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Concussions and CTE in the NFL. Can it be stopped?

The issue floating around the NFL at this point is concussions, and CTE

(Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). This certain retired NFL player was only 59

when he had his brain scanned, and in about two years people around him began

to notice some change, motor deficits like very simple tasks becoming very hard.

Not being able to button his shirt properly, zip up his pants, tie his shoes all

because of muscle twitching he developed and the decreased muscle mass in his

shoulders and arms. This man had been playing football at the age of 11, going all

the way up to the pro league and retiring at 33. Being at risks for concussions his

whole life and taking constant blows to the head is what put him at risk for CTE.

This situation happens all too many times to football players, who have played for

so long and had a large number of hits to the head. The worst part about CTE is

that they have not found a way to test for the head disease until after the person

has died. Then the family must send the brain into a lab, allowing scientists to test

the brain. Once they find the CTE they will report back to the family letting them

know there loved one has been suffering from this trauma. The saddest part

about the whole thing is that there is not much that doctors can to do help. All

they can do is prescribe medicine to try and decrease the symptoms with little
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result. There are many researchers and scientists trying to solve this uprising

issue, but is there really anything that can be done?

According to Anne Mckee, CTE was first diagnosed in 1928, when Dr.

Harrison Martland when he described a group of boxers with having “punch

drunk syndrome”. Then later in 2005, a pathologist named Benet Omalu

published the first cases of CTE in an American Football player, and former

Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster. Shortly after the first case, the Concussion

Legacy Foundation partnered with the Veterans Administration to form the VA-

BU-CLF Brain Bank led by Dr. Anne Mckee herslef. Out of 202 deceased former

football players brains that were submitted and scanned, they found CTE in nearly

88 percent of them (177) (Goldman). That is a huge number of retired players

who have had CTE found in their deceased brains. There have been recent pushes

to more investigation on CTE and how to create ways to stop it, but is it really

enough? According to researchers it is one of the biggest researches done on CTE

and it only covered those who played football. Just one concussion could put you

at risk of having neurological symptoms even after the concussion has been gone,

these symptoms include problems with hearing, problems with concentration,

confusion, speech or hearing difficulties, numbness or tingling in extremities, and

headaches (Rapaport). It all depends on how you treat the concussion to

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determine how the outcome will be for you. The players who do not realize they

have a concussion and the coaches and staff who do not know the symptoms of

concussions, allowing the player to continue playing is part of the reason CTE is

becoming an issue. Constant blows to the head without any treatment is the

cause of concussions, and multiple untreated concussions can lead to developing

CTE in the brain in later years of life. Getting the players and coaches trained on

concussion protocol and have them be aware of the signs and symptoms is the

first step to try and tackle concussions and CTE. When a player takes a blow to the

head they should immediately be pulled to the sideline for a couple of plays to be

evaluated to make sure they are not experiencing any signs of a concussion. Then

if the player is looking like they are somewhat experiencing the symptoms they

should be evaluated by a professional to determine whether they can return to

the field or how many games they should be out to ensure safety. The NFL is

somewhat enforcing more rules and policies to help the safety of the players such

as the head to head contact foul that punishes the opposing team and if bad

enough can fine the certain player targeting the other teams heads.

According to Daniel Rapaport in his Sports Illustrated concussion timeline

for football, the first survey of head injuries in the NFL only went as far back as

May of 2000. If you think about it concussions have been around since the NFL
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has started and just in the 2000’s have people been taking it like a serious issue.

In that study made back in May 2000 they came to a conclusion that players with

at least one concussion is 1.5 times more likely to have depression in their life,

and just one concussion can put you at risk of developing the neurological

symptoms like, , problems with hearing, and concentration, confusion, speech or

hearing difficulties, numbness or tingling in extremities, and headaches

(Rapaport). Also people also seem to be sensitive to light and noise, nervous or

anxious, could be easily upset or angered, highly emotional, irregular sleep

patterns and trouble falling asleep. This is very interesting to me because as a kid

I played football from elementary school all the way through High School, so does

that mean there was some chance I suffered a concussion and have the odds of

developing depression or those neurological symptoms? Honestly, there is no real

chance of finding out, the only way really to have your brain scanned would be

after you have already passed away. Researchers are trying to find new ways to

scan for CTE and concussions without the person already being passed but there

has not really been any break through yet. Dr. Anne Mckee recently came out and

said that her and her team of researchers have been doing some great work with

researching CTE and concussions but there work is nowhere near complete. She

said they will need around 100 million dollars in order to fully complete research.
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They reached out to the NFL saying that they need donations for the research, the

NFL said they fully support what they are doing and will try to fund what they can.

But Dr. Anne Mckee thinks otherwise, that the NFL will not send anywhere near

the amount they need because the research results will be too extreme, only

killing the NFL’s ratings hurting them badly in profits (Goldman). This is a very big

contradiction for the NFL and keeps the question if the NFL is doing enough. They

have made some rule changes and starting somewhat fining the players who

obviously target other players heads, but there is plenty more that can be done.

Without the players the NFL would make little to no profit so ensuring the safety

of the players should be a huge priority to the league, not only to ensure constant

revenue but also for the friends, family of the players, and the players safety.

