CTE After Death: A Case Study

Even though some people believe that the NFL does not need stricter rules to help prevent concussions, stricter rules are definitely needed. According to Casebook in Is Football Too Dangerous, Several NFL players have committed suicide over the last few years, and medical evidence suggests that brain damage-the consequence of years of violent on-field collisions and concussions. This evidence shows that multiple blows to the head have caused CTE in former NFL players that have played a role in their deaths. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma (“What is CTE?”). How many more deaths are going to happen to former players before the NFL make the current rules stricter? The NFL can make the current players safer for their futures outside of football. The evidence is there to show why the NFL needs to make stricter rules.

Statistics have shown that over 300,000, student athletes have sustained concussions per year. Concussions are the leading factor to student athletes getting CTE. CTE is a degenerative brain disease that involves a buildup of the abdominal protein (Tao). Studies have shown that 21% of high school players will contain CTE in their life (Haelle). Not only are concussions tackling athletes, but football is also causing serious bone injuries. Student athletes suffer an estimated 2 million injuries every year, which results in 500,000, doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations. Injuries go from broken figures all the way up to a broken neck or back. Studies have shown and will continue to show that football puts the greatest risk of injury on student athletes.

CTE is a brain disease found in individuals with annals of head trauma. It has specifically been found in athletes with numerous concussions. So far it can only be diagnosed in the deceased, but Dr. Julian Bales and his staff in UCLA have discovered symptoms in living players such as Hall of Famer Anthony “Tony” Dorsett, Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, and NFL All-Pro Leonard Marshall. CTE can cause memory loss, dementia, depression, suicidal thoughts, cognitive and emotional difficulties (Waldron par 1, 2, 3). Is it a compelling issue? A total of 171 concussions were reported in the NFL in the 2012-2013 season; 88 thus far in the 2013-2014 season (Frontline pt). Those are just numbers in the professional level. There are thousands of kids playing football either in youth, middle school, high school, or college level. The diagnosis is currently in progress, researchers are optimistic this could lead to a legitimate treatment, how to manage, and hopefully a cure. Furthermore, this can also possibly lead to an answer to a connection between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Junior Seau, Mike Webster, Terry Long, and Justin Strzelczyk (all of whom are dead now) are all men who played in the NFL for an extent period of time. This is not the only thing they have in common. These former players had an uncustomary

CTE affects many different athletes all over the world. Chronic Traumatic encephalopathy or normally referred to as CTE is a brain disease that affects people who have had multiple head injuries. It is found in many cases of ex NFL players who took many hits to the head when playing over their careers. There are many documented cases of it across other sports and some military veterans as well. We have made large strides in learning more and more about the terrible disease. The game of football has changed since we have learned so much more about the terrible disease in recent years. We could prevent concussions by changing the way players practice.

While the NFL is putting new rules and regulations on equipment and which type of tackles are allowed, living retired NFL players are found to already have symptoms of CTE (Fainaru, 2013). Through brain scans and research done by UCLA, they have identified proteins in player’s brains that cause CTE, which as Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director or North Shore Neurological Institute said, is the “holy grail” to studying CTE and finding ways to cure and prevent it (Fainaru, 2013). While this is a break through, there is still no cure or way to treat CTE (Fainaru, 2013). But this research also raises questions about CTE and the NFL. Will players be required to be tested for CTE? Can players be denied playing anymore if CTE is found? Will this greatly affect the way that football is currently played? As the research is still being collected, there is still no definite answer to any of those questions, but the NFL has acknowledged the correlations of CTE and concussions caused by playing in the NFL and assures that they will do all they can to help prevent severe brain trauma to their players, including donating $30 million to the National Institutes of Health to conduct further research on CTE (Kroll, 2013).

According to James Bukes of the Pittsburgh Post, “The physical manifestations of CTE are a reduction in brain weight with atrophy of the medial temporal lobe, the frontal and temporal cortices, the brainstem, cerebellum hippocampus and other parts of the brain” (Bukes). This reduction in brain weight and brain size is caused by repetitive hits to the head, which is most often found in sports such as boxing, hockey and most notably, American Football. Due to the reduction of brain size, CTE has become known as an extremely debilitating disease, as well as life threatening. In an article from the Northeastern University the symptoms of CTE have been stated as, “depression, anger, memory loss and suicide” (Polnerow). There have been several cases reported of football players committing suicide, and then later being found to have been afflicted by this disease, most notably Dave Duerson, who donated his brain to CTE research after having committed suicide. Even though CTE has been proven through repeated studies, the general public is still in conflict over the true dangers of CTE and even if CTE is a true disease. In one study, 90 brains that had been examined of football players postmortem, 86 of them had cases of CTE (Storin). This is nearly 96 percent of examined brains that were found to contain CTE, meanwhile only 10 percent of the public are reported

Years ago, coaches referred to concussions as “having your bell rung” and were never considered as a serious injury. Athletes would simply skip a play and would be back in the game in no time. Concussions now have been linked to life-threatening injuries in many athletes. Today, concussions are the most common football injury by young athletes and are becoming more frequent each year. Coaches, players, trainers, physicians and parents need to take better precautions when dealing with concussions and with their help concussions will not be as life threatening as they are today. Today, the NFL and sports teams across the United States are sitting up and paying more attention to the medical profession when it comes to concussions. Concussions are dangerous, cause permanent damage to a person’s physiological state, and can lead to death. Multiple concussions suffered by athletes lead to long-term psychological problems.

