ones who hurt themselves purposely? Or those who give people money to hurt themselves?

[redvsbluemicrofic]

10

10.  how do you do your researches?  

I’m lucky at the moment - the microfics need minimal research.  I try to stick with less technical stuff, stick with more human stories.  I don’t cover weapons in detail, nor battle strategies.  When you have a word limit, unnecessary details eat your word count.  Most of the time my research is medicine/injury related.  How much blood loss before someone goes into shock, should you give pain meds to someone you suspect has a concussion, what is first aid for a punctured lung... most of these things I already have an inkling of the answer and I’m just double checking, but if I really don’t know, I call my dad.  He was a nurse, a firefighter and a paramedic.  Funnily enough, a punctured lung was the only thing I’ve asked about that he’s never been able to give me first hand info on. 

But the rare times that I have done real research, back when I wrote much longer pieces, I raided libraries.  I spent months tracking down books in the Toronto library system - they have over 100 libraries now, and you can order a book from any of them and it’s delivered to your local library in days.  The research library is the kind of place you can lose yourself in for hours.  Copy the hell out of anything you can’t check out and carry out everything you can.  post it notes are my best friend when I’m trying to keep track of notes in a book without marking shit up.  If you know that there is an expert living who wrote some of the things that you are reading, write to him/her!  Best thing ever in university was a research partner suggested we do that, got a shit ton of information (and some jokes) from the archeologist that dug up the “Jesus Boat” in the Sea of Galilee.  WRITE TO PEOPLE.  Worst case scenario...  they don’t answer.  Best case scenario - you marry them.  *raises hand*

[zesusowzen]

A.M Baggs

I APPLAUD you.

For what you do for Autistic People.

Your Blog is amazing .

I resonated deeply in lot what Amanda had to say, had written from lived Experience on Autistic.

wowzers.

Last updated 13 May 2005

"Help! I Seem to be Getting More Autistic!"

What's this about?

Every so often, someone says, with perplexity, "I seem to be getting more autistic. I don't know why, and I know that doesn't sound possible, but it seems to be happening."

Those of us who experience this are often surprised, because of the general perceptions that are out there about autism. It is viewed either as something stable, or, as in the writings of Liane Holliday Willey, Temple Grandin, and other authors, as something that fades away with age.

The fact that some autistic people lose abilities with age is well-documented, but it is not always discussed in clear ways. It is clouded by terms like regression (which implies that loss of skills is growing backwards), functioning level (which implies that all functioning is affected at the same level and that this can be measured in a linear fashion), and more autistic (which implies similar things to functioning level). When autistic people ask organizations about it, we often get confusing answers — for example, when I asked one representative of a major autism organization about being an autistic person who lost some movement skills in adolescence, she said, "Yes, there is such a thing as late-onset autism," as if I had not been autistic before this happened.

This has been writing itself in my head for a long time. It started writing itself on paper about a year ago or more. I wish I'd had a list of things like this a few years ago, and it's based on what I'd like to have known. I hope it will be useful to other autistic people. It is intended to give people a list of starting points to understand what is happening to them. It is, though a starting point — more heavily focused on what is going on than what to do about it. This is because there are still more questions than answers, and because answers vary from person to person. I am providing answers that come with more questions. It is also intended to be practical first, medically perfect second — some of the research or opinions linked to from here may be largely wrong, but may be a starting point to looking at other things.

I hope it will be useful to other autistic people, who are the primary audience. Personal information is only disclosed because I hope someone in a similar situation would find it useful. This page could also be useful for non-autistic people who have an autistic person in their lives who is acting more stereotypically autistic than they had been, but they are not the people I'm directly aiming this at. It is not, and probably cannot be, exhaustive, and there will be things I cannot cover in here. However, I do try to cover everything I can think of, including things that are relatively uncommon. If something doesn't seem to fit, or seems obvious, feel free to ignore it. I will try to improve and add to this as time goes on.

I would like to cite my sources for this information, but unfortunately I don't remember most of the sources. I have included a list of further references at the bottom, but a lot of this is consolidated from years of information-gathering in which I did not frequently take note of where I found the information. New sections of this document contain the date they were added.

Note: If you are fairly new to knowing you are autistic or thinking about being autistic, you might want to read the section about learning that you are autistic before anything else.

What could be going on?

Note that in some of the cases below, neither the situation nor the result is necessarily negative.

Aging

When non-autistic people age, they often lose some of their former cognitive abilities in a subtle way. When autistic people age, what would be subtle in a non-autistic person can cause extreme-looking differences in an autistic person, because our hold on certain kinds of cognition is so shaky in the first place.

There has been very little study done on what happens to autistic people as they get older, but personal reports suggest that many common ways of dealing with the world as an autistic person can become less feasible with time. Thus, a person who has been working very hard to keep up with the non-autistic world may suddenly find herself slowing down and needing to do less of it. This can look like becoming more autistic, even when it's simply being less able to adjust.

Basic physical needs

This may sound obvious, but to a lot of us, it isn't. If a person lacks food, water, sleep, and in some cases hygiene, they are not going to function as well. Autistic or non-autistic. If you are malnourished (which can happen even if you eat the right amount of food, if you're not eating the right kinds of food or if your metabolism is fast), dehydrated (which some fluids you drink can contribute to rather than solve), or sleep-deprived (which can happen even if you sleep a lot, if you have something like sleep apnea interfering with sleep), you are not going to function as well. It is a good idea to look into these basics before anything else — wherever possible, if you improve food, water, and sleep, you might see improvement.

Being around other autistic people

For those of us who are echolalic or echopraxic, being around other autistic people can cause us to pick up mannerisms, phrasings, and sounds from others. When I lived around mostly non-autistic people, while I had autistic patterns of doing things, I was more likely to pick up non-autistic mannerisms to add to them. When I was in special ed, I picked up (without always realizing it at the time) mannerisms not only from other autistic people, but from at least one student with cerebral palsy.

There is something about other autistic people, though, that makes their mannerisms easier and more natural-feeling for me to echo than anyone else's — even when they are things I had not done before, they feel more right on my body. Some other autistic people have reported that being around other autistic people has a similar influence on them, and this has also been reported by Touretters.

Note: Some people see this kind of thing and say that it is exactly why autistic people should be kept away from other autistic people. I do not believe this. I do not believe that it is worse to have autistic mannerisms than non-autistic mannerisms, and I do not believe that autistic people make bad role models. I definitely don't believe that any of this is a reason to separate autistic people from each other or to encourage an autistic person to dislike being around other autistic people.

Brain damage

Non-autistic people with brain damage often develop traits that bear some resemblance to autism. Since autism is developmental, our brains have already developed the way they are, damaged or not, so there are some differences. But if an autistic person develops significant enough brain damage, it could show up as looking more autistic.

Many autistic people self-injure by banging our heads. This can cause brain damage, especially if we do it frequently, very hard, or to the point of knocking ourselves out or causing minor concussions. Having a head injury for some other reason, stroke, or brain tumor can cause brain damage. So can the drugs and shock treatments (ECT) that some autistic people are given.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Survival Guide gives some information about how brain damage can change a person. Many of the same traits can be autistic traits, so having them does not necessarily indicate recent brain damage.

Burnout

Burnout, long-term shutdown, or whatever you want to call it, happens generally when you have been doing much more than you should be doing. Most people have a level to which they are capable of functioning without burnout, a level to which they are capable of functioning for emergency purposes only, and a level to which they simply cannot function. In autistic people in current societies, that first level is much narrower. Simply functioning at a minimally acceptable level to non-autistic people or for survival, can push us into the zone that in a non-autistic person would be reserved for emergencies. Prolonged functioning in emergency mode can result in loss of skills and burnout.

With some diseases with long-term effects (and I am not suggesting that autism is a disease), it is the people who tried to ignore the long-term effects and "act normal" who often burn out, probably because they are drawing on emergency reserves to do so. There is a high chance that autistic people who attempt to ignore the fact that they are autistic and act like non-autistic people are subject to the same kind of burnout, or even autistic people who push themselves too hard in general without trying to look normal.

