Press Box: The repercussions of NFL concussions
Athletes across the spectrum are familiar with the dreaded concussion tests that ask you to remember the order of different shapes or to name the current United States president. But is that really sufficient to diagnose a concussion — especially in today’s day and age?
Concussions, head impacts and chronic traumatic encephalopathy are a growing conversation. It’s no secret this year’s NFL ratings are down compared to years past. Thursday Night Football was down 17 percent compared to 2015.
The glaring repercussions of concussions have been evident for years. Last fall, a total of 87 of 91 former NFL players tested positive for encephalopathy — the brain disease at the center of the debate about the silent dangers of untreated concussions — according to new figures from the nation’s largest brain bank focused on the study of traumatic head injury.
Researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University identified the degenerative disease, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in 96 percent of NFL players they’ve examined and in 79 percent of all football players. The disease is widely believed to come from repetitive trauma to the head, and can lead to conditions such as memory loss, depression and dementia.
More than 5,000 former players sued the NFL last year, claiming the league hid the dangers of head injuries. A federal judge has given final approval to a class-action lawsuit settlement against the NFL, providing up to $5 million per retired player for serious medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma.
If the NFL wants to see a rise in viewers and to remain America’s sport, it will need to fund, listen to and accept more concussion-related research for the sake of the players, not the safety of the league.
Officials will need to penalize head shots to the point they are considered heinous. It may be worthwhile for Vice President Miller to reevaluate the NFL’s equipment and tackling techniques to make the game safer.
After ignoring reality for years, the NFL finally got a grip and came to terms with the correlation between CTE and football. NFL Senior Vice President Jeff Miller publicly admitted last month football and CTE are “certainly” linked.
A paper, just weeks from being published by researchers at the National Institute of Health, could be a game changer in diagnosing concussions. The paper raises hopes that eventually a blood test for a concussion will be as objective as diagnosing high cholesterol or a heart attack.
The research was conducted after growing frustration among scientists and those affected in the National Football League regarding the current protocols for diagnosing brain injuries.
The league said it hopes the test could help silence NFL critics who argue the league ignores head injuries and their effects. In addition, such a test could also enhance understanding the dangers of the game, with potential to sideline more players for longer periods even if they aren’t suffering obvious concussion-related symptoms.
Recently, the NFL changed rules, added medical personnel, imposed fines and even some suspensions for violent plays that might have been a norm in past years. Under the league’s new “concussion protocol” — a four step process — players are no longer rushed back into games prematurely.
These are all steps forward for the league in protecting their multimillion dollar products. But the focus on concussions tends to skew the bigger picture: it’s not just about concussions.
The repeated, body-slam-style hits players are subject to every time the ball is hiked are associated with CTE. According to a Frontline report last year, 40 percent of players testing positive for CTE were offensive or defensive linemen — the players most likely to suffer repetitive hits.
Recent studies suggest a lot of lower-impact hits can be just as damaging as concussive ones. A recent study from the research group of Robert Stern, a neuropsychologist at Boston University School of Medicine, concluded the risk of cognitive impairment, depression, apathy or other behavioral disorders later in life increased steadily every 1,000 impacts.
Research also indicates CTE is present in men who have played only college football, and even in a few high school players, who — you guessed it — are hit in the head repeatedly, especially at a young age.
SPORTS EDITOR
Sophia Belletti
Sophia is a junior journalism major pursuing a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies. She enjoys writing about current events and sports, and hopes to one day be a sports reporter covering soccer, basketball and/or baseball. You can usually find Sophia drinking way too much coffee and laughing at her own jokes.
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