Manufactures have also tried to create helmets to decrease the amount of force

of impact on the head and engineered technological solutions to better detect

head impacts (Spradley). Actions are being taking by multiple different industries

and researchers to try and stop the increasing numbers of concussions, but is it

really enough?

The numbers of players who have reported suffering at least one

concussion is very alarming, and not only at the professional level but every level

of football. Even kids that play football in Middle School, or even High School have
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more than likely suffered from at least one concussion. Personally speaking, I

played football my entire life and throughout that whole time I never went to the

doctor and was told had a concussion and had to sit out some games. I did

however get hit in the head really bad a couple times giving me an enormous

headache and a couple symptoms for a week or so. Even after telling my coach

what had just happened he sent me back into the game allowing the head injury

to get worse. That is what is wrong with the coaches in todays’ sports, they are so

unaware of what the symptoms are they just send the player back in the game

without a second thought. According to Brandon Spradley, Wirt Edwards, and

Abreu Marcos in their scholar reviewed journal “The War Against Concussions”

50% of High School athletes, and 70% of College athletes did not report a

concussion because they were not aware of the sign and symptoms. This goes

back to the first step to eliminating concussions is to have every player and staff

informed on the signs and symptoms of concussions. Once the coaches and staff

realize the basics of concussions, they will be more aware of players safety when

it comes to head injuries. Then taking the player out of the game allowing them to

get the needed time to rest and come back well. According to Dr. Ellenbogen, the

chairmen of the Department of Neurological Surgery at University of Washington

Medicine, and co-chairmen of the Head, Neck, and Spine Committee of the NFL
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league, by tracking eye movements, they have been able to better access the

brain and determine whether the player has suffered from a concussion or not

(Spradley). New techniques and ways have been arising helping the league in

determining whether the player has a concussion after being pulled from the

game. After being looked at by the coaches they should call a medical

professional to fully evaluate the player, giving the final word whether the player

can return to the field, or give the player a time limit they must sit out of

activities. Besides physical rest, there is no medicine out that is effective in

treating the symptoms of sports concussions (Spradley). According to Brandon

Spradley, a player is at even greater risk of repeating the head injury the few days

that follow the concussion, and could be more likely to face greater complications

later in life if suffered from the same head trauma over and over again. That

means that it is very important to evaluate players who seemed to have suffered

a head injury to ensure they sit out the amount of time needed, so there is no

later complications with the player. The constant over and over concussions with

no time to fully heal is what could lead to the player developing CTE later in life

after they retire. Stopping the concussions now rather than later could be the

determining factor to saving someone from developing CTE. CTE is not only found

in retired football players either, according the Tom Goldman in a recent study of
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202 deceased football players of all level 177 had CTE found in the brains, three of

14 who only played in High School, 48 of 53 players in college, and 9 of 14 in

semiprofessional leagues. This study is pretty eye opening to the people who

played football their whole life. It makes you wonder whether it Is worth it to put

yourself at risk to play the sport. For people like me the love of the sport will

always outweigh the consequences. As of right now there is no medicine or

surgery that can help with CTE or even find out if you have it or not while you are

still living. Causing ex-football players to have to live with the symptoms,

struggling in everyday life. All of the research done so far has only been on people

who played football in their lives, not even all the people who played any other

sport or suffered a concussion doing everyday activities. Even simple tasks like

tying your shoe, trying to button up or put on a shirt could be very hard for

people suffering from CTE.

Concussions and CTE is a very big issue in todays’ time, and to some it is not

taken nearly as serious enough. Coaches and players not fully knowing the

symptoms of concussions allowing the player who just took a monstrous hit to

the head back in the game, only allowing the head injury to worsen. The NFL not

being serious about giving necessary funds to researchers and scientists trying to

discover new ways to prevent concussions and try to develop some medicine to
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help those who have suffered from them, purely out of greed. The NFL wants to

keep their ratings up to ensure the max number of profit coming in. Overall,

above everything else the players safety should be the number one priority to the

league, and not just the players but anyone who has suffered a concussion or is

living life with CTE symptoms. Concussions and CTE seems to be unstoppable as of

right now, having no medicine to help those with symptoms, or even being able

to determine whether someone has CTE while they are still alive. But researchers

and scientists are doing everything they can to help prevent them with new

equipment, trying to develop new medicine, and developing new ways to

determine if a player has CTE or not. The more we are blind to this somewhat

invincible problem, the worse it may get.

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Works Cited

 Edwards, Wirt. Spradley, Brandon. Marcos, Abreu. “The War Against Concussions” 12

Feb. 2016. http://thesportjournal.org/article/the-war-against-concussions/. Accessed 10

Mar 2018.

 Goldman, Tom. “CTE Found in Nearly All Donated NFL Player Brains” Football and CTE:

NPR, https://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/539198429/study-cte-found-in-nearly-all-

donated-nfl-player-brains, 25 July. 2017. Accessed 28 February 2018

 Mckee, Anne. Concussion Legacy Foundation “What is CTE?”

https://concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CTE . Boston, Accessed 10 Mar

2018

 Rapaport, Daniel. “Timeline: Six Studies of Head Trauma in Football That Helped

Establish Link to CTE” https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/07/26/nfl-concussion-head-trauma-

studies-football-timeline” July 26, 2017 Accessed 23 February, 2018