Football headlines have been dominated by the NFL concussion debates over the last few years. Lately, NFL players and the league have attempted to find out more about concussions and the long term effects that they have on players. One of the biggest recent stories to emerge is two former NFL players agreeing to posthumously donate their brains to find out more about head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Former NFL punter Steve Weatherford and former NFL wide receiver Sidney Rice have pledged to donate their brains once they pass. Their concerns about concussions and willingness to help medical professionals learn about this issue demonstrate a trend in the way NFL players, the league, and fans are looking at concussions.
Football players are more aware than ever before about the inherent dangers that their sport brings. Former and current players are trying to find out more about head injuries and the dangers that may follow. Rice and Weatherford donating their brains to scientific research after they die might be a trend we see more of in the future. Studying former players brain’s is the best way for medical professionals and players to understand the long term effects of playing football. Through this research a better understanding about how to prevent serious head injuries may become more likely.
For a long time football had been played without much interest in learning about injuries related to the sport. Including head and brain injuries. It is important for the NFL to get an understanding of how head trauma occurs and what can be done to prevent it. Recently San Francisco 49ers linebacker, Chris Borland retired after his rookie season due to fears about head injuries causing CTE. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease found in the brains of people who have received repeated brain trauma or blows to the head. Some of the side effects of CTE include memory loss, confusion, aggression, depression, tremors, headaches, dizziness, disorientation, and more.
The donations of former NFL player’s brains will hopefully assist medical professionals in better understanding CTE and its relationship with playing football. It would be tragic to see NFL players continue to cut their careers short out of unknown fears of CTE.
Many problems with the concussion and head trauma issues in the NFL stem from people not really knowing what qualifies as a concussion. Concussions are not necessarily always caused by massive blows to the head but can occur from something as simple as a slap.
Sport technology in the future will have to go the way of trying to track concussions after hits are sustained by athletes. Not only are athletes trying to learn more about the injuries they sustain to their brains but leagues and franchises are eager to learn more to avoid potential lawsuits. For example Troy Polamalu said in a 2012 interview that he has hidden head injuries from training staffs and estimated that most NFL players sustain anywhere from 50-100 head injuries over the course of their career.
As we have seen, there is a multitude of products and systems that attempt to monitor concussions. Unfortunately these devices have been slow to catch on with the public and are costly to implement in sports at the lower levels. One of the main problems with protecting athletes at lower levels is the cost of getting this gear to ensure their safety. It may not be a problem for an NFL team to invest thousands of dollars in new technology and hardware for player safety but at the Pop Warner, high school, and college level it might be impossible.
Another technology improvement that has come as a result of the growing concerns of player safety is better constructed helmets. Helmet manufacturers have improved protection over the years and will continue to make helmets that provide more protection as the need becomes more evident. Player safety has become a top priority in the NFL and as technology advances it may very well be the league’s savior in securing player’s safety.
Steve Weatherford and Sidney Rice have donated their brains for the benefit of everybody who plays or played sports with physical contact. By having their brains available for study after death new insight can be discovered on what long term effects contact sports may have. More importantly medical professionals may be able to find ways to prevent injuries in future generations after learning from the brains of athletes from the previous generation.
At first it may seem like an odd thing to donate but it actually is quite a generous gesture. This should be a trend in the future that more athletes will follow.