Concussions are a very big problem in football. A VERY big problem. At this point, I don’t think this is a controversial statement, but it’s still worth discussing because football is such a big part of so many people’s lives. I include myself in this. I worked for Temple’s football team in grad school (I tutored our guys, so nothing that exciting) and still follow the team, along with Penn State and the Eagles. All injuries are scary, as is just having a 300 pound man running at you at full speed, but brain injuries are terrifying. Tragedies like the suicide of Junior Seau are heartbreaking and are directly linked to brain injuries http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8830344/study-junior-seau-brain-shows-chronic-brain-damage-found-other-nfl-football-players.
This all makes it too sad to laugh the Russell Wilson, the Quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, suggested that magic water might have helped him avoid a concussion. http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/russell-wilson-clarifies-concussionrecovery-water-comments/ As seen in Rolling Stone and the Seattle Times, Wilson appears to suggest (though he backed off a bit in the second interview in the link) that “Recovery Water” allowed him to come back from a blow to the head. “Recovery Water” is one of the roughly millions of products that makes vague claims that it will help you be a better athlete. The website does provide a "scientific study" to show that it improves performance. Oddly, the study does not look at what I think most people would consider recovery (bouncing back from an injury or exercise). Also, shockingly, the inventors of the product (which claims it uses vaguely defined “nanotechnology” to vaguely give you “healthy cells”) found a positive result, although even the tiny study they provide did not actually have statistically significant results. They were almost significant, but come on, I need a little more proof that your water actually has magic healing properties. The link to the study is here for your review, although I can’t find that it was every submitted for peer review http://recoverywater.com/wp-content/uploads/ACSM-2011-abstract_submitted.pdf.
If even one young football player thinks he can avoid or lessen his concussion with Wilson endorsed magic water, then he’s done that young man a horrible disservice. This isn’t an idle thought, either. Google “football pickle juice” for some fun shots of athletes drinking actual pickle juice as a way to hydrate (the best is this guy, who didn’t take the pickles out of the jar http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/9/13/4728868/boise-state-jay-ajayi-pickle-juice). Trends like this can spread rapidly among athletes, especially when a top player on a top team is into them. If Russell Wilson says that he likes recovery water (for the taste, the subjective feeling or whatever) then I really don’t care. I’m not paying for it unless I get a darn good explanation about the nano-whatevers and at the very least a study of its effects not conducted by the people who are selling it. NFL players also don’t play that long (injuries can rack up fast) so I don’t blame him for taking the sponsorship deal. However, we all need to be very aware of the risks of suggesting an ineffective treatment for such a serious injury. Maybe a good rule would be to avoid any treatment that comes in “Essence of Cucumber and Mint” flavor.