The danger here may be obvious: It may be the people most capable of passing for normal, the most obvious "success stories" in the eyes of non-autistic people (some of whom became so adept at passing that they were never considered autistic in the first place), who are the most likely to burn out the hardest and suddenly need to either act in very conspicuously autistic ways or die.

To the outside world, this can look as if a forty-year-old perfectly normal person suddenly starts acting like a very stereotypically autistic person, and they can believe that this is a sudden change rather than a cumulative burnout eventually resulting in a complete inability to function in any way that looks remotely normal. The outside world is not used to things like this, and the autistic person might not be either. They might look for the sudden onset of a neurological disorder, or for psychological causes, and receive inappropriate "treatments" for both of these, when really all that has happened is massive and total burnout.

This can also look much less spectacular, or be much more gradual, and it can happen in any autistic person. Sometimes, with more supports or a change in pace or environment, the skills lost come back partially or totally. Sometimes the loss in skills appears to be permanent — but even that can be somewhat deceptive, because sometimes it is simply that the person can no longer push themselves far beyond what their original capacity was in the first place.

Sometimes this kind of burnout is what leads adults to seek diagnosis and services. Unfortunately, many service systems that would otherwise support people in their own homes, cater only to people who were diagnosed in childhood, and will look at someone with a very good neurotypical-looking track record of jobs, marriages, and children with suspicion. They need to be made more aware of this possibility, because there's a high chance that an adult in this situation could end up jobless, homeless, institutionalized, misdiagnosed, given inappropriate medical treatment, or dead.

People training autistic children to look more normal or refusing to tell their children they are autistic also need to be aware of this possibility, because this is the potential end result ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years down the road. This is one of the biggest reasons for teaching us to learn and grow as ourselves, accounting for our strengths and weaknesses rather than as counterfeit neurotypicals.

Catatonia

While this is more of a sign than a cause, it is worth mentioning here. There seems to be a subgroup of autistic people who develop an increase in manifestations of catatonia during adolescence or early adulthood. This can happen to different degrees, and it can come and go. The cause is unknown at this time, and most researchers have focused on movement, although some autistic people have found that sensory issues are affected as well.

Catatonia is a much broader term than the stereotype of sitting in one place in an odd posture doing nothing, and it is not synonymous with hallucinations or something. It is a word used to describe any of a number of unusual movement patterns, including but not limited to freezing in a position from anywhere from seconds to days (and either being immovable or bendable into any position a person wants to bend you into), echolalia (imitating others' speech), echopraxia (imitating others' movements). Many of these traits are already present in autism to begin with, so it is thought that in some people, these traits may amplify over time for some reason.

Lorna Wing and Amitta Shah have written a paper on the subject of exacerbation of catatonia: Catatonia in Autistic Spectrum Disorders. While they have written about people in which this is extreme, they note that there are other people who have similar movement issues but who did not have enough of them to qualify for the study.

Note: It should be noted that catatonia can be easily exacerbated by neuroleptic drugs, which interfere with the process of directly connecting thought to movement, and that lethality of such drugs among people with catatonia is much higher than in the general population. If you develop signs of catatonia while on a neuroleptic drug (prescribed as "antipsychotic" and sometimes antiemetic), seek medical care immediately, because this can sometimes be a sign of a potentially-fatal reaction.

Change in Environment or Routine

Here are some of the more major examples of this category:

Getting married or divorced.

Getting fired, getting a job, or changing jobs.

Promotion or demotion at work.

Changing schools, dropping out of school, going up or down a grade in school, or entering school.

Moving to a new house or apartment.

Moving out of or into an institution.

Death in the family (human or non-human).

Making a new friend or losing a friend.

Change can be a lot more subtle, though. It can be someone moving your stuff around the room, or hanging a new picture on the wall. It can be changes in weather, climate, or society over time. Since having a regular routine is one way autistic people deal with the environment, when that routine is disrupted, then autistic people often rely on other autistic ways of dealing with things. We can also have less energy to deal with things and thus look more outwardly autistic. Depending on the person and the nature of the changes, this appearance of being "more autistic-looking" can be temporary or long-term.

Compartmentalized learning style, or trouble generalizing

[Added 15 May, 2004]

Some autistic people learn things, but have trouble accessing what we learn out of context. For example, if you (as I did) learn right and left facing a certain wall in a certain room, you might be unable to tell left from right outside of that room. Then, as you learn to generalize it a little bit, you might learn to tell left from right, but only when you are facing east.

If you learn a skill in one environment, you might think you have mastered it. And you might be right — in that environment. But then when you leave that environment, or when a small aspect of that environment changes, you might end up disoriented and unable to do something that you seemed very good at before.

Many autistic people know a lot of things, or know how to do a lot of things, but have a lot of trouble bringing that knowledge out on command. We might rely on triggers in our environments to help us do those things, but in the absence of triggers, our minds might go blank and be unable to come up with the right answer or skill to fill the needs of the moment. We might have one set of skills and knowledge that we can use with ease in one situation, and a completely different set of skills and knowledge that we can use with ease in another situation. In some situations, we may be unable to get at much of this knowledge at all.

This can make for some interesting experiences with apparent loss of knowledge and skills, or even having to relearn the same thing over and over when we forget we've learned it, or need to learn it for a new context. I don't know how many times I've told someone I didn't know something, and then later had the knowledge they wanted triggered in a different context. If this happens to you in drastic enough ways, it can be essentially the same as losing a skill, perhaps forgetting you ever had it, and having to relearn it from scratch if you can relearn it at all.

As an example, I was, as nearly all children were where I was a kid, drilled over and over again in what kinds of strangers to avoid. Like the kind who would lure you into a car with a toy. Yet as a twenty-something adult I was almost lured into a car by a toy. What stopped me was not that I remembered this was dangerous, but that I didn't like the people who were doing it or the fact that they kept touching me and talking about sex. I did not perceive what they might do to me, only that they were unpleasant. I had this skill, somewhere in my brain, but it did not come out at the appropriate moment, and it was days before I put things together enough to relearn this. I still do not know if it is in place enough that this could not happen again.

While what I describe is different from what happens in what gets called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it can definitely be amplified by PTSD. PTSD can involve mentally shoving certain terrible experiences into compartments where they hopefully won't be found easily, and it can increase a tendency to compartmentalize knowledge in general.

Deliberately adopting new strategies

The ways that autistic people behave do not materialize out of nowhere in order to make us look strange. They have purpose to us, and may help us to deal more efficiently with the world than the way a non-autistic person would go about the same task. Often, many autistic people will independently come up with the same way of approaching a situation (some of these ways are so common that they make it into the diagnostic criteria). However, not all autistic people will come up with these things, or some will have come up with them and eradicated them so long ago they don't remember having come up with them.

This leads to the situation in which an autistic person who has trouble dealing with a situation may deliberately choose to approach that situation in the same way as someone she have met who is also autistic. This has the advantage of being more likely to suit an autistic person's brain and senses.

For instance, a commonly-described activity among autistic people is to carry a single object everywhere. Not all autistic people come up with this on their own, but it can be a very effective way of dealing with the increased load of sensory input and processing demands in new places. An autistic adult may see someone doing that and think, "Okay, if they do that and it works, I'm going to try it." They may then look "more autistic" because they are using an strategy that is more efficient for the needs of an autistic brain rather than a non-autistic one.

This can happen with nearly anything labeled an "autistic behavior," because autistic people behave the ways we do for a reason. A person may stop making eye contact because he wants to listen to what is being said. He may start moving his hands in front of his face to regulate visual input. He might start regulating the amount he interacts with people in order to avoid overload and burnout. He may not have thought of doing these things before, but after seeing them work for another autistic person, he may have adopted them and found them more useful than anything a non-autistic person could come up with. This is not a bad thing.

Disuse

[Added 15 May, 2004]

Most people find that if they don't continually practise a skill, their ability to perform it fades. This can be the same for autistics, although it is not always the case. (It is not always the case for neurotypicals, either, hence the saying "It's like riding a bicycle" to describe a skill you haven't used but that is not lost with time.)

