CTE Diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players

[buckley503]

That's pretty cool and the same idea I had mentioned above about extra padding.

With all the tech out there today, I just have to imagine there is a safer way to guard against head injuries than hard shelled plastic helmets smashing up against each other.

If you get a chance, watch the Mythbusters episode on concussions where they simulate the brain (in the former of a "jello" mold) in various sport collisions.

Basically, since the brain is suspended, it doesn't matter what protective layers are around the head, the brain still slams into the skull at the same force resulting in concussive damage. Pretty interesting and scary.

 

[metsfan2323]

That's pretty cool and the same idea I had mentioned above about extra padding.

With all the tech out there today, I just have to imagine there is a safer way to guard against head injuries than hard shelled plastic helmets smashing up against each other.

Yup, softshell seems like a great improvement, they could even go to shells that break during a hard hit the way cars are designed to collapse to absorb energy.

 

[traitor71]

There is a lot of ongoing research into making better helmets. One thing is for sure, with the amount of money at stake, the NFL is going to be all in on this stuff moving forward. I google searched "new football helmet" and found this company that seems to specialize in this area. If enough smart people are working on this, maybe the next big study years down the line will show some better results.

 

[Waquoit]

Basically, since the brain is suspended, it doesn't matter what protective layers are around the head, the brain still slams into the skull at the same force resulting in concussive damage. Pretty interesting and scary.

That's the bottom line. They need to find a way to pad the inside of your skull.

 

[CL82]

Yes, if you play football in the fall and, say, travel baseball in the summer (instead of 7 on 7 football) then your risk of sustaining repeated hits to the head goes down.

Basketball has it's share of concussions. Over the years I've seen plenty of girls wearing the concussion head gear and know of a few who left the sport due to repeated concussions. (Not sure if the same is happening on the boy's side but gets ignore by the kid due to cultural bias.) Likewise I lost a decent soccer player to a concussion based withdrawal from the sport. I suspect the key is to preventing this is new guidelines that take you out for a longer period upon the happening of the first concussion. Kids seem prone to getting a 2nd and 3rd due to coming back too soon.

I'm not worried much about Pee Wee because you don't see the same sudden deceleration that is typical as you get older.

 

[Waquoit]

One thing is for sure, with the amount of money at stake, the NFL is going to be all in on this stuff moving forward.

Yeah, right. Report: NFL To Walk Away From Deal To Fund Concussion Research With $16 Million Unpaid
The NFL is no different than cigarette companies.

 

[traitor71]

Yeah, right. Report: NFL To Walk Away From Deal To Fund Concussion Research With $16 Million Unpaid
The NFL is no different than cigarette companies.

They may pull out of this study for whatever reason, but they can't ignore what is going on. These people aren't stupid and they aren't going to let their product die. It's why you are seeing rule changes, helmet research, practice restrictions, etc. Let's see what else happens from here as they move forward.

 

[Adios]

What the NFL is going to do is increase salaries. How many players have retired as a direct result of this news release so far?

 

[Chuck]

Still an isolated situation, but here's a story about a relatively large regional school in central New Jersey that can't field a team. There are two high schools in their district and they wanted to have one combined team, but NJ won't allow them to. I have a good friend in the town. It's not one of the NJ football factory towns, and there are a lot of factors that are going in to the lack of football interest, but CTE is cited by families. Some numbers are provided.

Short on players, can desperate high school football team save its season?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Basketball has it's share of concussions. Over the years I've seen plenty of girls wearing the concussion head gear and know of a few who left the sport due to repeated concussions. (Not sure if the same is happening on the boy's side but gets ignore by the kid due to cultural bias.) Likewise I lost a decent soccer player to a concussion based withdrawal from the sport. I suspect the key is to preventing this is new guidelines that take you out for a longer period upon the happening of the first concussion. Kids seem prone to getting a 2nd and 3rd due to coming back too soon.

I'm not worried much about Pee Wee because you don't see the same sudden deceleration that is typical as you get older.

The concussion issue in basketball could get addressed through rule changes, or more precisely, enforcing the rules as written rather than rewarding flops. It wouldn't get rid of all concussions, but I bet it would cut them by 50%.

 

[CL82]

The concussion issue in basketball could get addressed through rule changes, or more precisely, enforcing the rules as written rather than rewarding flops. It wouldn't get rid of all concussions, but I bet it would cut them by 50%.

I've seen it more on 50/50 balls and rebounding. For the most part they were the consquence a lot of good basketball plays.

 

[Bonehead]

I do think this will be a boon for lacrosse.

High Concussion Rate in Boys' Lacrosse Blamed On Intentional Head-to-Head Contact With Defenseless Players | MomsTeam

Lacrosse may be the fastest-growing high school boy's sport in the United States, but only football and ice hockey have higher concussion rates.[1,2] A new study [3] pinpoints a possible culprit: widespread and intentional use of helmets during player-to-player contact, often to defenseless players, and usually without a penalty being called.

