Brain Trauma In Sports

Should the fear of brain trauma, change the rules of sports for good? Athletes have been susceptible for brain injuries since contact sports were invented. Although some are familiar with this, many people are unaware of the long term ramifications that often come with these types of injuries. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS) is a disease that is slowly plaguing our nation, starting with athletes. It is one of the fatal repercussions of repetitive head trauma, that is often overlooked. CTE, also known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is also a disease caused by head trauma that can drastically impact one’s life. CTE’s have a subset of different associated diseases such as Alzheimer's, Dementia, Parkinsons, and Huntingtons disease.

This is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it results in progressive loss or death of neurons. It often starts off with effecting simple motor skills like writing and holding things, after a few months usually patients start losing the ability to walk, talk, or move any of their limbs. Although the brain trauma is what causes it, ALS has little-no-effect on the brain. This fatal disease is typically diagnosed around age 60 and most patients are given about 3-5 years to live after being diagnosed. It has been found that 10% of cases are shown as genetic. It was brought to attention that athletes were beginning to get diagnosed with ALS at a younger age than most. After extensive research in the early 2000’s, Brain Analyst, Dr. Mckee ran tests and finally came to the conclusion that the toxic proteins in the brains of ALS patients were coming from repeated blows to the head. It was then made evident why so many athletes in contact sports such as football, soccer, boxing, etc… were being diagnosed at such a young age and more frequently than

CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of the brain most commonly noticed in athletes with repetitive head trauma. This trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, also the build up of a protein called Tau. Tau buildup causes an overuse in enzymes and damages the part of the brain that controls memory and learning. Athletes in sports such as soccer, may not realize the damage repeated impacts to the head can actually have because it seems so innocent. Therefore, the causatum of these impacts will be much more drastic. There are 4 different types of CTE that are associated with this type of brain trauma; Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Dementia, and Huntington's Disease. Alzheimer's and Dementia have more similar symptoms like, erratic behavior, cognitive decline, also mood and behavior changes. Although they are similar, Alzheimer’s is generally fatal and has a more drastic effect on the patient’s memory and mental decline whereas Dementia is not always incurable. Parkinson’s and Huntington's diseases also have similar symptoms such as; tremors and spasms as well as speech impairments muscle weakness and changes in behavior. In the past, CTE was only diagnosable through diseased patients, but research shows some cases being diagnosed in living subjects by using brain scans to search for the tau