Autistic people can find that if we don't do things for long enough, we forget how to do them. Even if they are not the sort of things non-autistic people forget. (I nearly needed training wheels after not using a bicycle for a few years.) This effect can be amplified if the skills in question are not only not used, but not desirable in a certain situation (such as assertiveness in an institution).

If you have not done something for a long time, there is a chance that you will have forgotten much of how to do it. (There is also a chance that you have gained ability to do it, which I do not understand but which has happened to me a lot with skills I leave dormant for awhile.) This can mean you have to relearn it wholly or partly, and it may not come back to your previous level of ability.

Dropping a facade or rebellion against a taught behavior pattern

In those of autistics who either appear normal or try to appear normal, the facade of normalcy may be maintained by a set of precarious strategies. Anything that interferes with one of those strategies can cause large parts of the act to disintegrate.

A person may even be spending so much energy on these strategies that he does not have any energy left over to notice that he is acting. When the facade drops, he is left wondering what happened.

Other autistic people consciously say "Enough is enough," and stop expending a whole lot of energy trying to look like someone they are not, or doing things that they have been taught to do but which are useless to them. If you do this, be aware that what to you feels like you are the same way you always were but with less acting, to other people it can look like you've suddenly become a new person. This does not make it bad — in fact, it's important for people to be able to live life as themselves and not as an act — but the unpredictable behavior that others might have in response to this is worth preparation for where possible.

Drugs

Any drug that acts on the brain can have an unusual effect on an autistic person, and amplify traits. It should be noted that I am not a doctor. The following descriptions are culled from both medical literature and the personal experiences of many autistic people I have known, read, observed, and been. There has not been a great deal of research into the exact effects of drugs on autistic people, but we can definitely have unusual reactions — underreactions, overreactions, and "paradoxical" (reverse) reactions being the most common. None of the things I am about to relate are true of everyone, although some are more likely than others. And I am only putting the things in here that could relate to an apparent increase in autistic traits.

Neuroleptic ("antipsychotic") drugs, including the newer ("atypical") neuroleptics, can increase problems with cognition and voluntary movement, can lower the seizure threshold (see epilepsy) and induce a motor restlessness (akathisia) that can result in increased stimming, self-injury, and aggression. They can also induce a condition called tardive dyskinesia, which results in involuntary stim-like movements and cognitive losses and is close to irreversible. These drugs can also cause permanent changes to the shape of the brain, which are probably implicated in the long-term changes in cognition and movement. My father says that I have never moved the same — and that I look much more stereotypically autistic — since the first day I took Thorazine (chlorpromazine), and it has been eight years since that day, and four years since I stopped taking any related drug.

[Note: If you are on a neuroleptic and develop catatonia, seek assistance immediately and consider discontinuing the drug in the safest way possible. That can be an early warning sign of a potentially fatal syndrome called Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS). Even if you have an autism-related form of catatonia, this can be serious — in fact people with catatonia to begin with are more susceptible to NMS and to other adverse reactions to neuroleptics. Yes, I'm repeating myself, but this is life and death.]

Antidepressants can potentially disinhibit us, making us more likely to act impulsively and immediately on thoughts. Some people may find that they are more hyper and stimmy. Some people, such as Dave Spicer on bit.listserv.autism, report that their sense of being behind a facade increases. Some people have found that their sensory issues get worse and find the environment more overstimulating, and others have found themselves more anxious or active.

Stimulants can increase anxiety, which can lead to an increase in the sort of things we do to alleviate anxiety. They can also increase movement in general, making us more stimmy or ticcy.

Sedatives can impair thinking, with all the possible things that go with that.

Anticonvulsants can impair thinking and perception. If this is happening to you with one anticonvulsant, it might be a good idea to ask your doctor or neurologist about other ones. I had to try several (including one that induced outright delirium) before I found one that was acceptable.

The strong anti-fungals prescribed by some doctors in the (nearly always mistaken) belief that an autistic person has a "systemic candida infection" can cause a person to become extremely sick, which can in turn cause all the things that can go along with being sick.

Some street drugs, such as marijuana or LSD, can increase sensory fragmentation, sensory distortion, distorted sense of time, speech problems, anxiety, and so forth. Autistic people have reported extremely varying and unusual reactions to these drugs.

Emotional state

If you're in a bad mood, it can affect your ability to do things as much as being sick can. If you're in a long-term bad mood of some kind, that can have the same effect on your ability to do certain things as a physical illness. Even a very good mood, like being in love, can be stressful and reduce your capacity to do various things. Non-autistic people have a term — "lovesick" — that exemplifies the degree to which even a positive emotion can incapacitate people.

This means that if you are experiencing rage, depression, terror, love, hate, infatuation, or any other extreme emotional state, you could very well end up appearing to be more autistic than usual. Some people, though, find that they look less stereotypically autistic in these states, and that calmness and being at ease makes them look more stereotypical. For instance, if a person has been conditioned by fear into avoiding unusual movements, they may stop rocking when terrified and start rocking when calm again.

Trauma is an extreme emotional reaction to a usually-extreme negative situation, and it can cause significant loss of skills even in non-autistic people. If you have ever been in a situation where your life was in danger and that has changed you significantly, that is one example. If you have ever been abused (emotionally, physically, or sexually), whether by your family members, classmates in school, teachers, strangers, or staff, that can be another example. It is also possible that autistic people with some kinds of sensory sensitivities are more likely to perceive certain stimuli, such as being held down, as unbearably traumatic.

Epilepsy

There are many forms of epilepsy, not just the tonic-clonic ("grand mal") seizures people are used to hearing about. Some forms of seizures can even take place while conscious, and alter perception in some way rather than causing a blackout of some kind. Not all seizures are in the right part of the brain to be easily detectable on an EEG, and not everyone can manage to have seizures in the laboratory when the EEG is taking place.

There is an estimate that 25% of autistic people develop seizures of some kind at some point during our lives, and this often happens at adolescence.

Some researchers have hypothesized that there are autistic people who develop seizures or subclinical seizure-like activity in adolescence and lose a lot of skills. A popular article by Stephen Edelson is Autism, Puberty, and the Possibility of Seizures, although I make no claims for the accuracy of the part about vitamins and supplements and would not advocate experimenting on other people with them.

Erecting a new facade

There is a subgroup of autistic people who get along in life by imitating non-autistic people. Imitation can become a habit. When they learn that they are autistic, or when they start becoming more identified with being autistic, they can almost reflexively throw up another facade: That of imitating themselves to the point of self-caricature, or imitating other autistic people in a fairly superficial way the same way as they always had with non-autistic people.

As noted elsewhere, it is also possible for autistic people to deliberately or accidentally adopt each other's mannerisms or strategies for dealing with life without it being a facade.

Excuses or laziness

This is the section I am reluctant to write, because most of the people accused of doing this are not actually doing it, and too many of us have had to face these accusations to a degree that can even endanger our lives. But since it is a real possibility, it needs to be described. I just hope this doesn't cause too many autistic people to sit around questioning themselves to death, or too many non-autistic people to push autistic people beyond our capacity. Be aware that in the scheme of things, this is rare.

Some people and groups of people — autistic or not — have the sort of personality that is prone to making excuses not to do things they should do, to do things they shouldn't do, and to self-pity or public appeals for pity. This is not to be confused with sensibly rationing one's activities in order to avoid cumulative overload, or with stating the facts about one's life or abilities. But it does happen. And people who are prone to doing this, who are autistic, will naturally drag autism into things. As they would anything else.

Unfortunately, most of us who are accused of doing these things really are not. If you are agonizing over this, please stop if possible — agonizing won't do any good whether this applies to you or not, and most likely it does not. If you are a non-autistic person ready to accuse an autistic person of doing this, be aware you could be very wrong, and cause a person a lot of damage in pushing them too far.

Gaining or using new skills

It can be a normal part of even non-autistic people's development, that when a certain difficult skill is being gained, others are temporarily lost. In autistic people, this loss or disruption of skills can be longer-term or permanent, and more prominent than it would be in a non-autistic person. An autistic person who learns to talk may lose some social skills, an autistic person who gains some social skills may lose the ability to talk, and all kinds of other combinations of things. This may be a natural part of learning for some people, and in others it may be a sign that they're being pushed too far.