Researchers at the Medstar Sports Medicine Research Center in Baltimore videotaped 518 boys' lacrosse games at 25 public high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. A total of 86 concussions were identified and treated by athletic trainers.

Analyzing the 34 concussions in which video captured the injury mechanism, they found that:

• every one resulted from player-to-player contact, not stick or ball contact;
• In over three-quarters of the incidents resulting in concussion, the striking player used his head to initiate impact;
• The injured player's head was the initial point of contact in six out of ten of such collisions;
• The most frequent location of initial impact, involved in six out of ten incidents, was the side of the helmet;
• In 19 out of 34 (56%) collisions, the struck player did not appear to anticipate contact and was deemed "defenseless" (defined by US Lacrosse, the National Football League, and National Hockey League rules as a struck player who was "blind-sided" or unable to see and therefore anticipate and prepare his or her body for an impending collision). [Note: in order to standardize the evaluation of player preparedness for bodily collisions in lacrosse, researchers developed a 10-item Lacrosse Collision Readiness Index (LCRI));
• Penalties were called in only 9 out of the 34 cases (26.5%];
• In 23 (68%) cases, a subsequent impact occurred immediately after the initial player-to-player contact and may have contributed to those concussive events;
• The most frequently injured player positions were midfield (53%) and defense (27%);
• 24 occurred in the attacking zone, and 10 (30%) occurred in the midfield zone;
• In the 5 seconds of game play preceding each of the 34 concussions, players were most frequently on the offensive before the injury (44%) and that most did not have possession of the ball at the moment of injury (59%); and
• At the moment of collision, players were most frequently attempting to pick up a loose ball (47%) or handling a ball (41%)(e.g. running with ball possession) at the time of injury.

Read more: http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/high-concussion-rate-in-boys-lacrosse-blamed-on-intentional-head-head-contact-and-lax-rules-enforcement#ixzz4oW3z40KD

 

[pepband99]

And 87% of football players from any level.

Study: CTE diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players, 87% of ex-players at all levels

There better be a strong rebuttal, and quickly, or this is the death knell of football as a mainstream sport.

Football drives the train? Not anymore.

"OOO, look at me, i want to be on the forefront of dropping football (again)."

Horribly written clickbait article. This is the equivalent of saying: "99% of people pulled over for suspected DWI, and who refused breath testing, tested positive for alcohol" No kidding.

 

[Nostical]

That Vicis helmet looks promising.

 

[huskymedic]

Veering off OP but relative to the discussion that followed:

 

[nelsonmuntz]

"OOO, look at me, i want to be on the forefront of dropping football (again)."

Horribly written clickbait article. This is the equivalent of saying: "99% of people pulled over for suspected DWI, and who refused breath testing, tested positive for alcohol" No kidding.

You're right, CTE is a myth.

Do your sons play football?

 

[bobbyinaz]

You're right, CTE is a myth.

Do your sons play football?

No one is saying CTE is a myth but, your spin is that since football will cease to exist soon because of CTE, UConn should drop it now and join the Big East.

Last I checked, the NFL & the NCAA are still planning on playing their upcoming seasons. In a day & age where politicians will launch hearings and lawsuits over just about anything there is no activity on the subject. The NFL Players Association, of who it's members are the most affected by CTE, haven't made any demands about rules changes to alleviate the problem.

Yes, CTE is an issue in football but, it's not the sport crusher that you want it to be to justify UConn dropping the sport. Will there be ongoing rules changes going forward? Of course there will. After all, there was a time when the game was played without helmets.

The bottom line is that the game of football is not going away in any of our lifetimes.

 

[pepband99]

You're right, CTE is a myth.

Do your sons play football?

Yet again not addressing my statement, and twisting words. Your shtick is old.

This "study" doesn't really prove much at all - it's an enormously biased dataset. Anyone who has paid attention knows of the danger here - the problem is that this is a lagging indicator. The NFL should use it's tremendous resource base to get out in front of this. The NCAA should too, but they're too busy paying the pink panther brigade to look at UNC.

And yes, 2 of my 3 sons do play football (and the 3rd one has, but something else won out). So kiss my keyster, and keep my kids out of it.

 

[Stinger92860]

Yet again not addressing my statement, and twisting words. Your shtick is old.

This "study" doesn't really prove much at all - it's an enormously biased dataset. Anyone who has paid attention knows of the danger here - the problem is that this is a lagging indicator. The NFL should use it's tremendous resource base to get out in front of this. The NCAA should too, but they're too busy paying the pink panther brigade to look at UNC.

And yes, 2 of my 3 sons do play football (and the 3rd one has, but something else won out). So kiss my keyster, and keep my kids out of it.

