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Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

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Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#111

Post by snomad »

Their is some measurable chance the NFL and football disappear w/in 30 years. Sooner or later a college / high school will lose a lawsuit for a player w/CTE, and schools will have no choice but to stop participation. Once that happens, talent level and interest in the sport will die off. Kinda silly cities are in such a rush to continue building new stadiums.

The unspoken elephant whenever these studies come up is skiing and snowboarding. Lots more participants, and I bet the concussion rate is similarly high over X number of visits. Damn well better not make me wear helmet though, my worst injuries came when I had one on (overconfidence syndrome)

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#112

Post by yesthrowaway234 »

Havoc wrote: post #99
outsideoflife wrote: post #89

For my American cousins I thought I would mention a little more about Rugby Union. Concussion is less of a problem in Rugby than in American football, and this is not an accident. Rugby is addressing this in several ways. 1) Years of rule changes, and stricter enforcement. Now a top level player who tackles someone above the shoulder, or tackles without attempting to hold on (so no clothes-linse or body checks) will…

While the efforts made certainly help there is no getting around the fact that it is an impact sport. That combined with a culture of being tough means that few ‘good’ players escape completely injury free. Short of touch rugby there will still be head impacts and that will have an effect of varying degrees - just maybe not noticeable. Personally I find it difficult to understand how parents can let their kids play r…

I've hurt myself far less playing rugby than soccer, and had way more fun too.

Yes, it's a high impact sport, and that's exactly why there are a lot of rules to prevent anyone from getting seriously injured.

Also, the objective of Rugby is to get the "ball" at the other side of the camp while avoiding the most friction possible, not to hurt each other. In fact, we were often encouraged to avoid contact whenever possible and to pass the ball whenever we could.

There is also a lot of training on how to to fall and how to not hurt your opponents too, I wouldn't say it's "risky at best", quite the contrary, I'd recommend the sport to anyone young enough.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#113

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #100
clort wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your premise is wrong. It sounds as if it should be right, but the framing is awry The players are not really aware of the health risks, furthermore they are young and foolish and impressionable and are following the path of glamour which has been sold to them as youngsters. The sports organization is aware of the risks and are using the players to make vast sums for themselves, they are pushing the glamourous path a…

>The players are not really aware of the health risks, furthermore they are young and foolish and impressionable and are following the path of glamour which has been sold to them as youngsters. I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks. There are likely neighborhoods where people raise families that are less safe than playing in the NFL. And I'm sorry, but 25 year olds are not…

> a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks

Good, then this is easy: let's tell them, and make it their choice.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#114

Post by outsideoflife »

Havoc wrote: post #99
outsideoflife wrote: post #89

For my American cousins I thought I would mention a little more about Rugby Union. Concussion is less of a problem in Rugby than in American football, and this is not an accident. Rugby is addressing this in several ways. 1) Years of rule changes, and stricter enforcement. Now a top level player who tackles someone above the shoulder, or tackles without attempting to hold on (so no clothes-linse or body checks) will…

While the efforts made certainly help there is no getting around the fact that it is an impact sport. That combined with a culture of being tough means that few ‘good’ players escape completely injury free. Short of touch rugby there will still be head impacts and that will have an effect of varying degrees - just maybe not noticeable. Personally I find it difficult to understand how parents can let their kids play r…

I stopped playing Rugby when before I was 18, and the final year of that was where it became serious. I have mild lasting damage to my spine which is painful rather than incapacitating and suffered one serious concussion. I also suffered some muscle strains.

The spinal damage was from playing against people in my college year group who were clearly much older than me, and should not have been playing against 16 year olds. The head injury was caused by my running towards a ruck which broke up in front of me, leaving someones head poking through to hit my face. It didn't happen in a tackle where the normal hits happen. It was a freak, but yes it would have been less likely in a tiddleywinks competition.

The other injuries I saw were a horrible broken leg from someone training in non-studded foot wear, and muscle strains typical of all athletic activities. I saw one more person knocked out in training who was simply holding a tackle pad and had their head in a very dubious position...

