A study cited by the New York Times has raised fresh concerns over chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football.
The paper, originally published by the scientific journal, Nature Communications, suggests that concussions are not necessary for one to suffer from CTE. While there is still a lot that is unknown about the condition as folks cannot be diagnosed with it until they’ve died, data derived from the study points to “the cumulative force of the head hits absorbed by the players,” as the primary cause.
The researchers involved looked at multiple studies undertaken previously to put together a sample size consisting of 631 former football players of which 71 percent showed signs of CTE at different levels.
The study employed harness helmet sensors that could measure the levels of force received during a hit to determine whether tackles that did not have the impact required to cause a concussion were still capable of causing mental degradation.
Data also determined that linemen are most at risk given the combination of G-forces encountered on an average play and how often they’re exposed to impact.
On the bright side, all of the former players involved in the study are ones who have passed on and donated their brains to science, which means they didn’t get to play with the protective equipment used in today’s game and the information available now was not available to them when they played in the 80s and 90s.
