96% of deceased NFL players had brain trauma

[dragon]

A shocking report from PBS Frontline says 76 of 79 deceased NFL players suffered from the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

CTE is caused by repeated head trauma, where the functioning of the brain is interrupted and nerve cells begin to die, according to Frontline. It is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia.

A recent study of the brain tissue of 128 former football players -- professionals, semi-professionals, college players and high school players -- conducted by one of the nation’s largest brain banks, found 101 players tested positive for CTE. That means 78.9 percent of all the football players and 96.2 percent of the former NFL players in the study suffered from the disease.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository in Bedford, Mass., which conducted the study, said that amounts to a twofold increase in the number of CTE cases it has previously reported.

The study's brain specimens were donated by players and families who suspected the presence of the disease, presenting a skewed population. But Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the brain bank, pointed to a link between the intensity and length of playing football and traumatic brain injury.

"Playing football, and the higher the level you play football and the longer you play football, the higher your risk," McKee said.

The report comes as an Oct. 14 deadline nears for retired NFL players and their beneficiaries to decide whether to opt out of a proposed settlement in the class-action lawsuit against the NFL that accuses the league of concealing a link between football and brain disease.

The lawsuit, brought by more than 4,500 former players, is likely to be bolstered by the new report as it suggests a high prevalence of the disease among players, Frontline notes.

The NFL has been under scrutiny over the risks players face in sustaining such heavy hits during practice and games, and how it may affect their brains. Other autopsies of former NFL players has shown that they were suffering from CTE, which may have influenced their behavior.

Frontline's report comes a day after an autopsy revealed that former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, who killed his girlfriend and then himself in December 2013, likely suffered from CTE. Mike Webster, a former Pittsburgh Steelers player whose autopsy in 2002 sparked the probe into degenerative brain diseases in football players, died homeless and living in a truck. In 2012, NFL Pro Bowler Junior Seau fatally shot himself in the chest and was later diagnosed with CTE. Former Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson died in 2011, also of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, and left notes for his family to donate his brain to science.

Earlier in September, the NFL released data that led it to conclude nearly a third of all retired players will develop a long-term cognitive problem, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

When asked for a comment on the findings, the NFL did not reply to Frontline.

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[Broomstick]

Damn.

Whenever I read something about this I can't help but think of our friend/landlord who played Big Ten football for four years. Sure, it paid for his education but the man is very much deteriorating before our eyes. He's not helpless, but he's having problems right in line with the symptoms described and it scares the hell out of him.

We're all kind of glad his son wasn't interested in football, and dad never pressured him into playing.

[Borgholio]

Yeah, no football or our kids. They'll probably end up playing soccer since some of my wife's cousins already do that. Much less risk of brain injury.

[Havok]

You mean if you repeatedly bash your head against things for over 20 years... you may hurt your brain?!?!

Uh, no shit.

This is about as shocking as telling me that if you keep hurting your knees running the football you may have a hard time walking later in life.

And, while I feel bad for the players that get the worst of it, you could have told every single one of them what could possibly happen and only a VERY small handful would have stopped playing.

Sorry, but on this one, you roll the dice and take your chances.

[Elheru Aran]

I think the point is that brain injury is in general a Bad Thing-- no matter how minor, because we don't really know in depth how much the brain affects the body over the long term. As such, perhaps choosing to engage in a sport where such injuries are a near certainty is not a wise decision when you view it in the long term of one's state of health, and those conducting said sport should be considering how to minimize this in the human interest of their athletes' health rather than paying them ridiculous amounts of money to literally butt heads with each other for a few seconds before they get to stand around for five minutes, rinse and repeat...

[Borgholio]

How does the level of head injury compare to Rugby? From my limited experience with the sport, there's less head-bashing and sometimes they don't even wear helmets.

[TheFeniX]

And, while I feel bad for the players that get the worst of it, you could have told every single one of them what could possibly happen and only a VERY small handful would have stopped playing.

Sorry, but on this one, you roll the dice and take your chances.

College and NFL players are adults and can make their own decisions. But that crop of players come from kids who may have started in pee-wee league and most definitely played through most of high school. I don't know about other states, but Texas that creates a huge push for physically fit (or not so physically fit) kids to play ball to make them into a man. To push themselves lifting weights so big they shouldn't be near them at that age or pounding "protein" shakes for energy. Creatin was very popular at my high-school. Sure, it's "all-natural" but it gives you that energy to push when your body is telling you to pack it in, but all your friends and coaches are yelling at you to do one more rep.

Then you tear something. I don't know if that kid recovered from whatever happened to his arm, all I know is I had just turned 16 and no longer needed to be on the film team to get out of PE. I was the camera guy for our HS football team (yes, I was that big of a nerd). All of this for the vivid dream of being one of the .1% of players who make it big.