My point was really that the risks in American football could be reduced without ruining the game. No Rugby is not safe, neither is not taking exercise. You have to weigh up your own risks.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#115

Post by azernik »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #100
clort wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your premise is wrong. It sounds as if it should be right, but the framing is awry The players are not really aware of the health risks, furthermore they are young and foolish and impressionable and are following the path of glamour which has been sold to them as youngsters. The sports organization is aware of the risks and are using the players to make vast sums for themselves, they are pushing the glamourous path a…

>The players are not really aware of the health risks, furthermore they are young and foolish and impressionable and are following the path of glamour which has been sold to them as youngsters. I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks. There are likely neighborhoods where people raise families that are less safe than playing in the NFL. And I'm sorry, but 25 year olds are not…

This particular thread was about the NCAA, which does recruit players at 17-18 (just entering college).

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#116

Post by throwanem »

edejong wrote: post #83
jim-jim-jim wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rules of football make for a really interesting game, but the fact that the NFL/NCAA are such awful organizations + the growing concerns about its safety make it impossible for me to actually enjoy it. Hopefully we'll have robots playing it for us one day.

Hopefully robots will eventually be intelligent enough not to willfully damage their central processing unit.

Thus leading to remotely piloted football bots and the Super Bowl wifi eavesdropping scandal of 2079.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#117

Post by ryanwaggoner »

code_duck wrote: post #85
pizza wrote: post #48

"I can't believe people were so dumb about smoking in the 1950s.. how were they so dumb? did they not know it caused cancer?" this is a kinda modern equivalent, imo..

The thing is that both activities were always clearly likely to be harmful, if you took a step back from the cultural perspective that accepted them so thoroughly. Smoking tobacco is inhaling an acrid a mix of chemicals that makes you cough, kind of feel sick and lightheaded, smells awful and leaves a tan stain - it’s not hard to guess that it’s not healthy. Remember that half of people who die from tobacco die from…

Edit to add, It’s a bit frustrating, because surely if one was to stand up 30 years ago and say “hey, I don’t think this high school football program is a good idea because I’m worried about all these young people knocking their heads together with full force”... The response would have been to mock you and dispute it, if they paid any attention at all.

30 years ago? I bet you’d get this reaction today in large swaths of America. I’m positive you would have gotten it 5 years ago.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#118

Post by throwanem »

ekianjo wrote: post #49
tmh79 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

from what I understand, it is currently a chemical test that requires a biopsy or tissue sample, which is difficult to get from the brain because well, you remove part of the brain, which is bad.

brain biopsies are routinely performed for brain tumors so its not that uncommon.

But that's to characterize a known lesion, which may require aggressive treatment depending upon its type, and will likely require excision in any case because its simple presence is likely causing some degree of pathological effect.

This is a rather different situation, and while I'm not myself a neurosurgeon or indeed anything at all in the medical field except possibly an occasional annoyance, I tend to think that "hey, let's see if we'll find anything this time!" is probably not considered a sufficient reason to perform brain surgery. I could totally be wrong about that, though!

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#119

Post by bocklund »

snomad wrote: post #111

Their is some measurable chance the NFL and football disappear w/in 30 years. Sooner or later a college / high school will lose a lawsuit for a player w/CTE, and schools will have no choice but to stop participation. Once that happens, talent level and interest in the sport will die off. Kinda silly cities are in such a rush to continue building new stadiums. The unspoken elephant whenever these studies come up is sk…

I don't think a lawsuit will stop it. There's too much money and citizen support. One way or another, they would settle and it would go away.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#120

Post by kasey_junk »

outsideoflife wrote: post #89

For my American cousins I thought I would mention a little more about Rugby Union. Concussion is less of a problem in Rugby than in American football, and this is not an accident. Rugby is addressing this in several ways. 1) Years of rule changes, and stricter enforcement. Now a top level player who tackles someone above the shoulder, or tackles without attempting to hold on (so no clothes-linse or body checks) will…

One of the problems with CTE is we still aren’t positive what is causing it. There is at least some evidence that low level repetitive hits to the head are as bad or worse than concussions in this regard. If that is true Rugby is going to have its day of reckoning in CTE (as is soccer).

Concussions are bad in any case, so it’s great that we are trying to prevent them, but I’d be very careful assuming any contact sport has a handle on the issue yet. Especially not one with a scrum.

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