Former National Football League player: I probably have CTE

A career in football, especially in the NFL, guarantees the degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a study done by researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University. “Our coaches are all required to take an online class in that area, and then pass that information on to the athletses and the parents”, said Green.

Linked to a repeated amount of brain trauma, the disease has symptoms like memory loss, depression, impaired judgment and eventually, a form of dementia that is progressive. “I would say that athletes today are better protected and better educated than ever before”.

The near consensus number of players who tested for CTE in the sample used for the study is startling, and perhaps the most alarming news for football-related brain injuries to date.

A neuropathology chief in Boston said that people think medical experts are blowing this problem out of proportion and that it is a disease that is very rare.

Though brain scans can be done on living players, only posthumously can CTE be identified as present.

It is generally believed that CTE occurs due to repeated head trauma experienced while being involved in athletic activities. Since past year , concerns about brain health prompted National Football League players Chris Borland and Sidney Rice to announce their early retirements from the game. The way the game is played, though, may change with this new report. Scientists are still trying to determine why only some players develop the disease and others do not.

From 2003 to 2009, studies conducted by the NFL’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury concluded that “Professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis”.

In May, Dr. Russ Lonser, chairman of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Subcommittee, said there has been a 25% reduction in concussions and 40% reduction in helmet-to-helmet hits in the past three seasons. The payment, which gives each player up to $5m, settles some 300 court actions brought by more than 5,000 ex-players that were combined into a single case.

The researchers acknowledge important limitations to the study, including the fact that CTE can only be definitively identified after death. We continue to make significant investments in independent research through our gifts to Boston University, the [National Institutes of Health] and other efforts to accelerate the science and understanding of these issues.