Did you know that 99% of the dead NFL players had signs of Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when scientist looked through their brain (Ventras)? Most people wouldn’t know this fact, but scientist do and have known this since 2002. Even though they are making improvements, there is still an alarming rate of concussions happening. This report will discuss who is affected, how it can be prevented, how it is affecting sports today.

A CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a, “progressive degenerative disease that is believed to plague people who've suffered severe or repeated blows to the head” (Murphy). A player can have a CTE and not even know that they are suffering from it. This is because CTEs can only be discovered after the person dies. Paul Bright, for example, was a football player who played from the time that he was seven until he was a freshman in high school. He had experienced only one concussion, but it changed his entire life. His family and friends described him as hard working and upbeat, but then, something changed. He became reckless and erratic; these traits caused him to die at age twenty-four from a motorcycle wreck. His mother sent his brain off to be tested and discovered that he had been suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This brain disease had caused him to make the type of impulsive decisions that took his life (Murphy). In addition to the CTEs players may experience, the likelihood of dying from brain and nervous system issues increases significantly for football players. Studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health discovered that, “death involving neurodegenerative causes among the retired players was three times higher than in the general U.S. population, and the risk for two major

Of the 1,696 players, 271 players suffered a concussion through the first day of practice to the Super Bowl. That is roughly twelve percent of NFL players suffering a concussion in this latest season. In all of the articles researched, the authors have mentioned CTE, which has been stated as a fact after multiple traumatic brain injuries. With the mentions of CTE addresses the suicides of Junior Seau, Frank Gifford, and many other players who played back in the time with less rules and notifications of players having head and neck injuries.

Football has been in the spotlight after many suicides and even murders. The National Football League (NFL) has been the cause of 87 cases of CTE. (“New”, 2015). Many of these cases were hidden from the public by the NFL. It was only until a doctor, by the name of Bennet Omalu, took on the NFL. The recent movie “Concussion” starring Will Smith showed how Dr. Omalu found the disease. Dr. Omalu is the reason why the NFL has started taking preventive measures for this disease. Dr. Omalu recently stated that 90% of all NFL players have CTE. Many players have retired from their football careers because of the fear they have for this disease. Jovan Belcher’s case was one of the worst. Belcher was a standout linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. On December 1, 2012 he shot and killed his girlfriend. Belcher then drove to the Chiefs training facility where he shot and killed himself in front of the general manager and head coach. His autopsy had revealed that he had CTE at the age of 25. (“NFL”, 2015). Some star NFL players have also suffered from CTE: Junior Seau died at the age 43, Dave Duerson died at age 50, Andre Waters died at age 44, Chris Henry died at the age of 26, Ray Easterling died at 62. (“The NF.L.s”, 2014). These cases all have two things in common, each player had CTE and each of them committed suicide. There are 82 more cases, just like these, from NFL

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy effects over 1.2 million professional athletes every season from the pop warner leagues to the professional leagues. There are several ways to get a concussion. The most common way to get a concussion is through the engagement in sports, and sports-related activities. Other common ways are car accidents, motorcycle accidents, falls from a big playground obstacle, and more. The symptoms of a concussion can last for various intervals of time, most concussions that occur as a result of full blown hit to an athlete last for months and years. The ignorance of not knowing what a concussion is, results in the death of various prominent athletes in the professional league. Athletes such as : Owen Thomas , Mike Borich , Junior Seau , John Mackey , John Grimsley , Lou Creekmur , Ray Easterling , Dave Duerson all committed suicide due to concussion trauma and injuries.

First, I am going to talk about the science behind concussions, CTE, and why it is such an issue for a football player. Concussions are very damaging to the brain and experiencing a lot of them can lead to CTE. I will also discuss people that influenced the understanding of concussions and CTE. In 2002, a neurologist named Dr. Bennet Omalu tried to tell the NFL about the brain damage he found while doing a former NFL player’s autopsy, but the NFL did not really listen. In 2009, another researcher by the name of Dr. Ann Mckee tried to get the NFL’s attention about her concerns about football players and concussions as well. The NFL once again ignored these assumptions. However, the NFL did listen to Dr. Elliot Pellman, who told the league as early as 1994, that concussions were not a big problem and just part of the game. I will discuss how NFL players were treated when they got their “bell rung” during a big game; and what kind of medical treatment they

Over the past several years, concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) have become hot topics in the world of football. The long lasting effects of concussions and CTE experienced

For the first time ever, researchers at UCLA recently have found signs of CTE in living former NFL players. Until now it was only possible to detect CTE after death. The researchers at UCLA discovered a new method of testing for CTE in living people. They tested four retired players for CTE; Joe DeLamielleure, Leonard Marshall, an unnamed player, and most notably, the Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer, Tony Dorsett. So far, the three named players have all