# data[].attributes.headline
News article from CNN by Nadia Kounang, adds understanding of current players that have chronic injuries that could lead to CTE

# data[].attributes.subject
News article from CNN by Nadia Kounang, adds understanding of current players that have chronic injuries that could lead to CTE

# data[].attributes.body
Sports team managers across the board can do something about this problem. Depending on the sport the answer can be different but protective headgear is the main way to combat this issue. Specifically in football that means adding more padding to helmets the same with rugby and other contact sports of the like. The main stakeholders are players, coaches, and families. Constraints- Money, not all teams have enough money for new equipment, changing padding does not address the fact that concussions and head injuries aren't being taken seriously Affordances- Most people want players to be safe, the change is relatively simple and should not affect players ability to play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Two concussions don’t always add up to second impact syndrome | CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The NFL has been thrust back into the concussion debate after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took two big hits just four days apart.

# data[].attributes.headline
Research article from the National Institutes of Health by Sharon Reynolds, confirms the correlation between CTE and contact sports such as football as well as gives statistics of CTE in players

# data[].attributes.subject
Research article from the National Institutes of Health by Sharon Reynolds, confirms the correlation between CTE and contact sports such as football as well as gives statistics of CTE in players

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At a Glance

The force of blows to the head that football players experienced over their lives better predicted chronic traumatic encephalopathy than the number of concussions.

A better understudying of the causes of this deadly type of neurodegenerative disease could help change how football players practice and play.

Blows to the head during contact sports like football, boxing, and soccer can cause injury to the brain, called traumatic brain injury. Studies of American football players have identified a serious consequence of repeated traumatic brain injuries. In a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, tangles of a protein called tau build up in the brain after repeated head impacts. The resulting brain damage is similar to that seen in Alzheimer's disease. CTE can lead to dementia and eventually death.

To help prevent CTE in people who play contact sports, scientists are investigating the types of head impacts that confer the most risk. An NIH-funded research team led by Dr. Daniel Daneshvar from Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Jesse Mez from Boston University set out to better understand the relationship between head impacts and CTE.

The team collected data from 34 previous studies of helmet accelerometers used in youth, high school, and college football players. These devices measure the number, speed, and direction of impacts to the head during play. The researchers used this data to create what they called a positional exposure matrix, or PEM. This estimated the average number and types of blows to the head a person would experience during a season for a particular playing position and level of play, including professional athletes.

The team then looked at the relationships between these estimated impacts and CTE in 631 male brain donors who had previously played football. Results were published on June 20, 2023, in Nature Communications.

On average, the brain donors had played about 12 years of football and died at age 60. About 28%, or 180 of them, didn't have evidence of CTE in their brains. Another 163 had low-stage CTE, and 288 had high-stage CTE. As seen in previous studies, the number of reported concussions wasn't associated with CTE incidence or severity.

However, the number of years playing football as well as several factors measured by the PEM were associated with CTE. Every additional year playing football was associated with 15% increased odds of a CTE diagnosis and, for those with CTE, 14% increased odds of severe CTE.

Every 1,000 additional estimated blows to the head conferred 21% increased odds of a CTE diagnosis, and 13% increased odds of developing severe CTE. Analyses that took into account the linear and rotational accelerations experienced during head blows were better at predicting CTE than models that only included the number of blows.

These associations held when the researchers took other potential sources of head injury over a lifetime into account. These included military service and other contact sports.

"These results provide added evidence that repeated non-concussive head injuries are a major driver of CTE pathology rather than symptomatic concussions," Mez says.

"This study suggests that we could reduce CTE risk through changes to how football players practice and play," adds Daneshvar. "If we cut both the number of head impacts and the force of those hits in practice and games, we could lower the odds that athletes develop CTE."

-by Sharon Reynolds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How football raises the risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The force of blows to the head that football players experienced over their lives better predicted chronic traumatic encephalopathy than the number of concussions.

# data[].attributes.headline
Research article from the National Institutes of Health by Sharon Reynolds, talks about repetitive injury involving specifically head injuries and the improper care that is often given to those individuals

# data[].attributes.subject
Research article from the National Institutes of Health by Sharon Reynolds, talks about repetitive injury involving specifically head injuries and the improper care that is often given to those individuals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At a Glance

Less than half of people treated for a mild traumatic brain injury at major trauma centers across the country received follow-up care by three months after discharge.

The finding suggests that people with persistent symptoms from concussions may not be receiving treatments that could improve their physical and mental health.

Millions of Americans go to the hospital each year for treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as concussion. Though rarely fatal, concussions can have long-term effects that decrease quality of life. These include headaches, trouble with memory and reasoning, difficulty sleeping, and depression. A recent study found that almost a quarter of people with mild TBI still have related physical or mental problems a year later.

Other studies have suggested that many patients with mild TBI do not receive follow-up care that could help them manage these problems. A team led by Dr. Seth A. Seabury at the University of Southern California and Dr. Geoffrey Manley of the University of California, San Francisco, set out to better understand how such follow-up care is delivered nationwide. Using data from a large study of traumatic brain injury patients called TRACK-TBI, they followed 831 people who were treated for mild TBI at 11 major trauma centers across the country. All the participants had symptoms that triggered a CT scan of their brain as part of initial treatment. Traffic incidents and falls accounted for most of the cases.

The participants were asked about their follow-up care using two surveys, collected two weeks and three months after their injury. They reported whether they had received educational materials about their TBI when leaving the hospital, if the hospital had called to check up on them, and if they had seen a doctor or other health care practitioner since going home. The research was supported in part by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Results were published in JAMA Network Open on May 25, 2018.