Many autistic people can only devote energy to one thing at a time. If you want to improve your ability to listen to people, you might have to give less eye contact. If you want to understand your surroundings without too much overload, you might have to rock and flap your hands more. When you're actually using more skill in one area, you might look more autistic to others because you don't have the energy to do things to look normal. See the section "Deliberately Adopting New Strategies".

Habit

Autistic people can be very much creatures of habit, literally needing objects to stay in the same locations and routines to happen the same way every time in order to function. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this; it is similar to how blind people frequently need things to stay in the same spot in a room so they can find them.

When you get into a routine, and have been doing the exact same routine for thirty years, it becomes much harder to deviate from the routine than it was when you had only been doing it for a year. Smaller changes seem like bigger changes. Travelling away from the place you are used to can feel like chaos, and your ways of dealing with that chaos can seem more outwardly autistic to you or an outside observer.

If you are concerned about this, it might be a good idea to force tiny changes in routine every now and then, and gradually make them bigger. This may be impossible for some people, but for others it can help them maintain a certain degree of flexibility, even if it is much less flexibility than a non-autistic person normally has. In any case, it's a personal decision.

Hormones

Hormonal changes can take place in a person's life for several reasons: Puberty, female menstrual cycles, menopause, and other generally normal hormonal changes in people's lives. Some people will also end up taking hormone pills for a variety of reasons. Just as hormones can change a lot of things about non-autistic people, they can change things in autistic people. Some autistic people react to these times in our lives in fairly extreme ways, for some reason.

Increased developmental demands

People — in general — are expected to follow a certain pattern of development. Autistic people rarely follow the usual pattern, and even when we seem to, there can be important differences. We are expected, however, to develop in a certain way, and the societies we live in are structured to the developmental standards of the non-autistic majority.

Because of this, our behavior may stay the same while expectations change around us. When I was six years old, curling up in a ball and hiding under things was something my parents called "curling up small". They thought it was cute. By the time I was a teenager it was considered pathological, written up as "regressing to the fetal position" in my medical records, and viewed by institution staff as attention-seeking. This wasn't a case of me becoming any more odd-looking, but a case of the expectations changing.

There are a lot of skills that people are expected to gain at different stages in life, that many autistic people only gain in a limited way, if at all. Sometimes we lack some very fundamental precursors to those skills, but this lack shows up in different ways in childhood than adulthood.

For instance, when I was a child, I could not clean my desk or locker. I was often kept after class to do so. I had poor sequencing skills and my perception of the world was so fragmented that even with the best of intentions and coaching there was no way I could get things into a semblance of order, and the only way I could get things even vaguely close was to take hours longer than any other child my age would have.

In the scheme of things as a child, this rates as "annoying".

Fast forward to adolescence and adulthood. The same sequencing and perceptual skills that were required in order to clean a desk, were also required in order to do what is expected of older people. Suddenly, without even having to lose any skills, I started to look a whole lot odder: A teenager who never bathed, never combed her hair, and wore the same clothes for weeks. An adult who could not grocery shop, take the bus, cook, eat, bathe, maintain a minimally sanitary environment, or remember that the front yard was not a toilet. This was not for lack of exposure to the means of learning these skills — my siblings learned them to a greater extent than I did — but for lack of having ever had the abilities that precede these skills. What was annoying as a child was life-threatening as an adult, not because the skill changed, but because the expectations of the environment changed.

There is another side to this as well. With increased demands usually comes an increased attempt to meet the demands of the environment. This can overtax an autistic person, with the usual kinds of results: Overload, burnout, or loss of other skills.

Institutionalization

Institutions can affect non-autistic people in certain ways that are very characteristic. They can create an inability to function without specific routines and rituals. They can create passivity and the inability to do anything that a person is not directly told to do. They can create disorientation when outside of a small familiar area. They can create an inability to approach people directly. They can cause a person to lose previously acquired skills for coping with the outside world, in favor of skills that are more adapted for the current environment and that can be harder to lose. Trauma, isolation, or sensory deprivation can cause a person to rock and stim. Prolonged isolation or specific social situations unique to institutions can cause detachment from other people.

These things can happen to autistic people too, and we've already got some of those traits.

There are many kinds of institutions. When I first got out of institutions, I didn't believe I had ever been institutionalized, because none of the places I was kept called themselves institutions and I was very literal. Institutional situations can occur in hospitals, group homes, state schools, residential schools, nursing homes, and similar places. Similar things can happen if you are in a highly structured environment such as the military or a monastery or convent.

Aside from these things, some supported living arrangements can be institutional despite their claims otherwise, some parents can run their homes like institutions, and some behavior modification programs can cause similar effects. Special education schools, day programs, and sheltered workshops can have this kind of effect too. And with just about any place that has an isolation room (often known as a "quiet room", "seclusion room", etc.), or any place where you have been deliberately locked in a closet or cupboard (or any other small room; some people lock people in bathrooms) by someone else for any reason, there is a fair bet that the atmosphere is the same one I'm describing. Jails and prisons, prisoner-of-war situations, and abusive relationships can also have this kind of effect to varying degrees.

At any rate, living in this kind of situation can increase certain autistic tendencies, whether to adapt to the environment or because of sheer terror resulting from bad experiences.

If you want to read more in terms of theory about the way these places can affect a person, I would recommend Asylums, by Erving Goffman, which explores the effects of not only traditionally-defined institutions but also boarding schools, the military, and monasteries. Some of the more level-headed literature out there on destructive cults (which need not be religious in nature) is not bad either, because it describes both the ways in which people can be confused into self-doubt, and also the loss of everyday living skills that comes from living in a place in which everything has been defined and controlled for you. There is plenty of such information on the Internet, and one book I have read on the subject (that had some pretty good ideas) was Combatting Cult Mind-Control by Steven Hassan. It should be warned, however, that some of this kind of literature has a psychiatric or religious slant (or both) that may not appeal to some readers.

Learning you are autistic or perseverating on autism

It is very common for people to appear more overtly autistic when first learning about autism. This can be for any number of reasons, most of which relate to other categories here. This period can last anywhere from days to years. I heard one person describe it as "the post-diagnostic regression".

Upon learning you are autistic, you might feel relieved of some degree of pressure that stems from having to push yourself hard and not knowing why. Without even meaning to, that relief can cause you to drop your guard a bit, or even be unable to continue pushing yourself as hard now that you know why you were doing it. You might spend more time around autistic people, learning autistic ways of dealing with things and possibly picking up some of their mannerisms. Behavior you have suppressed for a long time might re-emerge now that you know it's not caused by being stupid or something.

You might also be so scared that you won't be accepted as a real autistic that you start, as one person who had done so once said to me, become a "super-autistic", claiming every autistic trait you come across whether it applies to you or not. You might imitate yourself to the point of self-caricature. You might stop doing things you like doing because they don't seem autistic enough or don't conform to the stereotypes you've heard of autism. You might try so hard to regain your "lost self" that you end up creating a new facade. You might act like the autistic people you've known, figuring it's safe to act like them but not safe to do anything they don't do.

[ketoguideforweightloss-blog]

Quick keto fact for burning fat

Ketosis is a completely normal metabolic function. Essentially, when your body doesn’t have enough glucose for energy, it will burn stored fat instead. Glucose is created when carbohydrates are broken down inside your body. Cutting carbs from your diet means less glucose for your body to burn up.

Replacing carbs with fats will cause acids called ketones to build up in your body. The goal is to force the body to derive its fuel from fat, rather than carbs.

While your body is in ketosis, it becomes extremely efficient at burning fat. Ketogenic diets can trigger major reductions in your blood sugar and insulin levels, which has additional health benefits. in ketosis but not losing weight http://www.weightlossandketodiet.com/i-am-in-ketosis-but-not-losing-weight-a-look-on-whats-keeping-you-off-the-weight-loss-track/

Keto for Weight Loss

Ketogenic diets are effective for losing weight and lowering risk factors for certain diseases. While low-fat diets are traditionally recommended for those looking to shed pounds, research shows that keto is, in fact, a superior approach to weight loss.

