On the Field and On the Road – Every Hit Counts

The sportsworld was shocked yesterday when word spread about Chicago Bears’ safety Dave Duerson dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Mr. Duerson had testified before Congress in 2007 about the NFL’s retirement program and its players suffering from long-term concussion-related injuries, and shortly before his death on February 17th, Duerson wanted his brain to be studied to see if he had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is most common in boxing and football players, who repeatedly take hits to head. Although players wear helmets, the hits on the field that the players endure cause concussions and tissue damage in the brain, which can go undetected. CTE is known to cause long-term and debilitating cognitive and emotional problems. Many individuals experience in their 40s and 50s symptoms similar to adults in their 60s 70s and 80s suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A person who has CTE has difficulty remembering, problems with speech, and often suffers from a mental breakdown. It also causes frailty and loss of balance, which cause many to need to permanently walk with a cane or use a wheelchair. CTE drew national attention in early 2007, after Philadelphia Eagle’s safety Andre Waters committed suicide. A post-mortem study of Waters’ brain tissue revealed that he had been suffering from CTE. CTE not only affects professional players who have had a lengthy career. Last year, C.T.E. was found in the brain of Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania football captain who killed himself in April.

This brings to light the fact that researchers are still trying to understand traumatic brain injuries and their lasting residual effects that can take years to manifest. The repeated hits that football players receive on the field involve the same mechanisms as drivers and passengers hit by another vehicle. Traumatic brain injuries are often very difficult to diagnose and do not always show up on CT scans or MRIs. Understanding and studying what happens to a player’s brain can help shed light on the trauma the brain undergoes during a car crash.

To further add to the shock of Duerson’s death, it was revealed yesterday that he intentionally shot himself in the chest in his Florida home in order to preserve his brain tissue and for it to be examined at Boston University, sending a message to the NFL.

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