This disease appears after repeated big hits to the head are not allowed to heal over time. Thus, this trauma to the head constantly is present. As the blows to the head continue, this trauma increases. As the trauma increases, side effects become prevalent. Some examples are rage, aggression, and even suicidal thoughts. These thoughts were often never prevalent before.
However, it is easy to jump to conclusions and state that all side effects that football players publicize are a direct cause of CTE. CTE has never been proved to be a leading cause for a suicide attempt, or an overly-aggressive act, but it has been thought to be a minor factor. Although in this study, nearly every participant playing football had a least a sign of CTE, many football players (NFL or non-professional), do not show any signs. After completion of all 85 participants in this study, 17 showed no signs of the disease. However, these 17 apparently had the least degree of head trauma compared to others.
These recent findings could pose huge problems to professional football, and to the sport of football in general. It is possible that in the near future, rule changes could be in effect. Do you think the sport could survive these rule changes? What could be possible rule changes? If changes are due to happen, they must happen at an earlier stage rather than later.
This topic is important to me because I have played football earlier in my life, and many of my friends have played for most of their lives.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/health/football-brain-disease/index.html?hpt=he_c2
Some people might say that by changing the rules they are attempting to make a violent contact sport into something else, but I feel that changing existing rules and creating new ones in an effort to increase player safety is important. Some players could suffer a brain injury like a concussion and not even realize it because they dismiss their symptoms as something else. Another issue is that the players might recognize the signs, but decide to tough it out and play because sitting out might cost them their starting position. This isn't good because, as the article shows, brain injuries are serious and can cause serious damage that could be irreversible. I don’t know a lot about football rules, but maybe they can implement rules like making sure the helmet correctly fits the player or no helmet to helmet contact or stop a play if a player’s helmet comes off. I think the important part though is that there needs to be a penalty for every rule in order to ensure that it's enforced.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this study also included boxers, MMA fighters, and possibly WWE wrestlers. I feel that violence and rage is common among these other sports along with football. Boxers and professional fighters are constantly in the media for irrational violence (Chris Benoit, Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson). I do feel that constant traumatic brain injury can be linked to irrational violent decisions, but could that same rage be linked to some sort of genetic predisposition to violence and anger. I mean look at the sports these guys are competing in, they are violent blood sports that encourage the injury of others. Could it just be that they cant control their anger, and dont have a filter between competition and everyday life?
ReplyDeletePatrick Ryan
I know that many schools are suffering from budget cuts. Many of these cuts come from sports. That leads to ill-fitting equipment. I think that it should be mandatory that every player has a properly fitting helmet that is provided by the school and funded by the state. If contracts outline that temporary injuries cannot cost a player his starting spot, then more players would try to heal from a concussion. Simple rules like these wont change the sport but protect its players. I think that all players should be screened after the game for a concussion. Perhaps not with a CT scan but basic field tests. It wouldn't be any more expensive because most teams have a nurse/physical therapist on hand.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the article I realized that the authors did not take into account the effect concussions have on aggression and rage. Right after head trauma doctors will typically warn patients that they may experience aggression and rage for some time but that it should diminish with time. Could the duration since the last head injury be a moderator variable in this experiment? Could it be possible that over time the football players will show less brain abnormalities if they manage to not receive any more brain injuries? This could have huge implications for all contact sports. Maybe removing players after their concussions for longer periods of time could help. Maybe even removing the player all together after 2 or 3 head injuries in order to prevent further brain damage could be beneficial. I think its important that we start exploring all these options even if it changes the rules of the game a little. Better safe than sorry right?
ReplyDeleteI think that the most interesting and conclusive bit of information doesn't come from the actual cases of CTE, but that those 17 that didn't show evidence of CTE had not undergone the same degree of head trauma. That part of the study really rules out any undetermined factors.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand i agree with Patrick that a lot of these guys could have been aggressive before joining these sports and have a predisposition to increased aggression and anger.
Head trauma can result in damage to pituitary gland of the brain which regulates our hormones. In fact, certain combat athletes have been tested for incredibly low levels of testosterone and growth hormones. Very low testosterone in men can lead to depression which in turn leads to suicide. The distorted hormone levels of certain contact sports athletes explain why many exhibit bizarre behavior.
ReplyDeleteBrain damaged athletes frequently resort to steroid or growth hormone injects to help keep their hormone levels up. Unfortunately, steroids allow for athletes to run faster and hit harder which further increases the risk of head trauma.
I find this article very interesting because in the past few years we have seen a few NFL player commit suicide and this could be one of the reasons to blame for their actions. The most recent was the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who killed his girlfriend and then killed himself. I feel that the NFL is doing a good job on making the game safer to play for the players but football being a contact sport, it will be hard to completely get rid of all contact. As Gloria had pointed out before, even though athletes get injured they just shake it off because they do not want to lose their starting position. However with the recent rule changes I think there are a lot of people that are like football is a contact sport and the athletes know what they are getting themselves into. They think that changing the rules is making the game less exciting and not that much fun to watch anymore. I feel that even though without all those big hits the game gets less boring, however the player safety should come before anything else.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHead trauma in football, especially concussions, have been a big story for some time now. We have already seen a number of rule changes trying to reduce head to head contact between players. I think that more important than trying to significantly alter the rules of the game would be to improve helmet technology. The helmets used today and more importantly our methods for testing their effectiveness have changed little since the 1970's. I think that coupling improved technology with better education on proper contact techniques is the best way to help prevent head trauma in football.
ReplyDelete