Unlike many diets, keto will not leave you feeling hungry after eating a pre-set number of calories for the day. Keto is a satisfying and filling method of dieting. In fact, you can lose weight without tracking calories—something that deters many people from adhering to other diets.

There are several reasons why keto is more efficient than a low-fat diet, including increased protein intake. Higher protein intake is advantageous for weight reduction and metabolic health.

Quick Keto Facts

•    Ketosis occurs when the body is denied access to glucose, its main fuel source. •    In ketosis, stored fat is broken down for energy, producing ketones. •    Some people use a ketogenic diet to lose weight by forcing their body to burn surplus fat stores. •    The ketogenic diet was originally developed in the 1920’s to treat epilepsy but was inadvertently discovered to offer many other health benefits. •    There are multiple variations of the ketogenic diet. Types of Ketogenic Diets •    Classic Keto: The strictest form of keto, classic keto requires a 4:1 ratio of fats to carbs or protein. This is a structured, individualized plan in which your diet will consist of 90% fat. Foods are usually weighed when following this regimen. •    Modified Keto: The modified version of the diet is intended to be less restrictive. It might be a good place to start if you’re new to keto, or if you’ve done classic keto for a long time and you’re trying to taper down to a more sustainable, long-term eating regimen. •    MCT: This version allows for a higher protein and carb intake than classic keto. MCT is short for Medium Chain Triglycerides, or highly ketogenic man-made fats. •    Modified Atkins: Carbs are limited in modified Atkins, while fat is encouraged. Protein is not limited at all. When you do consume carbs on this diet, fats should accompany them. •    Intermittent Fasting: This dietary intervention launches the body into ketosis by shortening the window of time that you eat during the day. For instance, you may only eat during an 8-hour window of the day, and fast for the other 16 hours. This forces the body to burn energy from fat. Only the classic and high-protein ketogenic diets have been researched and studied extensively by professionals. Other, more advanced, versions of keto are primarily used by bodybuilders and elite athletes. Since the classic method is the most researched, it is often the most recommended. so tired on ketogenic diet http://www.weightlossandketodiet.com/why-am-i-so-tired-on-ketogenic-diet/

Other Health Benefits of Keto

The ketogenic diet was originally created to treat neurological diseases like epilepsy. Over the last century, countless studies have been performed to examine the other health benefits of ketogenic diets. Keto has been shown to offer benefits for a myriad of health conditions: •    Heart disease: The ketogenic diet can improve cholesterol levels and reduce body fat and blood sugar—all risk factors for heart disease. •    Cancer: Keto is currently being used to treat cancers and slow the growth of tumors. •    Alzheimer’s disease: Keto may reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease or slow its advancement. Research is ongoing. •    Epilepsy: Research has indicated that the ketogenic diet can cause a sizeable reduction in the number of seizures experienced by epileptic children. •    Parkinson’s disease: One study produced evidence that the diet helped improve Parkinson’s disease symptoms, though more research is needed. •    Polycystic ovary syndrome: Keto can lower insulin levels, which may play a role in treating polycystic ovary syndrome. •    Brain injuries: One study conducted on animals found that keto can aid in concussion recovery and post-brain injury recovery. •    Acne: Eating less sugar and processed foods (lower insulin levels) helps improve acne and reduce the frequency of breakouts. •    Diabetes: Keto can increase insulin sensitivity and fat loss, which are significant benefits for people with type 2 diabetes (or prediabetes). keto and intermittent fasting success http://www.weightlossandketodiet.com/keto-and-intermittent-fasting-success-stories-that-change-lives/

Research in several of these areas is not conclusive, and more evidence is needed to support keto’s other health benefits. It is quite intriguing, though, that a diet originally developed to treat neurological disorders has been adapted for weight loss, and could potentially be further developed to treat a large number of human ailments.

Foods to Avoid in Keto

Any food that is high in carbohydrates should be limited or removed while attempting to achieve ketosis. Some of these foods include: •    Sugary foods: Cake, ice cream, candy, soda, fruit juice •    Grains or starches: Cereal, pasta, rice, wheat-based foods •    Fruit: All fruit should be eliminated, with the exception of small portions of berries. •    Beans: Peas, kidney beans, legumes, chickpeas, lentils •    Root vegetables: Potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes •    Low-fat packaged products: These “diet” products are highly processed and usually pack a lot of carbs. •    Condiments and sauces: Many condiments and sauces contain sugar or unhealthy fats. Check the labels! •    Unhealthy fats: Limit things like vegetable oil and mayonnaise. •    Alcohol: Alcoholic beverages are high in carbs, which can take your body out of ketosis. •    Sugar-free diet foods: These products can be high in sugar alcohols, which affect ketone levels. They’re highly processed, too. lazy keto for beginners http://www.weightlossandketodiet.com/lazy-keto-meal-plan-a-quick-guide-for-beginners/

Keto-Friendly Foods

You should base most of your meals on these types of foods: •    Meat: Steak, ham, chicken, sausage, bacon, turkey •    Fatty fish: Trout, tuna, mackerel, salmon •    Eggs: Pastured and omega-3 whole eggs •    Butter and cream: Products of grass-fed animals, if possible. •    Cheese: Unprocessed cheddar, cream, goat, blue or mozzarella •    Nuts and seeds: Almonds, flax seeds, walnuts, chia and pumpkin seeds •    Healthy oils: Mainly extra virgin olive oil, but coconut and avocado oil are ok, too. •    Avocados: Whole avocado or fresh guacamole •    Low-carb veggies: Greens, tomatoes, peppers, onions •    Condiments: Salt, pepper, healthy herbs In keto and most healthy diets, it’s best to base your meals on whole, one-ingredient foods. To learn more about keto-friendly, low-carb foods, check out this list: Ketogenic diet foods – what to eat. Always try to rotate your vegetables and meats to reduce boredom and maximize your nutritional intake. You can eat a variety of delicious and nutritious meals when following a ketogenic diet plan. Keto Snacks to Enjoy!

As with any dietary plan, you might get hungry between meals. When those snack cravings hit, make sure you reach for something that is keto-friendly, so as to maintain the state of ketosis achieved through your regular meals.

Here are some healthy and keto-friendly snack ideas: •    Fatty meat •    Fatty fish •    Unprocessed cheeses (optionally, add olives) •    A small handful of seeds or nuts •    One or two hard-boiled eggs •    Dark chocolate (90%) •    A low-carb milkshake (add almond milk, nut butter, and cocoa powder) •    Full-fat yogurt with nut butter or cocoa powder •    Strawberries with cream from grass-fed animal sources •    Celery dipped in salsa or guacamole •    Small portions of leftover dinners When dining out, it’s usually pretty easy to make most restaurant meals keto-friendly. Most restaurants feature meat or fish-based dishes. Order one of these plates and substitute any high-carb side dishes for vegetables. Egg-based meals, such as omelets or eggs and bacon, are also a great choice. They’re not just good for breakfast—they can be dinner, too! Another keto favorite is the bun-less burger. Try swapping a side of fries for vegetables and adding avocado, bacon, or extra cheese to the burger. At Mexican restaurants, you can eat any type of meat on the menu. You can also add extra cheeses, salsa, guacamole, or sour cream. For dessert, try a mixed cheese place or berries and cream. Why the Ketogenic Diet Impacts Fat Burn

Keto can help you lose weight and make some positive changes to your life. The high-fat, low-carb diet has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, creating an entire community of keto-praising eaters. Unlike with calorie restriction, keto helps you lose weight by putting your body into ketosis. When you eat minimal carbohydrates, your body produces ketones for energy. Ketones are made in your liver from fatty acids found in food or your own body fat. Therefore, your liver actually burns fat to make ketones. Ketones are used for energy in lieu of carbs. keto smoothie for constipation recipes http://www.weightlossandketodiet.com/keto-smoothie-for-constipation-do-they-work/

As your body steadily burns fat as a fuel source, you will start to lose weight. You may be wondering if keto can target specific problem areas, such as belly fat. Burning belly fat is high on the priority list for many people. The fat in your belly is visceral fat, which is a dangerous type of fat that lives deep inside the abdomen, encasing your internal organs. Visceral fat is linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Technically, you can’t spot-target fat areas for reduction. Your body decides where weight loss will occur. However, keto may be useful for eliminating stubborn belly fat.