Overall, about 42% of the participants said they had received educational materials when leaving the hospital. Only 27% received a follow-up call from the hospital. Within three months of their injury, 44% had seen a health-care professional. These percentages varied widely between hospitals. Centers with dedicated TBI clinics provided the highest rates of follow-up care.

People with more serious injuries were somewhat more likely to receive follow-up care. Out of 236 participants who had tissue damage on their initial CT scan, 61% had seen a medical practitioner by three months after their injury. However, 39% had not. Of the 279 participants who reported that they still had three or more moderate or severe symptoms from their concussion three months later, only about half had seen a doctor about those symptoms. Whether or not people had health insurance did not affect the rates of follow-up care.

"Even in the best trauma centers in the country, patients with concussion are not getting the follow-up care they desperately need," Manley says.

"This is a public health crisis that is being overlooked," he adds. "For too many patients, concussion is being treated as a minor injury."

-by Sharon Reynolds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
transforming research and clinical knowledge in traumatic brain injury

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Many with mild traumatic brain injury don't receive follow-up care

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A study suggests that people with long-term symptoms from concussions may not be receiving treatments that could improve their physical and mental health.

# data[].attributes.headline
News article from USA Today by Nancy Armour, adds an understanding of the disease and what is being done to diagnose and treat it earlier

# data[].attributes.subject
News article from USA Today by Nancy Armour, adds an understanding of the disease and what is being done to diagnose and treat it earlier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Researchers close in on CTE diagnosis in living, one brain at a time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Boston researchers have studied more than 550 brains in an effort to pinpoint how and where CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) starts and how to prevent it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Academic Journal from The American Neurologic Association and the Child Neurology society by James Kelly, David Priemer, Daniel Perl, Christopher Filley, describes the disease and solutions to the issue as well as adding evidence to the correlation between injury in sports and CTE

# data[].attributes.subject
Academic Journal from The American Neurologic Association and the Child Neurology society by James Kelly, David Priemer, Daniel Perl, Christopher Filley, describes the disease and solutions to the issue as well as adding evidence to the correlation between injury in sports and CTE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Annals of Neurology - 2022 - Kelly - Sports Concussion and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy  Finding a Path Forward

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The NFL embraced soft-shell helmet covers to protect players from concussions. Here’s what the science says about them | CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Putting more padding around a football player’s head might sound like a good idea, but there’s little independent research showing that it reduces the force of blows to the head or that it prevents head injuries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Developing method to detect CTE scholarly source

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NOTE_ Playing Through the Haze_ The NFL Concussion Litigation and Section 301 Preemption_ 102 Geo.PDF

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gisele Bündchen on Tom Brady's concussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gisele Bündchen reveals husband and NFL quarterback Tom Brady has had concussions. Bündchen is teaming up with environmentalist Paul Hawken to help promote his new book, "Drawdown."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NFL Football & Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): An Overview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NFL Football & Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): An OverviewAuthors: Somil Bhushan, Simon Jiang	The National Football League (NFL) represents an organized form of sports that was created in America and symbolizes a core component of social culture. For many people, football is more than just a game – it’s a way to connect with others and express their love for their team or country (Intelligencer, 2023). Football was originally just a pastime during the late 19th century in North America.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
For the First Time, Researchers Show a Clear Relationship Between the Amount of CTE Pathology and Severity of Symptoms | Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease defined by hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein accumulating in a particular pattern in specific regions of the brain. Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed at autopsy. Like similar brain diseases, the clinical symptoms in life of people diagnosed with CTE after death can vary and there has been robust debate as to what symptoms, if any, are caused by CTE pathology.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kevin Seifert, ESPN Staff WriterApr 26, 2024, 02:46 PM ET

Close
Kevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia. You can follow him via Twitter @SeifertESPN.

The NFL has adjusted its rules to allow players the option of using Guardian Caps in regular-season games to enhance their protection against head injuries, the league confirmed Friday.

The padded headgear was mandated for players at certain positions during training camp in 2022 and 2023. Speaking earlier this year, NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller said that Guardian Caps have contributed to a nearly 50% reduction in concussions for the position groups that wore them during those time periods.

In a statement provided Friday to ESPN, Miller said: "We now have two years of data showing significant concussion reductions among players who wear Guardian Caps during practice, so players will be permitted to wear the cap during games this upcoming season. Additionally, there are new helmets this year that provide as much -- if not more -- protection than a different helmet model paired with a Guardian Cap. These developments represent substantial progress in our efforts to make the game safer for players."

The current plan is for the Guardian Caps to have team logos on them when worn during games.

The NFL will exempt players from having to use the Guardian Caps during the mandated portion of training camp if they wear one of six new helmet models that the league and the NFL Players Association have identified as providing equal or better protection.

Earlier this offseason, the NFL expanded the training camp mandate for wearing Guardian Caps to players at every position except quarterback and specialists. News of the NFL rule change for game days was first reported by Pro Football Talk.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NFL to allow Guardian Caps during regular season

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The NFL will allow players the option of using Guardian Caps in regular-season games to help protect against head injuries, the league confirmed Friday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Illini Decide: Stay or throw away? Guardian Caps in the NFL - The Daily Illini

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With Tua Tagovailoa returning to play in the NFL after his latest concussion, reporters asked him if he’d wear Guardian Caps during games