I am a geek, always have been. But my dad was an all state football player and a golden gloves boxer in the Army. Despite my "best efforts" I was muscular, and was (for real) forced to play football against my wishes. I played for 6 years, and finally stopped after an injury that crushed vertebra in my lower spine. Healing from that injury, I went from a weight of 210 to 135, and required therapy to learn to walk again. I took me 10 years after that before I was physically active again. Reading this article is reading symptoms I have. I think I need to go to this clinic...
I played 5 years of football in middle/high school as a defensive and offensive tackle. I played hard and hit hard but fortunately never had a serious injury. The only one I had was a torn rotator cuff in the last game of my senior year. I was ok with that because it got me out of wrestling camp.
I didn't want to play at first, and was forced in 9th grade (2nd year). Apparently my grades were better when I was busy after school. I got to like it after I improved.
I'm also a geek; have been since 3rd grade. I'm glad I did it though, it gave me much confidence and it's good to work and excel at completely different disciplines. It also showed me what hard work really feels like. As one coach said, if you can make it through practices, you can make it through anything. That's stayed with me and helped me get through a lot.
Go check out the clinic. At least get an evaluation. I wasn't aware these sort of things were treatable. After reading of all the problems with concussions that can affect any level of player, it would be silly not to, especially if you are experiencing symptoms. Your weight loss is startling. Good luck.
Thanks to my wife, I work out 5 days a week now. It was a month of walking before I could run more than a block, but within a year I was jogging beside her for two miles five days a week. I'm at 165-170 now, with a real ease at bulking, which I don't really want. I saw chiropractors and acupuncturists quite a bit for the first 5 years I was active again. As my health returned to more-or-less athlete level my back / vertebra / neck and hips issues reduced and only happen if I miss workouts for more than 3 days. It's actually amazing what happens when I can't workout: not only do multiple joints slip, but my mental state just crashes. I can't code, can barely read, irritation at the tiniest things, pretty much a tunnel vision of perception takes place. I recognize the state now, get some protein and find a way to get a cardio hit that makes me pant, hard. That will head off a crash, both mental and my joints slipping. In many ways, I'm glad to be alive now, as places like this clinic are starting to appear. Previously, an injury such as mine put people into a disability state for the rest of their lives. Today, the dynamic nature of our bodies and advances in medical technology have brought forward a strong recovery attitude for many previously hopeless situations.