Yeah, no football or our kids. They'll probably end up playing soccer since some of my wife's cousins already do that. Much less risk of brain injury.

Keep your daughters away from Cheer. My niece is the "tumbler" in her group. That roughly translates to "How many times would you like your daughter to be dropped on her head and/or fracture an ankle?"

How does the level of head injury compare to Rugby? From my limited experience with the sport, there's less head-bashing and sometimes they don't even wear helmets.

Rugby isn't about intentionally slamming 350 lbs beasts of men wearing body armor into each other over and over. I'm sure Quarterbacks have the least amount of issues because they whole point is to not let them get hit. But linemen smash into each other as part of their job. And they do this over and over both in games and in practice. Constantly going from a low squat to exploding into another person is probably why their legs get so fucked up as well.

[Elheru Aran]

Rugger is a faster game than football largely because they don't stop the game every time the ball-carrier gets tackled; they just keep moving the ball around. So there's a lot more running and getting out of the way than is involved in football. It's really a lot more like soccer with added physical contact and being able to handle the ball.

[Borgholio]

Rugger is a faster game than football largely because they don't stop the game every time the ball-carrier gets tackled; they just keep moving the ball around. So there's a lot more running and getting out of the way than is involved in football. It's really a lot more like soccer with added physical contact and being able to handle the ball.

Or like Jeremy Clarkson said on Top Gear, "Rugby is a lot like American Football, except that it's played by men."

[Thanas]

Yeah...no. I got a rugby player in the family and he has already torn his ACL and broken his collarbone in three years of play.

[Havok]

And, while I feel bad for the players that get the worst of it, you could have told every single one of them what could possibly happen and only a VERY small handful would have stopped playing.

Sorry, but on this one, you roll the dice and take your chances.

College and NFL players are adults and can make their own decisions. But that crop of players come from kids who may have started in pee-wee league and most definitely played through most of high school.

And guess what Sherlock, that is where most people's football careers stop. So, go ask the college kids, who are, like you said, adults, if they want to stop? And when you get to the NFL, you are talking about a total of around 2000 players including practice squads and all the free agents and such. And that's not even 2000 new players a year. There are less than 200 new NFL players every year. So honestly, so fucking what? Yes, it sucks for those that end up with issues from playing football, but it is such a small percentage of the population that it if they didn't garner such an unproportionate amount of money and fame, no one would even care.

I don't know about other states, but Texas that creates a huge push for physically fit (or not so physically fit) kids to play ball to make them into a man. To push themselves lifting weights so big they shouldn't be near them at that age or pounding "protein" shakes for energy. Creatin was very popular at my high-school. Sure, it's "all-natural" but it gives you that energy to push when your body is telling you to pack it in, but all your friends and coaches are yelling at you to do one more rep.

And? What's your point? Never strive to be better because you could tear a muscle?
Are you going to strike out for BMX kids to try to do one less bunny hop? Skate boarders to not hit that last jump in the empty pool? Volleyball girls to not take that dive for the ball? Baseball players not to take those extra practice swings because they may get hit by a baseball?

This is an issue for the NFL and it's players to solve. Treating your kids like little special snowflakes because something MAY happen is just idiotic. Especially if you are ever going to drive them around in a car or let them drive themselves or anything else considered mundane, yet is highly dangerous.

[Havok]

Yeah...no. I got a rugby player in the family and he has already torn his ACL and broken his collarbone in three years of play.

I'm sure there are volleyball players that have done that.

[Elheru Aran]

Injuries in sports are something to be expected, I agree. It's a risk of any intensive physical activity which brings you in close proximity to many people at once. That's something any athlete accepts.

The thing about American football, though, is that it's specifically, almost deliberately by design of how it's played, prone to brain injury. Broken bones heal up over time, ligaments can be re-attached, physical therapy can restore functionality to damaged parts of the body. But you can't regrow the brain. It's not a injury where you can go in there, put a few stitches, tell them to take it easy for a few weeks and then put it on ice after training.

And the kicker is that while we have a decent idea of how the brain works, we still don't know that much about it. But it is clear that damage to the brain causes neurological effects that can lead to physical symptoms of bodily degradation. And, again, this is not something we can fix. Once it happens, there's not a whole lot that can be done about it other than to try and depend upon brain plasticity to circumvent any physical difficulties that come up. It's bad enough with one-off injuries caused by accidents or otherwise, but the wisdom of sports where these injuries are accumulated over time has to be questioned.

It's like a car which accumulates minor dings and scrapes over time, hits the curbs a good few times, has a few accidents but the owner never fixes anything because it still runs fine. By the time the owner's done with it, it's going to be a unsellable crap-wagon. Sure it runs fine if you know how to work it, but there's not much you can do about all the shit that's been done to it.

