By
Darrin Sheffer
Full disclosure: I AM NOT A DOCTOR.
I also do not claim to be an expert on brain injury or neuroscience in general.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brain_01.jpg
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is all over the media today. Here is a link to a recent study done on former NFL players: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2645104
and here is the link to Boston University's CTE Center: http://www.bu.edu/cte/
I highly recommend that you do your own research on CTE, utilize the resources I listed above and learn as much as you possibly can on this issue because I believe it is the biggest issue that the sport is facing now and most likely will continue to face in the foreseeable future. My viewpoint on CTE has evolved and I assume it will continue to evolve as more and more information comes out, but I will give you a hint as to my current thoughts: I believe that this issue will change the game of football as we know it.
Today I am going to be taking off my coaches hat and put on my Scientist hat. Before I begin talking I want to give you my credentials:
Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science from Bridgewater College, Bridgewater VA
Masters Degree in Biology from Chatham University, Pittsburgh PA
Graduate Certificate in Secondary Education Science from George Mason University, Fairfax VA
2 Years teaching Biology at High School 1 Year teaching Earth Science at High School
Not to mention all of my internships and countless research projects.
Here are some areas of focus my studies have taken: Human Anatomy, Physiology, Neuroscience, Exercise Science, Ecology, Zoology, Environmental Science, Statistics, etc.
Current Study
I want to focus on the most popular CTE study that news reporters and media sites love to quote. This particular study found that 96% of brains sampled from former football players had some degree of CTE or other brain damage.
As a Scientist I have one issue with this particular study: sample size. I'm a stickler for data, and there just isn't enough data from this study to convince me football is the only thing causing CTE. Every person who's brain was studied had played football at some point in their life and showed signs of brain damage before dying. But what about non-football athletes, non-athletes, drug users, alcoholics, etc? To be more of a valid study I need more data about the rates of CTE in the general public. Unfortunately, to see if someone has CTE, they have to be dead and had to agree to have their brains studied. Hopefully in the future there is a way to diagnose CTE without the patient being dead.
I also have an issue with Social Media, the News and other Media outlets like CNN showing headlines that say things like "Scientific Study Proves Football Causes CTE". These people do this kind of thing all the time. If you have seen news headlines like "Scientific Study Shows That Eating Chocolate Helps People Lose Weight" you know that some people will believe this type of thing out of hand because it "was on the news" so "it must be true". Unfortunately, many things on media sites are "fake Science". These guys only care about profits and having the "next news story".
My Thoughts
I really hope research on CTE continues and that we end up getting more data on the rate of CTE in the general public, not just the skewed sample the study above used.
It might seem like I don't believe concussions and CTE is an issue, but the truth is I believe it's a huge problem facing the sport. We as coaches have already seen an impact on parents allowing their children play football, especially at the High School level.
How will the sport respond? I believe that football, as we know it, will evolve to meet this problem "head on". I foresee that in the future we will see more rules changes about tackling, potentially even "gasp" banning tackling! Before you get mad at me and stop reading consider this, football has changed before because of similar reasons. When college football first started there was no forward pass. The sport was so violent that people were dying on the field before the President forced rules changes to allow forward passing which made it safer. In fact I would contend that the game we have today is a different game than the one we had only 10 years ago. Change is inevitable and will happen.
As a parent myself, and someone who has at least some understanding of brain development in kids it is my belief that young kids should NOT play tackle football until 8th grade, or even wait until High School. Many coaches will be angry and argue that youth football teaches fundamentals, which it does, but I contend that young kids can learn all football fundamentals (except for tackling) by playing flag football with well trained coaches. But don't get me wrong, I am still passionate about the game. However, I am even more passionate about the health and safety of my players and my own children.
What are your thoughts? I really do recommend you do your own research and come up with your own educated conclusions.
Stay Obsessed
Bibliography:
Mez J, Daneshvar DH, Kiernan PT, Abdolmohammadi B, Alvarez VE, Huber BR, Alosco ML, Solomon TM, Nowinski CJ, McHale L, Cormier KA, Kubilus CA, Martin BM, Murphy L, Baugh CM, Montenigro PH, Chaisson CE, Tripodis Y, Kowall NW, Weuve J, McClean MD, Cantu RC, Goldstein LE, Katz DI, Stern RA, Stein TD, McKee AC. Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Players of American Football. JAMA. 2017;318(4):360–370. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.8334
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/health/cte-nfl-players-brains-study/index.html
http://www.bu.edu/cte/
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