It was homecoming, 1988. I stood stunned on the sidelines with the other cheerleaders, praying that he would wake up. It had been 20 minutes and he still wasn’t moving. The crowd was silent as the ambulance pulled away. He would be pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Keith, our star linebacker, was 17 years-old, and our hearts were broken. His family was religiously opposed to an autopsy, but we were told he had likely died from a congenital cerebral aneurysm. 25 years later, almost to the day, I sat watching an ESPN discussion about an Arizona high school football player who had died after a game sustained concussion, likely from second impact syndrome. Suddenly I was back on that sideline. “Keith,” I said aloud to nobody in the room. Thus began my thirst for knowledge about traumatic brain injury and the possible resulting pathologies such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Pathophysiology
Nearly 86 years ago, Dr. Harrison Martland penned the first clinical delineations of what he termed “punch drunk”; a pattern of neurologic sequelae found in boxers (Martland, 1928). The condition would later become know as pugilistic dementia and then chronic progressive traumatic encephalopathy of boxers (Critchley, 1957; Millspaugh, 1937). Today this condition is called chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE and includes a wide array of clinical manifestations, ranging from mild cognitive, motor and behavioral dysfunction, to complete dementia with Parkinson's-like tremors (McKee et al., 2013). Those battling CTE often struggle with aggression towards others and are at high risk for suicidal behavior.
CTE occurs in patients with a history of blunt force, closed-head trauma. Although highly associated with groups prone to rep...
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..., D. A., Donoghue, N., …Barrio, J. R. (2013). PET scanning of brain tau in retired national football league players: preliminary findings. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 21(144), 138.
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Stoller, K. P. (2011). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (1.5 ATA) in treating sports related TBI/CTE: two case reports. Medical Gas Research, 1(1), 17.
Scrimgeour, A. G., & Condlin, M. L. (2014). Nutritional treatment for traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma, 31, 12.
Wetjen, N.M., Pichelmann, M. A., & Atkinson, J. (2010). Second impact syndrome: concussion and second injury brain complications. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 211(4), 553-557
A big part of the NFL’s hold on players is their contracts and money. Thousands of young men aspire to be on a professional team, just for the fame, money and title. They are not made aware of the lasting conditions that come with playing football and their everlasting effects. If anything, the NFL has gone out of their way to discredit the newer research that links playing football with CTE. CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a disease that has the same effects as dementia and Alzheimer’s, except that CTE leaves tau protein deposition in distinctive areas of the brain, which is what separates CTE from dementia and Alzheimer’s....
CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which has not been found in football players until recently. It was stated in the episode, “Repetitive brain trauma starts this cascade of events in the brain that changes the way tau [protein] looks and behaves. It goes awry, it starts destroying the integrity of the brain cells.” Doctor Omalu’s discovery was the first hard evidence which proved playing football could cause permanent damage. This finding was not well received by the NFL and Omalu was met with attacks by the MTBI committee and the NFL as a whole.
Thiel, Art. “NFL’s Plight on Brain Injuries Not Over.” Al Jazeera America. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Kremer, Andrea. "Health of the Game: Brain Injuries beyond Concussions 0." NFL.com. N.p., 7 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. (Online Video)
If you have the brains when you start, you are aware that banging your head into people is not the best thing for your body,” stated Chris Cooley, tight end and a 2 time Pro Bowler with the Washington Redskins (Do No Harm, 2). Research over the years has gathered extensive data on the mental and physical illnesses of retired NFL football players. It has proved that players who accumulate numerous concussions are at a higher risk of health problems after their football career than players who’ve sustained fewer. This data is proven by various studies that have caused worry for many retired NFL football families. The examples of deaths resulting from past concussions are astonishing, and the stats that show high risks for the possible problems can prove why they possibly died. Countless retired players are now frightened by the potential hazard of destructive health problems.
A. Background In recent years, there has been an increase in research investigating the long-term effects of repeated head trauma on the brain, especially in athletes. Following his discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Dr. Bennet Omalu inspired a movement of research aimed at establishing better safety standards and protocols in football. It was not until 2002 that the initial connection between repetitive head trauma, such as concussions, and brain injury was suspected (Ott, 2015). As common as concussions were during the late 1970s and 1980s, they were often swept under the rug, as they were seen as insignificant injuries.
Traumatic Brain Injury — Football, Warfare, and Long-Term Effects. New England Journal of Medicine. pp. 1293-1296. Doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1007051.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a degenerative disease of the brain linked to symptoms of dementia and depression. Some other symptoms of CTE include: amnesia, aggression...
The onset of symptoms are sometimes seen about eight to ten years after an individual retires from their sport, which roughly equates to someone aged thirty to fifty years old (Baugh et al., 2012; Wortzel et al., 2013; Karantzoulis and Randolph, 2013). As with all diseases, symptoms can range from mild to severe. Researchers have found a positive correlation between the number of brain injuries sustained during a length of time playing a sport and the severity of symptoms (McKee et al., 2009). The specific brain regions affected by CTE are often debated, but some of the areas most commonly agreed upon to show deterioration are: limbic system (thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, mammillary bodies), hippocampus, cerebral cortex, frontal lobes, substantia nigra, and the brainstem (McKee et al., 2009; Baugh et al., 2012).... ...
Thesis: Concussions affect children and adults of all ages causing physical, emotional and metal trauma to a person and their brain.
While many athletes are fine after receiving one concussion, it is the second concussion that can be very unfavorable and even deadly. When an athlete receives a second concussion before the first concussion has fully healed, it is called second impact syndrome.... ... middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Adirim, Terry A. & Co.
"Incidence of Concussion in High School Football Players of Ohio and Pennsylvania." Journal of Child Neurology. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide for which there is no cure. Many patients who survive from TBI may experience permanent cognitive loss, behavioral issues, and emotional disturbances, which require daily medical or social attentions.[1, 2] It is believed that over 2% US population is experiencing TBI-associated disabilities which create an annual burden evaluated at $60 billion on direct (medical service) and indirect (loss of productivity) costs.[3, 4] Traumatic brain injury is complex which consists of a mechanical trauma (primary injury) and a resulting biochemical cascade (secondary injury), and lead to a wide diversity of symptoms.[5]
One of the earliest players to bring awareness to brain traumas was Mike Webster, a former Pittsburgh Steeler. In April of 1999, he claimed to be disabled with the NFL Retirement Board. He also had dementia which was a result of the brutal hits he endured during his football career. Webster ran into many problems at the e...
Following behind motor vehicle crashes, traumatic brain injury in sports is the second leading cause of traumatic brain injuries for people fifth-teen to twenty-four years of age. Immense concerns follows given that American football accounts for the highest incidence of concussions (Rowson and Duma 2130). In addition, th...