Belly fat, or visceral fat, comes from a combination of genes and a diet high in refined carbs and sugar. Visceral fat can easily become inflamed, making it incredibly stubborn to lose and dangerous to surrounding blood vessels. A well-formulated keto regimen has strong anti-inflammatory effects, making it easier to drop stubborn belly fat. Keto alone likely will not be enough to lose a large amount of fat. Keto works well in combination with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises. Always consult with your doctor before beginning any new diet or exercise plan.

[kathleenseiber]

Right exercise ‘dose’ treats teen concussions

Teen athletes who sustained concussions while playing sports recovered more quickly when they underwent a supervised, aerobic exercise regimen, according to a new study.

The study is the first randomized clinical trial of a treatment in the acute phase after a sport-related concussion.

“Telling a teenager to go home and basically do nothing is depressing.”

The goal was to evaluate prescribed, progressive sub-symptom threshold exercise as a treatment within the first week of a concussion in adolescents after a few days of rest. Sub-symptom threshold exercise is physical activity that doesn’t exacerbate symptoms.

The researchers followed 103 participants, ages 13-18. The group had nearly the same number of male and female participants. Researchers saw all participants within 10 days after sustaining a sport-related concussion.

Patients who followed the aerobic exercise program took on average 13 days to recover while those in the control group, who performed stretching exercises, took 17 days. In addition, fewer patients in the exercise program took longer than four weeks to recover than did patients in the control group.

“This research provides the strongest evidence yet that a prescribed, individualized aerobic exercise program that keeps the heart rate below the point where symptoms worsen is the best way to treat concussion in adolescents,” says first author John J. Leddy, clinical professor of orthopaedics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, and director of the Concussion Management Clinic at UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

The researchers plan to investigate if the treatment is also effective in adults with concussion.

Hope for a treatment

There is no proven treatment for concussion, the researchers say, especially among adolescents, who typically take the longest to recover.

“Until now, nothing else has been proven in any way effective for treating concussion,” says senior author Barry S. Willer, a professor of psychiatry in the Jacobs School and director of research in the Concussion Management Clinic. “This is the best evidence so far for a treatment that works.”

The findings directly contradict the conventional approach to concussion, which often consists of nearly total rest, eliminating most physical and mental activities, including schoolwork.

“Telling a teenager to go home and basically do nothing is depressing,” says Willer. “It can actually increase their physical and psychological symptoms, and we see that particularly among girls. But with our approach, you’re saying, sure, you can return to school and you should start doing these exercises. Their chins are up, mom and dad are happy and so is the student.”

The fact that all states have now passed laws requiring schools to make accommodations for students who have sustained concussions is also helpful, says Willer, so that the student can opt out of some activities during the school day, if necessary.

The right amount

To determine how much exercise each patient could sustain without exacerbating symptoms, the researchers had each one undergo the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test, which Leddy and Willer developed, to determine at what level their symptoms worsen. As the patient walks on a treadmill, the incline gradually increases and researchers record heart rate at the point where concussion symptoms intensify.

“We prescribed exercise at 80 percent of that threshold,” Leddy explains, “so each patient’s exercise ‘dose’ was individually tailored.”

Researchers randomly assigned Patients to the aerobic exercise group (52) or to a stretching group (51). Patients in both groups were sent home with a heart rate monitor so they could make sure they stayed below the threshold while exercising.

Both groups performed their assigned exercise for about 20 minutes each day and had to report compliance and daily symptoms online. Those in the aerobic group either walked on a treadmill, rode a stationary bike, or walked either inside or out. Aside from the prescribed exercise, researchers advised patients to refrain from contact sports, gym class, or team practice. Researchers also gave them advice about getting schoolwork done and told to avoid excessive use of electronic devices, since that can also aggravate symptoms.

Faster recovery

The researchers re-evaluated each patient’s condition weekly and as symptoms improved, they increased the “dose” of exercise or stretching according to the weekly treadmill test results.

The researchers rigorously defined recovery, requiring agreement among three independent criteria: the patient’s reporting a normal (minimal) level of symptoms, a normal physical examination by a medical doctor, and the return of normal exercise tolerance on the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test. The physicians were blind as to the group assignment of each participant.

One surprising finding was that only two participants out of 52 (4 percent) in the aerobic exercise group took longer than four weeks to recover compared to seven out of 51 (14 percent) in the stretching group.

This did not reach statistical significance, but the scientific literature suggests, by contrast, that between 15 and 25 percent of adolescents who do not receive any treatment will be symptomatic past four weeks.

“Reducing the number of concussed adolescents who have delayed recovery has major implications,” Willer says, noting that delayed recovery creates more difficulty with schoolwork, can lead to depression, and puts additional demands on the health care system and its costs.

Moving forward

Coauthor Michael J. Ellis, medical director of the Pan Am Concussion Program in the surgery and pediatrics department at the University of Manitoba, says that for years, his clinic has been successfully using the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test and a medically supervised sub-symptom-threshold aerobic exercise program to treat professional, collegiate, and elite adolescent athletes.

Expanding access to this treatment is now critical, he says.

“The results of this study suggest that we must build greater capacity within our health care systems to allow patients access to multidisciplinary concussion programs and clinics that have the medical expertise to carry out early targeted rehabilitation of acute concussion,” he says.

The research appears in JAMA Pediatrics. Additional coauthors are from the University at Buffalo, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Pan Am Clinic Foundation. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, both of the National Institutes of Health, supported the research.

Source: University at Buffalo

The post Right exercise ‘dose’ treats teen concussions appeared first on Futurity.

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[johnark]

CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY (CTE)

