WWE News: Randy Orton Returning to SmackDown After Concussion Injury

WWE is advertising the return of Randy Orton this week at SmackDown. Randy is coming back from a concussion injury.

This is not the first concussion that he has suffered in his career.

A concussion is the most common form of brain injury, yet it is still widely misunderstood. We know that cells become damaged, but we are still trying to determine if physical changes to the brain occur due to the concussions.

A concussion comes from an impact to the head. The brain is not stationary inside the skull. When the head is hit with a great enough force, the brain moves inside the skull and can impact the skull. This results in bruises on the brain.

Once the brain is concussed, cells become damaged. Brain cells are not like other cells in the human body. They do not go through cell division. Cell division is how cells repair themselves. Once brain cells are damaged or lost they cannot be repaired. 

Science is still trying to determine how multiple concussions affect a person long term. One trend they are seeing is that athletes who have had multiple concussions develop a medical condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

CTE is a degenerative brain disease that is very similar to Alzheimer's disease. As of now there is no cure for this condition.

Chris Benoit is a perfect example of a brain that has undergone multiple concussions.

The doctor that performed the autopsy on Benoit said that his brain looked like the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.

Randy Orton is likely the future of WWE; however, he needs to seriously consider what kind of life he wants to have after his wrestling career is over. Does he want to be a 50-year-old man who has trouble remembering things? Does he want to suffer from emotional problems that stem from multiple concussions? Does he want his family to see him suffering?

For most people all those answers would be no.

WWE has become proactive and has begun protecting wrestlers from blows to the head; however, accidents still happen and concussions still occur.

Randy really needs to be careful now and in the future. He needs to seriously start considering if wrestling is really worth the future risk; otherwise he may actually start to hear voices in his head.

 Louie Babcock has over five years experience in emergency medicine, and is studying medicine at the University of Minnesota.

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