We keep finding CTE in young brains, but sending them back on the field
With the NFL preseason in full swing, I can’t help thinking about the incremental neurological damage that’s being inflicted on the players with each vicious tackle and violent collision. The damage — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease better known as CTE — has often been decades in the making.
TL;DR
- CTE is a degenerative brain disease resulting from accumulated head impacts in football.
- The risk of CTE increases with every additional season a player participates in football.
- More than half of former players with twelve or more seasons examined had CTE.
- CTE is caused by thousands of smaller hits, not just single concussions.
- The brain deterioration associated with CTE can continue after blows stop, resembling Alzheimer's disease.