Chargers’ Kris Dielman suffers seizure on plane after Jets game

San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl left guard Kris Dielman suffered a seizure Sunday while flying home after a loss to the New York Jets, reports say.

Dielman sustained a concussion late in the game but continued to play, accordingto the Associated Press. The grand mal seizure occurred later as their plane was descending into San Diego.

Concussions are a major risk of football, boxing and other high-impact sports, and health professionals have been trying to raise awareness of the short-term and long-term damage they may cause.

Symptoms afterward may include headache, convulsion, vomiting and, yes, seizures (otherwise known as convulsions), according to the the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Many studies seem to look for seizures in the moments right after the concussion occurs, but according to a Merck Manuals page, they can occur even a week or more after the original head injury.

Now Dielman says he won’t play in Monday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and that he’s suffering from lingering headaches.

That’s a wise choice. Playing soon after a concussion is often a bad idea -- a brain needs time to heal, after all.

But many fighters and players in the past have simply stayed in the game or played a couple days later. Over the long term, such repeated head injuries are linked to brain disease long-term. An ambitious study by the Cleveland Clinic is looking to understand those effects in boxers and mixed-martial-arts fighters, according to Times sports writer Lance Pugmire.

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