Concussions In The NFL

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).

While examining his brain, they found the first case of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in a football player (Ezell). Dr. Omalu continued into the brains of football players. He diagnost another player with CTE. After that, two other doctors connect concussions to dementia. Dr. Bailes and Dr. Guskiewicz wrote, “that the onset of dementia-related syndromes may be initiated by repetitive cerebral concussions in professional football players” (Ezell). This was the first major finding connecting football to brain injuries.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as C.T.E is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with repetitive brain trauma (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). The Editorial Board wrote the article “The Scars From ‘Bell Ringing” Football Tackles,” publish July 29, 2017 in the New York Times, the Board argues that C.T.E is linked to football with the research help of Dr. Ann McKee. The Board uses pathos and logos effectively but when it comes to ethos, they do not build up their credibility.

Medical professionals first began to warn of the negative impacts of repeated concussions in NFL players in 1994. In 2005, a study of former NFL football players found that players who had suffered three or more concussions in their playing career were five times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment and were three times more likely to suffer from significant memory problems than players who had not suffered from concussions. In 2009, Dr. Ann McKee, a leading CTE expert, conducted a study examining the brains of five deceased NFL players. According to the study, all five players had CTE at autopsy. (13)

In the meantime, the future of football is questionable. Doctors across the country are against football; even some retired players think the game of football isn't safe enough to play anymore. Although throughout the years, football continues to sweep through history as the dangerous game taking more and more lives as seasons pass. Although it is rare now, there is still the possibility of death if a person partakes in the game of football. The brain disease CTE plays an important role in the status of the future of football. Also, CTE is a shorter term for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. It is considered to be a degenerative, which means it literally breaks the person down from the inside out, brain disease found most commonly in football athletes and war veterans. The disease is

People suffer from many different mental diseases that lead to death. One of these diseases is CTE. This disease is found most commonly in athletes, military veterans, and others with the history of repetitive brain trauma. These athletes are mostly football players who suffer from repetitive brain injury from head on collisions. CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE is a very consequential condition that should be taken seriously to help prevent health disorders in the future.

CTE affects the brain, deteriorating, that causes loss to its mass, producing an abnormal protein called tau, forming twisted fibers inside of the nerve cells that destroy them, which causes this neurological diseases. Symptoms of CTE can be visable years or even decades after someone's last head trauma; memory loss, erratic behavior, impaired judgment, suicidality, aggression, depression, and eventually progressive dementia. Although these symptoms can as well be caused without CTE even occurring, but it's hard to diagnose CTE while someone is still living. There is no known way picture imaging techniques like fMRI, CT, and EGG can show relations to the disease, a doctor, familiar with brain injuries or related issues, would have to go into the brain for them to verify this disease. In 2002, Brain Injury Research Institute, first diagnosed CTE in a professional football player, Mike Webster, death first said to be caused by a heart attack. Although Webster estate brought lawsuits, that ruled correctly, the NFL or other professional sports organization do not fund programs that do research among other football players and CTE. This disease is more commonly suffered from athletes due to past history of concussion, that although recover within a few days, have long term

CTE also follows up in the family of other despairing diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and Dementia. All these diseases are tied together from affecting the brain. Some symptoms these diseases endure are memory loss, confusion, personality changes, problems with focus and organizing thoughts. Most football players or any athletes for that matter get concussions on a daily basis but never realize it could be something much more serious than a bruised body part. Athletes are more than likely to be diagnosed with one of these conditions rather than someone who is not physically involved.

The author says… “Former players were found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE” “More people are talking about CTE.” The author also says “Eighty-seven of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science after death tested positive for a brain disease” “The NFL said it had taken several steps to make play safer.” “Playing under

Notwithstanding football players, CTE has likewise been found in boxers and hockey players. It causes manifestations, for example, impeded learning and memory misfortune, and has been connected with suicide. These manifestations regularly start years or decades after players have finished their athletic

CTE chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as “punch drunk syndrome” is caused by repeated brain trauma. CTE can be a hidden disease because it can only be found after death and close study of the brain. CTE has multiple long term syndromes such as parkinson's disease that affect the nervous system which impact movement and Huntington disease breaks down nerve cells over time;Altimeter and dementia are both diseases which affect the memory loss of the patient and are known to be a long term effect of CTE.CTE is known to affect the mind of the athlete and ALS affect the body.Both diseases can be fatal one tearing muscle away and the other tearing the mind, over time both affect the athlete. Both CTE and ALS are not treated able but both can be slowed down with correct treatment and medical attention.CTE unlike ALS cannot be found until after death.CTE is not just limited to one sport it can happen in multiple sports such as football ,boxing,soccer,hockey, and etc. It is popular belief that football players are the only ones affected by CTE,but they are not the only ones affected by this disease in fact girls soccer is the leading in CTE cases. Famous player such as Jeff Astle who played soccer from 1959-1977 in england's top division suffered from CTE.Jeff was part of the 1966 world cup squad and scored

When Scott Fujita, a professional football player, was young “he never was going to play football.” “Concussions is one of these pack journalism issues, frankly. There's no increase in concussions. The number is relatively small. The problem is, it is a journalist issue.”

Hall of fame football coach John Madden once said: “They’re on the right road, but there’s a long way to go on concussions.” The National Football League (NFL) is doing something about concussions, but it is not enough. In the NFL, there needs to be more player safety because of the immediate dangers of concussions and the increased chance of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and other mental diseases arising later in a player’s life.

In 2012 over 3.8 million concussions were reported, double of what it was just ten years earlier. With the recent increase of technology in those years we are now able to notice that this is a major issue. These injuries can be life changing and perhaps the scariest part is that they’ve been around longer than the games they occur in themselves. In the past, players would be hit by a 250 pound man running at full speed with their head thrown around and just ‘walk it off’, maybe sitting out for a couple of plays. Within the last few years, the National Football League has been under heavy pressure to do more to prevent and diagnose these concussions. However, even with these recent advances that have been made, the NFL is still not doing enough as it continues to avoid any claims of responsibility.