The Flood Of Media Attention On Brain Injuries

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

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).

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.

Females and males are at risk and recover from concussions in different way. (Nelson, 2013) “Between 1.6 and 3.8 million sport-related concussions occur in the US annually, with an estimated 250,000 in high-school football alone…injury rates in American football are well documented with investigations of high-school football reporting that 3.6-5.6% of players will sustain a concussion in a single season.” (Broglio, 2008) Male football players have the highest overall volume of concussions. For women, it was found that in soccer and basketball had the highest concussion rates. It is suggested that women are more susceptible to concussions but, no further research has been conducted to prove this. It was also found that women are more likely to report concussion-like symptoms than men are. “Epidemiologic studies comparing male and female athletes in similar sports have found greater rates of concussion in women.” Women are also more prone to migraine headaches, making them more at risk for post-concussive recovery. There is a lack of awareness for concussions regarding the non-athletic population. It was found in one sample that 11.4% of individuals in an emergency department experienced some affects post concussion. There are also a variety of different psychological and physiologic mechanisms that can explain the differences in the gender effects. For example, females are more prone to mood, anxiety,

As said in http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/12/concussion-and-sports.html “In organized high school sports, concussions occur more often in competitive sports, with football accounting for more than 60% of concussions.” This shows us that the sport that causes the most concussions of any other, but the stats for genders are very different. For males, the sport that causes concussions more than any other is football. For females, soccer is the sport with most recorded female concussions. As stated in http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html, the chance for male concussions in football is 75%. For Females it’s 50% in soccer. Also stated in the article, “78% of concussions occur during games (as opposed to practice.)” The main cause of concussions in football is spearing (ramming with your head.) That is dangerous for the person ramming and the one being

Science says concussions are inevitable; 96 percent of all NFL players and 79 percent of all football players test positive for brain disease (Source: Frontline League of Denial 9/18/15 Concussion Watch Article). Prior to 2002, the NFL’s approach to preventing, treating, and managing concussions and CTE was very different than it is today. My essay will explore what some of those differences were and whether or not changes in the NFL are improving the outcomes and quality of life for current and former NFL players.

This article portrays how playing football can cause negative long term effects on your body. Frontline reported on numbers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University, where researchers studied the brains of 165 people who played football at the high school, college, or professional level. They found evidence of CTE in 131 of them—79 percent. Of the brains studied, 91 of them belonged to former NFL players, and 87 of those 91 (96 percent) had signs of CTE. In an attempt to further reduce concussions some teams are considering adopting a tackling style similar to that of rugby, where players

New evidence is now coming out showing that repeated brain trauma significant enough to cause concussions is causing long term effects that do not show up until later in life. This issue is knows as CTE or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This new condition is not yet well understood but the researchers know that it is in part caused by repetitive brain trauma. CTE has many negative side effects and symptoms that many retired NFL athletes are now starting to show which include; executive dysfunction, memory impairment, depression, and suicidality, apathy, poor impulse control, and eventually dementia. Since this is a CTE is a new finding research and findings are slow to come because their is yet to be a clinical diagnosis, findings have only come from post-mortem research and the individual's mental and physical history before his or her death (Baugh & Stamm, 2012). “Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) has found neuropathologically confirmed CTE in football players with no history of diagnosed or reported concussions (but who played positions, such as lineman, with the greatest exposure to repetitive hits to the head). This is a good example as to why concussion recognition, treatment, and prevention is so important. CTE so far is only showing up in athletes who are retired and ages 40 and older. These are the athletes who competed before

In medical terms, concussions are described as "a complex pathophysiologic process affecting the brain, induced by traumatic biomechanical forces" (Hunt, Paniccia, Reed, & Keightley, 2016, p. 749). Over the past couple of years, the number of concussions in athletics has increased drastically. According to the data released by the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, in the school year 2005-06 there were 133,000 concussions, which was much less than the recent data of the 2014-15 school year of 292,000 (Brzycki, 2016, p. 57). Not only are concussions becoming more prominent, but they accounted for 24.5% of all the injuries in 2014-15 (Brzycki, 2016, p. 57). Although many advances in concussion protocol have been

Head coming forcibly into contact with another and concussions caused by physically coming into contact with other players in sports are a swiftly escalating epidemic among young athletes. When debatable cases corresponding to CTE are left undetected, concussions can lead to the condition of long-term brain damage and may even prove untreatable. Athletes are left defenseless and useless without facts provided without hesitation accessible about their own health. Most concussions resolve with rest within a week to ten days; however, about 10% of concussions take longer to heal and some may have long-term consequences. While research is ongoing to help identify the best approach to changing the culture of concussion in sports, there are action steps that coaches, parents, health care providers, and school professionals can take now to help keep young athletes safe and supported as they pursue the sports they love to play. A shortened play clock might also make obese linemen lose weight, since there’d be less standing around and more hustling. And since all players would be more tired, they would have less strength when delivering hits. This will allow coaches would to control the basic strategy, but the players would control its application, communicating with one another more and engaging their otherwise static athletic

A recent study of college football players has shown that those who participate in high contact sports and have had a concussion before have a 300% higher chance of having another one in comparison to athletes that have never had a concussion before (Jolicoeur et al, 2007). The NFL and NCAA have enacted several rule changes in order to minimize the occurrence of concussions. These new rules, like many before them, have come under the scrutiny of the very athletes that they were meant to protect. The NHL and NHL Players Association in 1997 together created a program in order to get a better understanding of concussions and how to prevent them (Burke et al, 2011). According to Covassin (2008), athletes who have had more than one concussion take a longer time to recover with each concussion that they suffer from.

I conducted research regarding head injuries such as concussions in athletes and came across to find many sources have said the leading cause of death from sports-related injuries is traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury can happen when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters the brain tissue. A concussion is a part of traumatic brain injury which happens a lot in sports like football. According to a report made by NCCSIR, several football players associated with brain trauma complained of headaches or had a previous concussion before deaths. There have been suggestions made that the cause of concussions in football players happen because of many hits over time not by a single

“CDC reports show that the amount of reported concussions has doubled in the last 10 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that emergency room visits for concussions in kids ages 8 to 13 years old has doubled, and concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14 to 19 in the last decade” (Head Case, 2013). It is reported that between 5-10% of athletes will suffer concussion during any given sports season. Football is the most common sport with concussion risk for males with a 75% chance. It has also been found that 78% of concussions happen during games as opposed to during practices (Science Daily, 2014).

Many retired NFL players have suffered serious effects to the brain. “88 of 90 former NFL players suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (C.T.E.). This proves that it does have effects on the brain. “ all found to have C.T.E.- have committed suicide, and hundreds more continue to suffer from irreversible brain damage.” This evidence shows what exactly happens to these retired players.

My objective in the long term is to provide therapeutic and counseling services that assist persons suffering with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or acquired brain injury (ABI) in coping and recovering from the mental illnesses that often accompany such tragedies. TBI/ABI has shown a proven link with “anxiety, depression, personality changes, aggression (National Alliance on Mental Illness Veterans Resource Center May 8, 2009 Traumatic Brain Injury)”, as well as many other issues. As the caregiver for a survivor of a rare and deadly strain of encephalitis, I have a personal perspective that I feel brings much to the discussion. I see the information I am currently gathering at Empire State College as the building blocks that pave the way