CTE Diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players | Page 5 | The Boneyard

CTE Diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players

huskymedic said:

>>According to the NFHS, NJSIAA, Pop Warner, area coaches, medical experts and state legislators, reasons for the decline in football participation at the state and national levels include:
  • Safety concerns
  • Demographics
  • Sports specialization
  • The cyclical nature of high school athletics
  • A school’s overall male enrollment
  • A school’s sports tradition
  • On-field success (or lack thereof)
  • Lack of interest
  • Stability of feeder programs
  • Expense<<
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Hernandez had advanced stages of CTE

No shock here. I, and others, said Hernandez probably had CTE. I'd also imagine that OJ's brain is Swiss cheese.

The one piece that is still missing for me, is the percentage of non-football players that have CTE. Maybe humans just get CTE after living life. My personal belief is that football either causes CTE more frequently than non-football lifestyles or accelerates the effect. Without the data, however, it's just my belief, not fact.
 
A while back I thought CTE was the beginning of the end of football as a mainstream sport. What was missing was a high profile event to accelerate the fall. I think this is the event. Next up - ability to detect early onset CTE on the living.
 
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Question: what positions are most/least likely to get CTE?

RBs, receivers, and linebackers seem like they do a lot of banging and colliding and would see it the worst. With maybe offensive linemen less? I have no idea.
 
vowelguy said:
What's extra troubling here is that Hernandez didn't have a long career. 3 years of college, 3 years of pros.
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His career likely began with Pop Warner football. Add that and high school, and his career was more like 13-14 years or more.

And those developmental years are when potential long term damage has the best chance of getting a start.

When discussing this, childhood participation cannot, must not, be overlooked.

This is also where the biggest impact of football contraction will be felt first.
 
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This is so sad. It hard to see how the game can sustain it.

FWIW and only semi-related, if you haven't seen the Will Smith movie Concussion, it is surprisingly good.
 
CL82 said:
This is so sad. It hard to see how the game can sustain it.

FWIW and only semi-related, if you haven't seen the Will Smith movie Concussion, it is surprisingly good.
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I look at it like boxing. As long as it provides a way for someone to go from abject poverty to fame and fortune, there will be people willing to sacrifice their bodies for it.

The great heavyweight boxer like George Foreman disappeared because they were playing defensive end somewhere. I imagine fb will also see a decline, but I don't know where tjat plus sized athlete is going next. Baseball?
 
noeynox said:
I look at it like boxing. As long as it provides a way for someone to go from abject poverty to fame and fortune, there will be people willing to sacrifice their bodies for it.

The great heavyweight boxer like George Foreman disappeared because they were playing defensive end somewhere. I imagine fb will also see a decline, but I don't know where tjat plus sized athlete is going next. Baseball?
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I guess. I feel like there are a lot more guys playing football than boxing though.
 
CL82 said:
I guess. I feel like there are a lot more guys playing football than boxing though.
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Boxing is world wide thing. It is an individual sport, but there are literally tens of thousands of professional boxers active right now even the most hardcore fans never heard of.
 
If the NFL wants to do something about this, they need to punish the hits like Malcolm Jenkings had on Brandon Cooks last night. He went up with the crown/forehead and hit Cooks in the head. It was done intentionally to injure. Football is a violent game, but there are ways to to make it somewhat safer. Removing plays like that from the game is the first step.

 
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Butch said:
And maybe abolish PeeWee football.
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A fair number of players don't start playing football until high school. There are weight limits in youth football, which contributes to less forceful impacts and coaching methods surrounding tackling and hitting have also evolved.

All youth football programs should adopt the old Mark Kelso Pro-Cap shell, but back when the NFL was still head deep in the concussion denial game, they and Riddell killed what would otherwise be logical additional protection.

In June 1996, the NFL sent its players a memo warning that the “standard helmet manufacturer's warranty may be negated or modified by the use of the ProCap.” It also said players risked “catastrophic neck injuries, including possible death,” by wearing the device. Straus told Helyar that Riddell salesmen provided copies of the memo to youth sports equipment dealers and colleges that used the ProCaps — essentially marking the beginning of the end for the device made famous by an undersized safety for the Buffalo Bills.

On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that a preadolescent's head and neck is developed enough to hold the weight of a helmet. I remember having a stiff neck for the better part of a week when I first wore a helmet each season in high school.
 
The NFL needs a "targeting" rule as well. Helmet-to-helmet hits need to met with ejection and suspension just like the NCAA and lower levels. Donate the players' game salary to CTE treatment/awareness/research/whathaveyou.
 
Husky25 said:
A fair number of players don't start playing football until high school. There are weight limits in youth football, which contributes to less forceful impacts and coaching methods surrounding tackling and hitting have also evolved.

All youth football programs should adopt the old Mark Kelso Pro-Cap shell, but back when the NFL was still head deep in the concussion denial game, they and Riddell killed what would otherwise be logical additional protection.

In June 1996, the NFL sent its players a memo warning that the “standard helmet manufacturer's warranty may be negated or modified by the use of the ProCap.” It also said players risked “catastrophic neck injuries, including possible death,” by wearing the device. Straus told Helyar that Riddell salesmen provided copies of the memo to youth sports equipment dealers and colleges that used the ProCaps — essentially marking the beginning of the end for the device made famous by an undersized safety for the Buffalo Bills.

On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that a preadolescent's head and neck is developed enough to hold the weight of a helmet. I remember having a stiff neck for the better part of a week when I first wore a helmet each season in high school.
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I am not sure the NFL was wrong. The pro cap reduces concussions but does at least theoretically increase the risk of neck injuries.

There are no easy answers.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I am not sure the NFL was wrong. The pro cap reduces concussions but does at least theoretically increase the risk of neck injuries.

There are no easy answers.
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Considering the evolution in teaching how to tackle as well as Targeting penalties at lower levels of football, how would the Pro-Cap on it's own increase the number of neck injuries anymore than the typical helmet? Are there test results? IIRC, it was essentially a piece of virtually no-weight Styro-foam on the outside of the helmet. Not everyone can afford a SpeedFlex and there is little data for those as well.

If and when my son wants to play football, I am far less concerned about any single concussion he may suffer, than I am of the multitude of sub-concussive events that would go unreported. a ProCap would conceivably put a significant dent in those.

If there were an easy answer,It'd already be done. I don't think any one single policy change will solve the concussion problem in sports, but every little bit counts and as long as that little bit does not materially change the game, it should be considered. Just like other worldly issues, the shell would probably not not solve the issue 100%, but that does not mean it should be completely dismissed out of hand. That is what the NFL did in 1996.
 
dayooper said:
If the NFL wants to do something about this, they need to punish the hits like Malcolm Jenkings had on Brandon Cooks last night. He went up with the crown/forehead and hit Cooks in the head. It was done intentionally to injure. Football is a violent game, but there are ways to to make it somewhat safer. Removing plays like that from the game is the first step.

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I did not see it like that. I think that when cook took the left turn he caught everyone off guard. The defender was expecting to run him down from behind. That said, it was still a hit to the head.
 
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Stinger92860 said:
I did not see it like that. I think that when cook took the left turn he caught everyone off guard. The defender was expecting to run him down from behind. That said, it was still a hit to the head.
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He launched with his head down toward his head. Anytime you do that, it’s an intent to injure. NFL secondary coaches have been coaching that for a decade, knowing full well what the probable outcomes are. Look at how Jenkins acted after. No regard for Cooks in any way.
 
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