Does Football Equate to Brain Damage?
Jalen Hendrix
Jalen Hendrix
Football is an American favorite. It is one of the many sports in America that can bring people together or tear relationships apart (depending on who you root for). Growing up as kids you were probably born into a house that had either fans on both sides of a rivalry (Giants or Patriots, etc.). While some kids enjoyed watching football, others desperately wanted to get the chance to be on the field. Kids playing football always seemed harmless to most adults. That was until recent years in which scientists discovered that football is one of the most dangerous sports you can play. But will these new findings stop parents from letting their children play football? And what are the real dangers of the sport?
Football, being the dangerous sport it is, has now been found to be the source of quite a few mental illnesses and disorders among retired professionals and college players. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is the most common illness linked to football. CTE is a disease found in people with a history with a persistent amount of brain trauma. Football of course requires tackling, blocking, and forced collision which are all of course things that can cause trauma to the brain. CTE is also linked to soldiers and war veterans, which is also known to be linked to certain kinds of traumas. Symptoms of CTE include: short-term memory loss, depression or apathy, emotional empathy, suicidal thoughts or behavior etc.
CTE has claimed the lives of several athletes including: Terry Luther Long, Andre Waters, Shane Dronett, David Russell Duerson and many more. All of these deaths are due to suicide from complications with CTE. Dementia is another disease that has been linked to sports such as football. A recent study has shown that there is a 60% chance that you can get dementia if you have had a history of head injuries. Hillgrove football player TJ Thomas says, “When I’m out on the field I think of it as having fun, not a death wish.” Dementia is only a risk factor depending on severity of the head injury. While playing football, however, you can obtain several types of head injuries that could be mild or severe. High school football player Kyren Thomas said , “It’s really hard to try to stop people from doing stuff that they love, even if it costs something in the long term.”
Dr. Bennett Omalu was one of the first people to recognize long term injuries involving athletes and football players. He even examined some of the brains of athletes who have committed suicide and found cases of CTE from his examinations. Dr. Omalu was the first neuropathologist to discover CTE in football players and was the first to publish his findings. Dr. Omalu is also the subject of the 2015 critically acclaimed film Concussion starring Will Smith, who portrays his life at the time of his research. Within the last eight years, the NFL has continued to make efforts to create safer helmets and equipment that would allow players to avoid severe injuries.
Football, being the dangerous sport it is, has now been found to be the source of quite a few mental illnesses and disorders among retired professionals and college players. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is the most common illness linked to football. CTE is a disease found in people with a history with a persistent amount of brain trauma. Football of course requires tackling, blocking, and forced collision which are all of course things that can cause trauma to the brain. CTE is also linked to soldiers and war veterans, which is also known to be linked to certain kinds of traumas. Symptoms of CTE include: short-term memory loss, depression or apathy, emotional empathy, suicidal thoughts or behavior etc.
CTE has claimed the lives of several athletes including: Terry Luther Long, Andre Waters, Shane Dronett, David Russell Duerson and many more. All of these deaths are due to suicide from complications with CTE. Dementia is another disease that has been linked to sports such as football. A recent study has shown that there is a 60% chance that you can get dementia if you have had a history of head injuries. Hillgrove football player TJ Thomas says, “When I’m out on the field I think of it as having fun, not a death wish.” Dementia is only a risk factor depending on severity of the head injury. While playing football, however, you can obtain several types of head injuries that could be mild or severe. High school football player Kyren Thomas said , “It’s really hard to try to stop people from doing stuff that they love, even if it costs something in the long term.”
Dr. Bennett Omalu was one of the first people to recognize long term injuries involving athletes and football players. He even examined some of the brains of athletes who have committed suicide and found cases of CTE from his examinations. Dr. Omalu was the first neuropathologist to discover CTE in football players and was the first to publish his findings. Dr. Omalu is also the subject of the 2015 critically acclaimed film Concussion starring Will Smith, who portrays his life at the time of his research. Within the last eight years, the NFL has continued to make efforts to create safer helmets and equipment that would allow players to avoid severe injuries.