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Football Concussions And CTE

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Introduction Concussions and CTE are extremely important in today’s society and have a strong connection with the sport of football. The current popularity of concussions today is due to deaths of former athletes who have suffered from CTE and concussions. As we learn more and discover new information on this subject, we can better develop our sciences to help treat people who suffer immensely from concussions and CTE. To narrow my research, I focused on the amount of concussions in the NFL. Also I focused on studies done by Boston University on deceased football players. With that being said, these studies led me to my research question: How many NFL players/former players could be affected by CTE?

Literature Review

CTE is a disease that …show more content…
A. (2013) studied players who had three or more documented concussions. the study showed that the athletes had a significantly larger chance of developing cognitive impairment. Also in this study, it was found that the players who had three or more concussions were three times as likely to develop memory loss than a player who had not had a concussion. The author of this study then went on to argue that these statistics suggested that a player’s body shuts down faster who has had multiple concussions compared to those who have not had a concussion. This shows the link between concussions and CTE. To support the authors evidence, he used the example of a former Chicago Bear, Dave Duerson. Duerson had many concussions while in the National Football League. Duerson later in his life committed suicide due to his body declining on him. In his autopsy, CTE was found in his brain. Although this argument is strong, there are some inconsistencies with the study. The study does not take into fact the amount of undiagnosed concussions an athlete could receive. It is possible that someone in the control group had a concussion at one point but was never diagnosed with one. Also the amount of undiagnosed concussions could be argued with the uncontrolled group of this experiment. For example, three concussions were the only amount these players were diagnosed with by …show more content…
et al, (2005). The subject of this study was a 45-year-old former NFL player. The man played almost 10 years on the offensive line. According to the subject’s second wife, he had stated that he had repeated concussions on many occasions while playing in the NFL. According to the author’s research, during the subject’s childhood and career, he did not show any signs of weird behavior. In his retirement however, his family noticed the man became quiet, along with acting very paranoid. In 1991, the subject attempted to take his own life after being suspended for steroids by the NFL. After the NFL, the subject turned to the business world for work. While working, he was explained to have severe ups and downs, along with trouble making complex thoughts. The subject also had no history of suicide or depression in his family. When reviewing the subjects brain, the doctors looked for the amount of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) compared to the amount of regular neurotransmitters (NTs). NFTs are known as the main source to diseases like Alzheimers. After studying the subjects brain, doctors found he had a greater density of NFTs than NTs in the subjects Frontal Lobe, and in other places in the brain. These findings confirm the fact that there is a link between football and CTE. These findings also confirm the amount of unconfirmed

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