Yea, the study is biased but how much is it off by? You have to agree that It's a number much greater than zero and it represents risk. The question is What are your odds? I grew up in poor area and in that environment I would expect more guys to take that chance as a way to get out. Where I live now, less folks are willing to take a chance with their kids, football sign ups are down significantly. Everything comes down to a personal decision about how much risk are you willing to take on. For my kids, I'd rather focus on academics and other sports, but just my opinion. That said, I've had at least 1 concussion in the last 18 months playing basketball. I'm still playing.

 

[pepband99]

Yea, the study is biased but how much is it off by? You have to agree that It's a number much greater than zero and it represents risk. The question is What are your odds? I grew up in poor area and in that environment I would expect more guys to take that chance as a way to get out. Where I live now, less folks are willing to take a chance with their kids, football sign ups are down significantly. Everything comes down to a personal decision about how much risk are you willing to take on. For my kids, I'd rather focus on academics and other sports, but just my opinion. That said, I've had at least 1 concussion in the last 18 months playing basketball. I'm still playing.

The donor brains were from people suspected of damage. It would almost be worse if it were <90%, because it would mean that there would be another vector for study.

The most interesting parts of the study seem to indicate that the longer exposure / bigger / older set was most impacted (and that the youngest, thankfully, aren't that impacted). That part's not shocking, but further study will come on which one of those causes the most impact.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Yea, the study is biased but how much is it off by? You have to agree that It's a number much greater than zero and it represents risk. The question is What are your odds? I grew up in poor area and in that environment I would expect more guys to take that chance as a way to get out. Where I live now, less folks are willing to take a chance with their kids, football sign ups are down significantly. Everything comes down to a personal decision about how much risk are you willing to take on. For my kids, I'd rather focus on academics and other sports, but just my opinion. That said, I've had at least 1 concussion in the last 18 months playing basketball. I'm still playing.

What will happen to football in Connecticut if New Canaan, Westport or Simsbury drop it as a sport? The pressure on the other affluent towns to drop it will go way up, and it will create a ripple effect on each step of the socio economic ladder.

Unless Pepband99 is right, and CTE is a myth, the sport is in big trouble.

 

[dogged1]

What will happen to football in Connecticut if New Canaan, Westport or Simsbury drop it as a sport? The pressure on the other affluent towns to drop it will go way up, and it will create a ripple effect on each step of the socio economic ladder.

Unless Pepband99 is right, and CTE is a myth, the sport is in big trouble.

Pepband didn't say that or imply that. So why did you write that he did? It only weakens and distracts from an otherwise strong argument.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Pepband didn't say that or imply that. So why did you write that he did? It only weakens and distracts from an otherwise strong argument.

His exact words: "The study doesn't prove much at all". Do you know what the word "imply" means?

 

[dogged1]

His exact words: "The study doesn't prove much at all". Do you know what the word "imply" means?

Do you always go ad hominen? You could have made your point without implying I'm stupid.

 

[pepband99]

His exact words: "The study doesn't prove much at all". Do you know what the word "imply" means?

So? It doesn't prove much. People who exhibited symptoms of CTE, and had their brains tested, had CTE. Whoopdie-damn-doo.

My point all along - and I'll make this clear enough that you can't misquote it - nobody here is going to take any post from you seriously, if it has so much as a hint of the de-emphasis/demise of football. It's like trying to have even an honest race relations conversation with David Duke.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

So? It doesn't prove much. People who exhibited symptoms of CTE, and had their brains tested, had CTE. Whoopdie-damn-doo.

My point all along - and I'll make this clear enough that you can't misquote it - nobody here is going to take any post from you seriously, if it has so much as a hint of the de-emphasis/demise of football. It's like trying to have even an honest race relations conversation with David Duke.

So CTE is a myth because I post about it? I didn't know I was that powerful.

 

[billybud]

Professional boxing had CTE problems...has it gone away?

Sort of...now it has been supplanted with a more brutal "sport"....MMA and UFC

 

[Pat125]

You cannot draw any conclusions from one biased study. But there is plenty of other evidence that CTE is a growing concern in football. In fact, there already have been rule changes with the intent of lessening head injuries. In order to save football, more rule changes will be made until the occurrence of head injuries and long term affects are in line with other sports. But football faces a couple of challenges. First, there is at least anecdotal evidence that fewer kids are selecting football as their sport of choice, or moving away from it early on, even those excelling in football. The other is whether these rule changes will render football less popular. In fact, I already hear people complain that football is starting to become a "wussy" sport.

I believe football's popularity has reached a peak and is beginning a downturn. But it looks like, at least for now, it will stay very popular as money still continues to pour into football more so than other sports. My guess is football will look significantly different in another generation. By that time we will see if football remains the king of sports.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Waylon going full-Waylon ITT

 

[billybud]

In my father's heyday (WWII and 1950's)....Baseball was America's sport. Baseball questions were asked sometimes, to identify as friend or foe, a stranger coming up to the front line. America at work stood by radios during the World Series.

Baseball is who we were, football is who we are.

That can change in the future, but very slowly over several generations.