[TheFeniX]

And guess what Sherlock, that is where most people's football careers stop. So, go ask the college kids, who are, like you said, adults, if they want to stop? And when you get to the NFL, you are talking about a total of around 2000 players including practice squads and all the free agents and such. And that's not even 2000 new players a year. There are less than 200 new NFL players every year. So honestly, so fucking what? Yes, it sucks for those that end up with issues from playing football, but it is such a small percentage of the population that it if they didn't garner such an unproportionate amount of money and fame, no one would even care.

So, the damage done to young children is ok because they can stop when they become adults? I honestly don't understand your point. My point was that by the time kids are already old enough to determine if the long-term health effects of a sport is worth their time or if they are even going to go anywhere, they may have already done permanent damage.

And? What's your point? Never strive to be better because you could tear a muscle?
Are you going to strike out for BMX kids to try to do one less bunny hop? Skate boarders to not hit that last jump in the empty pool? Volleyball girls to not take that dive for the ball? Baseball players not to take those extra practice swings because they may get hit by a baseball?

If a high-school BMX team was pushing underage children to go hard enough to risk permanent physical damage? Yes. It's the mentality that pervades the sport: go harder, pain is temporary, oh shit, guess it's not. Oh well, at least you tried. BTW, you've been cut from the team. It's like Alaskan crab fishing for kids except they don't get paid.

This is an issue for the NFL and it's players to solve. Treating your kids like little special snowflakes because something MAY happen is just idiotic. Especially if you are ever going to drive them around in a car or let them drive themselves or anything else considered mundane, yet is highly dangerous.

What the fuck are you talking about? Driving is dangerous, but being able to go places is pretty important. Throwing a ball around is not. Trying to say this is solely a problem for a professional sports association is pretty dumb as well.

And this not only "MAY" happen, it does happen:

That means 78.9 percent of all the football players and 96.2 percent of the former NFL players in the study suffered from the disease.

So if I have the choice for my kids to most likely suffer some form, no matter how mild, of brain damage or not suffer brain damage: I'll go with no brain damage. You know, because of the whole "special snowflake" and all.

[LaCroix]

Constantly running into other people is causing brain trauma? Not quite what someone would call news - the brain doesn't really care about you wearing a helmet when you get taken down, hard. Everyone with two braincells left to rub together knows that this sport is very much the opposite of healty - if he allows his child to take part in such an activity, he is directly responsible for that.

Heck, it's such old news that they already made movie gags about it...



Next week: New study reveals that pro boxing might be a cause for brain trauma, too.

[Elheru Aran]

I think it's not so much the sport causing brain trauma that's news, it's the sheer percentages that are popping up. There's also the report noted in the OP released by the NFL itself where they say up to a third of their players end up suffering from cognitive problems in retirement. That only came out in early September.

[Broomstick]

You mean if you repeatedly bash your head against things for over 20 years... you may hurt your brain?!?!

40 years ago mild concessions were not thought to be as damaging as we now know them to be, which is when my friend was playing. Our medical knowledge has advanced considerably over that time and we are more cognizant of long-term damage.

Don't judge 40 years ago by the standards of now. Even 20 years ago this knowledge about long-term concussion damage wasn't widely know. Going forward it's one thing, but middle aged men affected by this right now did not have the knowledge to make a fully informed decision.

How does the level of head injury compare to Rugby? From my limited experience with the sport, there's less head-bashing and sometimes they don't even wear helmets.

Because rugby players don't wear helmets they don't routinely use their heads as battering rams. Sure, you can get massive head injury or death in rugby but it's a lot less common than in American football. Ironically, it was the better helmets developed over several decades that lead to players being encouraged to ram other players with their skulls.

That's another way in which this damage remained hidden. End stage dementia was rarely seen in, say, men who played collegiate or pro ball in the 1920's because there was little or no head protection so players avoided crashing their heads into things. It was the combination of hard-shell helmets and a change in play that lead to so much damage.

So honestly, so fucking what? Yes, it sucks for those that end up with issues from playing football, but it is such a small percentage of the population that it if they didn't garner such an unproportionate amount of money and fame, no one would even care.

The problem is that the players weren't fully informed of the risks. For the time period when the owners and team doctors didn't know either, yeah, bad luck but there was a period of time when people in the NFL did, in fact, know about the risks of long-term damage and the players weren't told of it.

That's the big wrong here – withholding vital information from employees. Do you say “who the fuck cares” when an employor knows of a respiratory hazard in the workplace and doesn't inform the workers? When a neighborhood has bad water but the authorities never inform the residents they shouldn't drink from the tap?

The men who are suffering dementia right now were damaged a decade or two ago. They weren't properly told of the risks they were running. That's wrong.

[Lord Relvenous]

Yeah, no football or our kids. They'll probably end up playing soccer since some of my wife's cousins already do that. Much less risk of brain injury.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -you-think

It still happens quite a bit. If you're going with soccer, make sure your kids don't practice heading balls until they're adults and discourage them from being goalies.