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A lot of high profile athletes’ deaths have caused brain disorder specialists in NJ to investigate brain damage. The most recent being last month when Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot himself and his girlfriend. He is the sixth NFL player to commit suicide within the past two years. Since Junior Seau’s suicide last May, there have been a lot of studies on the correlation of football and brain trauma. It has since been suggested that athletes who have played sports involving repeated head trauma for over five years are at a large risk of dying from Alzheimer’s, ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis) or Parkinson’s. Players that run at higher speeds (quarterbacks, running backs, safeties and linebackers) are more at risk of acquiring brain damage. A recent study was done at Boston University on the brains of 85 diseased men aged 17 to 98. 64 of these men were athletes. Of those athletes, 34 played professional football. Evidence suggests that athletes are also at risk for another brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). "This study clearly shows that for some athletes and war fighters,” said Dr. Ann McKee, of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University, “there may be severe and devastating long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma that has traditionally been considered only mild." New Jersey based brain disorder specialists interviewed family and colleagues of the diseased. From these consultations, they concluded that athletes suffering from CTE exhibit four similar stages of degenerative brain injuries: Stage 1-Difficulty with concentration attention, headaches. Stage 2-Loss of short-term memory, explosive behavior, depression. Stage 3-Executive dysfunction, inability to organize thoughts or decisions, and cognitive impairment. Stage 4- Aggression, dementia, trouble articulating. CTE advances slowly, as compared to Alzheimer’s. Each stage lasts approximately 11 to 14 years. There has been no evidence to support that CTE is the result of a lone concussion or brain injury. Brain disorder specialists in NJ believe it is caused by repeated head trauma. The problem with brain disorder studies is that those who suffer more commonly to donate their brains than those with normal brains. It is unfortunate that it has taken some pretty gruesome deaths to shed some light on these brain disorders, but at least now there is a lot of research being done. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pledged a $30 grant to the National Institutes of Health this past summer, and McKee’s team is planning on doing more tests on retired NFL players and veterans.
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