This is the medical term for brain damage caused by repeated head trauma. There’s plenty about it in the news today because of its association with professional football and the NFL. This is a devastating disease. The symptoms include memory loss, poor judgement, altered speech, depression, dementia, etc. Several high profile former NFL players have committed suicide apparently with it and because of it. The fact that we know about it and what it does and what it causes is troubling enough, but that is not why I began this blog. There is another aspect of this terrible ailment that is very troubling to me. The public consciousness was awakened by the players bringing lawsuits against the NFL and stipulating in their wills that when they died their brains would be donated to medical science. It is now clear that the NFL knew about this before the players recognized it and began to  take action. In 1994 the NFL created the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee (MTBIC) to study the effects of concussions and the injury to NFL players. The data collected by the league from 1996 - 2001 seemed to minimize and obfuscate the danger of head trauma. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) did a study of retired NFL players and concluded that there is significant risk of neurological disorders in retired NFL players. The MTBIC contradicted this study and other investigations of this sort. In 2003 the MTBIC began to publish “study” results that stated there were no long term negative health consequences associated with head trauma sustained by NFL players. The league also asserted that returning to play after a concussion did not involve any risk. More and more studies were published that directly contradicted the NFL’s MTBIC “studies” and reports. However, the NFL did not waver in their efforts to discredit and discourage investigations of this nature. In 2002 the SHTF. Dr. Bennet Omalu examined the brain of former Pittsburg Steeler Mike Webster. Mike died of a heart attack at age 50 following unusual and unexplained behavior after retirement. In Mike’s brain, Dr. Omalu discovered a new disease which he called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). He published in Neurosurgery in July 2005. The NFL’s reaction was to demand that the article be retracted. Dr. Omalu responded with a second paper on the subject. Dr. Ira Casson, co-chair of MTBIC, denied in a televised interview that there was any link between head injuries sustained playing in the NFL and long-term brain damage. Dr. Omalu and colleagues founded the Brain Injury Research Institute (BIRI). In 2012 they began an autopsy of Junior Seau, former NFL linebacker. Seau committed suicide, shooting himself in the chest to preserve his brain which he donated to the BIRI. However, Seau’s son revoked permission after he was contacted by the NFL denouncing Omalu’s qualifications, motivation and ethics. The NFL commissioner appeared before Congress and was much less than forthcoming. Does this sound familiar? How about the path the tobacco industry took, even appearing before Congress and denying any connection between their product and the death of 7 million people worldwide every year? Would it surprise you that the legal representation of the NFL has ties to the tobacco industry legal defense? Finally in November 2009, an NFL spokesperson, Greg Aiello, publicly said “it’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long term problems.” Does it  take hundreds of scientific studies and papers to convince people that getting hit in the head is unhealthy? Apparently so when the product is a $14 billion to $25 billion business. We can’t have anything affecting our bottom line, even the misery and death of people, can we? The NFL employs thousands of people and is expected to net $14 billion this year. The real economic impact comes in the thousands of ancillary business that surround the NFL. All the way down to the cost of the pizza you order to eat while watching the game on TV while wearing the jersey of your favorite player and team. Yes, this is big business. Huge business. It’s not going anywhere. We have seen many significant changes, all improvements in my mind, but much more has to be done to make the game safer. How about when a player is removed from the game after suffering a concussion, the player who caused the concussion also has to leave the game and lose his pay for that game? A lot of attention has been given to protecting pass receivers which is good, but we need some protection for the running backs also. Now a runner is not protected. Even Iron Head Heyward did not have an iron head. He died at 39 from a brain tumor. I saw an interview of Tony Dorsett, former running back of the Dallas Cowboys. He is suffering with CTE. He said that some days he cannot remember the names of his children. At the end of the interview he was asked if, knowing what he knows now, would he do it the same way again? After some thought, he said “Yes, I’d still do it the same way.” Bo Jackson, another former NFL running back, said that if he knew about CTE as a young man he would not have played football and that there was no way that he would let his children play the game. Of course, he was a pro baseball player, too. We are going to have football. There is no question about that. So how do we protect those who are most vulnerable? Football in this country starts at six years old. Do they need to be protected from head trauma? Yes, even more so than the NFL players. How about flag football until high school? They could still learn the fundamentals of the game but in a safer environment.  Certainly something needs to be done in this aspect of the game. Thankfully this knowledge and emphasis on safety in the NFL has  trickled down to the college level. It was here that I became active regarding football and head trauma. I had been living in Europe and had been away from football, both college and pro for many years. When I relocated to the US and began to watch football again, I was astonished at how violent the game had become. Or was it always that way and I had just accepted it as it was without question? Then my memory began to click in. I recalled the play of the defensive backs of the Oakland Raiders. There was Jack Tatum and several other defensive backs the Raiders had between 1970 - 80 who would knock a defenseless receiver unconscious and laugh and high five when they got to the sidelines. There is the infamous Tatum hit on Darryl Stingley of New England in a preseason game where the pass was too high and incomplete but Tatum drilled him anyway, causing a spinal injury paralyzing Stingley from the chest down. Is that football? Well, it was then. There was no flag on the play and no consequences for Tatum. Thankfully there is a penalty and a fine for that kind of play today. But we still see it. We have to eliminate that vicious play that borders on criminality. The college players tried to emulate what they saw the pros doing. Time and time again I saw defensive backs spearing defenseless receivers, usually with a head to head blow, to dislodge the ball. I’m sure the defensive backs thought ‘that’s the way the pros do it. That’s the way to do it.’ And the thing that really angered me was a broadcaster saying “that’s just football. There should be no penalty on that play.” Kirk Herbstreit was the announcer I heard most often with that comment. Finally I had had enough. I fired off a letter to Herbstreit saying something like “Kirk, when you see the player being carried off the field on a stretcher, run down on the field and tell him ‘that’s just football, son.’ And then run into the stands and tell his parents ‘that’s just football.’” And I asked him ‘is that the way you teach your kids to play football?’ I never got a reply from Herbstreit, even though I sent several letters with a similar message each time. Perhaps it was because I called him a hoodlum broadcaster because of his comments. He could have been part of the solution to the problem, but no, he was as big a part of the problem as the vicious hitters on the field. He could have condemned that kind of play rather than glorifying it. It pains me to see him still broadcasting and every time I see him I think ‘Herbstreit, hoodlum boadcaster.’ I didn’t limit myself to letters to Herbstreit. I also sent letters to coaches whose teams I saw playing like that. The coaches may be teaching it, maybe not, I don’t know that. But if they allow it, they condone it and it reflects negatively on them and on the school. I also sent letters to those college presidents telling them that that type of play reflects on them, on the school and on the students at the school. On the field those players represent the coach, the school president, the students, the school itself. I also called the coaches and the school presidents hoodlums for not stopping that type of play. A couple of schools I singled out were Auburn and Oklahoma. Coach Gene Chizik and defensive coordinator Ted Roof and President Jay Gogue. Chizik was fired at Auburn but I think his record had more to do with that than his allowing or coaching this style of play. Chizik had two players on his 2010 - 11 team that were known as the two dirtiest players in the SEC. They were not only vicious but in the scrum would bite, hit, kick, spit, twist the helmet of the other player - just real hooliganism. Chizik’s Ted Roof was asked about the play of these two guys and he sheepishly lowered his chin and said meekly ‘well, it is a contact sport.’ Yes, it is a contact sport. But it is blocking and tackling. Not intimidating and maiming. Yes, I also wrote to Oklahoma and called Coach Bob Stoops and President David Boren hoodlums. No, I didn’t receive a reply from anyone. Not that I was expecting one. It pains me to see Chizik on TV as a commentator on the SEC network. Hoodlum Herbstreit, hoodlum Chizik. Incidentally early in his coaching career, Chizik had a player die of a brain aneurysm from a hit to the head in practice. And he still allowed that type of play at Auburn. Researchers at Boston University announced in July 2017 that they had detected evidence of CTE in 110 of 111 donated brains of former NFL players. Do we need any more evidence? Something has to be done about this now. NOW! Changes to the rules can help. We can write to the rules committees saying that we support changes to the rules to make the game safer. Maybe even offer your suggested rule change. Ray Anderson, the AD at Arizona State is president of the NCAA Football Competition Committee. Rich McKay, the president of the Atlanta Falcons is the Chairman of the NFL Competition Committee. 

Image Source - Getty Images, Debbi Smirnoff.

The NFL’s lying to its players and fans and the public about head trauma is just the tip of the prevarication iceberg. How about US Gymnastics and Michigan State University concealing the sexual abuse of Dr. Larry Nassar? How about Penn State’s concealing the sexual abuse of Jerry Sandusky? How about the Catholic Church’s concealment of sexual abuse by priests? The Peace Corps concealing abuse of its volunteers? The UN concealing rape by UN soldiers? The entertainment industry turning a blind eye to sexual misconduct in the work place? How about multiple US Presidents lying about Vietnam and Southeast Asia? How about George Bush and Dick Cheney lying about Iraq? How about the US auto industry concealing deaths relating to unsafe cars (Ralph Nadar)? How about the city of Flynt Michigan and the lead in its water? How about the pharmaceutical industry lying about opioids for profit while putting the public at risk? The sugar industry buried evidence of sucrose’s link to health problems. How about the savings & load crisis where 296 institutions failed? How about the financial crisis of 2007-08 involving banks, insurance and real estate? The military lying about friendly fire incidents, the police lying about deadly force incidents? And we can’t forget about Tobacco. It still kills 400, 000 people in the US every year. Only now surely everyone knows that using tobacco can and most likely will lead to a very unpleasant death. Congress could mandate a more direct and colorful warning on every package, but they don’t. Do you know why not? Oh, my!  Is mom the only one we can trust?

[picardonhealth]

CTE and violent sports: It's time to rethink our approach

ANDRÉ PICARD, The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Jul. 25, 2017

A football player’s brain is a frightening thing.

You don’t have to be a neuropathologist to know that repeated blows to the head are going to take a toll.

