Few images at a racetrack still a crowd like the sight of a jockey down on the track, and few elicit heartier cheers than seeing him get up on his own. Seemingly indestructible, these athletes are often called the bravest in sports, perched atop a speeding animal that outweighs them by a factor of ten.

Aware of the risks of their occupation, jockeys willingly take them on, resigned to the occasional broken bone, to surgery, even to concussions, which have the air of the inevitable in a sport where falls at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour are not uncommon. Riders take time off, they heal, and they get back on the horse.

But while healing is a fairly clear-cut procedure when it comes to broken bones, it is anything but when it comes to head injuries.

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