CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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.

Even though football players are aware of the dangers the game can bring upon them, they take part despite it. The passion, the joy it creates; for professionals it’s also the devoted fans and compensation they receive is what keeps the players motivated. Today players are much bigger, faster, smarter,

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

Since the 1920s, there has been a severe disease linked to athletes. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a disease that effects athletes that have had head trauma. The trauma causes the brain tissue to deteriorate. The changes can become apparent after months, years, or even decades. CTE is linked to memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia. (“What”, 2009). CTE has caused football to change as well as the equipment. CTE is now widely known and is effecting, not only professional athletes, but also high school athletes. Concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy are serious conditions that can affect anyone and have adverse effects.

CTE occurs when there is a “build up of tau, a protein that spills out of cells due to blunt forced trauma.” (FORBES) This build up of tau can disable neural pathways in the brain that control things like memory, judgment, and fear. (FORBES) CTE has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). CTE was discovered in 2002 by Bennet Omalu a forensic pathologist. The first player to be diagnosed with CTE was Mike Webster, a former center for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Webster died in 2002 from a heart attack. However, during his autopsy his brain showed severe damage which then became known as CTE. Ultimately, doctors believe that Webster’s death could have been a result of the CTE that they found. (coll.) According to Boston University and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ study, 87 out of 91 former NFL athletes have tested positive for the brain disease, CTE. It is important to note that this study was also performed on former high school and college athletes and the results were similar. Therefore, the danger of concussions is not just within the spectrum of the NFL.

Concussions are thought to be one of the main contributing factors that lead to the development of CTE. If you break down the word to its Latin origins, concussion stems from the word conutere, which means to shake violently. A concussion is a type of brain injury that occurs when a patient receives trauma to the head, causing the brain to shake. It is believed that players receive concussions when they are exposed to either linear or angular forces (Cantu, 2012).

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).

Concussions in the NFL The acronym CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which is a continuous disease that inflicts the brain of athletes who suffered ongoing concussions and traumatic brain injuries. This disease was known to affect boxers, however, recent reports published that CTE exists in retired football players and other athletes who have a history of repetitive brain trauma. CTE triggers degeneration of brain tissue and can begin in months, years, or even decades. The symptoms of this disease is usually memory loss, impaired judgement, depression, confusion and impulse control problems.

It was not until Dr. Bennet Omalu examined, NFL superstar, Mike Webster’s brain. While Webster was alive, he was examined and it was found that he developed dementia due to his multiple concussions (NFL Concussion Fast Facts). Unfortunately, Webster ended up committing suicide; however, it was believed to be linked to his brain damage. Omalu took a close look at his brain and discovered that Webster had CTE. Omalu was the first to identify CTE in American football players (NFL Concussion Fast Facts). CTE is a degenerative disease of the brain and is associated with repeated head traumas, like concussions. It was also found that a total of seven NFL players, that had committed suicide, all had CTE developed in their brains. All of these different findings showed why it was even more important for the NFL to fix the

I fought for the awareness of CTE, which is most commonly found among NFL players. People who suffer from CTE has symptoms of progressive dementia, amnesia, and parkinsonism, just to name a few. CTE is usually caused my multiple concussions.

“If only she knew then that her son would be dead at 25. Joseph hung himself in his mother's shed on June 7, 2012. His brain was later found to have severe CTE, a degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions in football. Joseph Chernach had played sports,

“There are between an estimated 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States every year”(“Statistics”) Concussions can lead to death or permanent injury. A concussion is a brain injury that causes long term brain damage. Some football players will hide injuries, so that they can continue to play

The National Football League (NFL) generates billions of dollars a year and it produces the most watched events on television. However, recent research has showed that the game of football might be too dangerous for someone to consider it to be a full-time job, and the players have taken notice. A recent trend has started consisting of players retiring well-before the “prime” of their careers, and this is due to the physical damage that isn’t always so clear to the eye. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative brain disease, has reared its ugly head in the brains of former NFL players. This disease is caused by repetitive collisions to the head and concussions, something that occurs with football players at an extremely

Tackling Concussions and CTE “Head On” In a study of 92 former NFL players, it was found that a total of 88 (96%) of them were afflicted with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE (Tyler). With such a high percentage of former NFL players suffering from this disease, one would think solid efforts would be being put forward towards a cure, or that a cure may even have already been found. But this is not the case. Very little is known about this disease, and there is no known cure for it yet. As the leading influence in the game of football, the NFL has the moral responsibility to fund research and put forth an effort towards reducing the risk of and eventually eliminating head trauma in the game of football.

Since 2009 over 500 players have come forward with personal legal suits regarding long term effects of concussions. The NFL conducted research from 1994 to 2009 lead by one Elliot Pellman [1]. At the time he was employed by the Jets franchise and claimed that no data had shown up. He then reported that they did not find any direct connections between head injuries received while playing, to long-term consequences. Since this study funded by the NFL, a lot of progress has been made proving them wrong. One of these big discoveries was CTE. CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found most commonly in athletes. It is caused by multiple concussions that then trigger progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the build up of an abnormal protein called tau. [1]. These changes to the brain can begin months, years, or even decades after the last concussion or end of active lifestyle. This can lead to memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, paranoia, impulsive control problems, aggression, depression, and eventually progressive dementia [6]. In 2008 Dr. Robert Cantu of Boston University’s school of medicine partnered with a team to create the worlds first research center dedicated to studying CTE [6].