But a new study, led by Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, provides some damning evidence of the link between football and the devastating neurological condition, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Read more: Damage found in 110 of 111 former NFL players' brains

The researchers, who examined the brains of former football players, found that 99 per cent of the players they studied had CTE. Just as concerning is that some of those studied were as young as 23 and had only played at a high-school level.

Of course, this doesn’t mean all football players are doomed to suffer horrific brain damage. The study subjects were not chosen at random; rather, the players (or their families) donated their brains because of suspicious symptoms.

But what Dr. McKee’s research does provide is incontrovertible evidence of a link between football and CTE – something that, until fairly recently, the leadership of the National Football League and the Canadian Football League had denied, in much the same manner Big Tobacco long denied that smoking caused lung cancer.

The study also provides some important clues about who is most at risk of CTE. Researchers found, for example, that in their sample, linemen were most likely to suffer from CTE and experience the most severe damage to the brain. (Forty-four of the 110 NFL players with CTE were linemen.) And, the longer a career, the greater the brain damage, with few exceptions.

CTE is a condition caused by repeated blows to the head. The jolts trigger degeneration of brain tissue and buildup of a protein called tau which, in turn, can lead to symptoms such as memory loss, aggression, depression, dementia and suicidal behaviour. (Tangles of tau are also a tell-tale sign of Alzheimer’s, but the patterns of tau that characterize CTE are distinct.)

There has been a lot of attention in recent years focused on concussions in football (and other sports, such as hockey, and other high-risk activities, such as being a combat soldier). But CTE is believed to result not only from concussions, but from repeated, head-jarring hits that are so commonplace in football.

Over a 10-year period, a lineman will deliver and absorb an estimated 15,000 hits. Pro linemen are big, powerful men who are not doling out love taps but, rather, blows equivalent to driving a car into a brick wall at 50 kilometres an hour and, in lieu of an air bag, having a piece of plastic and foam on your head.

The question now is: What do we do with this information? What can be done to reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury, particularly in violent contact sports such as football?

We have to recognize, too, that the science is in its infancy. We still have no idea how many football players over all suffer from CTE – though it is probably a small minority.

We don’t know either the role of genetics and lifestyle factors. Why do some players suffer traumatic brain injury and others do not, even if their activities are similar?

What we do know, however, is that the dose makes the poison – the more blows to the head a player suffers, the greater the damage.

We know too that technology is not the solution. No helmet, no matter how strong, can prevent the brain from sloshing around during collisions.

Professional players, presumably, know (or at least are beginning to understand) the risks, and they balance those against the potential rewards, including multimillion-dollar contracts.

In pro football, there have been rule changes to reduce blows to the head. But violence sells, and the NFL, which hauled in $13-billion (U.S.) in revenue last year, is going to cling to its macho traditions, even if it costs young men their brain health and their lives.

But what this research should push us to do, more than anything else, is protect children and youth by minimizing their exposure to brain-jarring hits.

That doesn’t mean wrapping them in a protective bubble, but it should lead us to question whether participation in violent sports, such as tackle football, is necessary or desirable, especially below the college level.

The legacy of those who donated their brains to science should be a sober reminder that a brain is a precious thing.

[kathleenseiber]

Right exercise ‘dose’ treats teen concussions

Teen athletes who sustained concussions while playing sports recovered more quickly when they underwent a supervised, aerobic exercise regimen, according to a new study.

The study is the first randomized clinical trial of a treatment in the acute phase after a sport-related concussion.

“Telling a teenager to go home and basically do nothing is depressing.”

The goal was to evaluate prescribed, progressive sub-symptom threshold exercise as a treatment within the first week of a concussion in adolescents after a few days of rest. Sub-symptom threshold exercise is physical activity that doesn’t exacerbate symptoms.

The researchers followed 103 participants, ages 13-18. The group had nearly the same number of male and female participants. Researchers saw all participants within 10 days after sustaining a sport-related concussion.

Patients who followed the aerobic exercise program took on average 13 days to recover while those in the control group, who performed stretching exercises, took 17 days. In addition, fewer patients in the exercise program took longer than four weeks to recover than did patients in the control group.

“This research provides the strongest evidence yet that a prescribed, individualized aerobic exercise program that keeps the heart rate below the point where symptoms worsen is the best way to treat concussion in adolescents,” says first author John J. Leddy, clinical professor of orthopaedics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, and director of the Concussion Management Clinic at UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

The researchers plan to investigate if the treatment is also effective in adults with concussion.

Hope for a treatment

There is no proven treatment for concussion, the researchers say, especially among adolescents, who typically take the longest to recover.

“Until now, nothing else has been proven in any way effective for treating concussion,” says senior author Barry S. Willer, a professor of psychiatry in the Jacobs School and director of research in the Concussion Management Clinic. “This is the best evidence so far for a treatment that works.”

The findings directly contradict the conventional approach to concussion, which often consists of nearly total rest, eliminating most physical and mental activities, including schoolwork.

“Telling a teenager to go home and basically do nothing is depressing,” says Willer. “It can actually increase their physical and psychological symptoms, and we see that particularly among girls. But with our approach, you’re saying, sure, you can return to school and you should start doing these exercises. Their chins are up, mom and dad are happy and so is the student.”

The fact that all states have now passed laws requiring schools to make accommodations for students who have sustained concussions is also helpful, says Willer, so that the student can opt out of some activities during the school day, if necessary.

The right amount

To determine how much exercise each patient could sustain without exacerbating symptoms, the researchers had each one undergo the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test, which Leddy and Willer developed, to determine at what level their symptoms worsen. As the patient walks on a treadmill, the incline gradually increases and researchers record heart rate at the point where concussion symptoms intensify.

“We prescribed exercise at 80 percent of that threshold,” Leddy explains, “so each patient’s exercise ‘dose’ was individually tailored.”

Researchers randomly assigned Patients to the aerobic exercise group (52) or to a stretching group (51). Patients in both groups were sent home with a heart rate monitor so they could make sure they stayed below the threshold while exercising.

Both groups performed their assigned exercise for about 20 minutes each day and had to report compliance and daily symptoms online. Those in the aerobic group either walked on a treadmill, rode a stationary bike, or walked either inside or out. Aside from the prescribed exercise, researchers advised patients to refrain from contact sports, gym class, or team practice. Researchers also gave them advice about getting schoolwork done and told to avoid excessive use of electronic devices, since that can also aggravate symptoms.

Faster recovery

The researchers re-evaluated each patient’s condition weekly and as symptoms improved, they increased the “dose” of exercise or stretching according to the weekly treadmill test results.

The researchers rigorously defined recovery, requiring agreement among three independent criteria: the patient’s reporting a normal (minimal) level of symptoms, a normal physical examination by a medical doctor, and the return of normal exercise tolerance on the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test. The physicians were blind as to the group assignment of each participant.

One surprising finding was that only two participants out of 52 (4 percent) in the aerobic exercise group took longer than four weeks to recover compared to seven out of 51 (14 percent) in the stretching group.

This did not reach statistical significance, but the scientific literature suggests, by contrast, that between 15 and 25 percent of adolescents who do not receive any treatment will be symptomatic past four weeks.

“Reducing the number of concussed adolescents who have delayed recovery has major implications,” Willer says, noting that delayed recovery creates more difficulty with schoolwork, can lead to depression, and puts additional demands on the health care system and its costs.

Moving forward

Coauthor Michael J. Ellis, medical director of the Pan Am Concussion Program in the surgery and pediatrics department at the University of Manitoba, says that for years, his clinic has been successfully using the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test and a medically supervised sub-symptom-threshold aerobic exercise program to treat professional, collegiate, and elite adolescent athletes.

Expanding access to this treatment is now critical, he says.

“The results of this study suggest that we must build greater capacity within our health care systems to allow patients access to multidisciplinary concussion programs and clinics that have the medical expertise to carry out early targeted rehabilitation of acute concussion,” he says.

The research appears in JAMA Pediatrics. Additional coauthors are from the University at Buffalo, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Pan Am Clinic Foundation. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, both of the National Institutes of Health, supported the research.

Source: University at Buffalo

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