Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Thomas Liggins
ITT Technical Institute/ N. Las Vegas
Instructor: Ron Schaeffer
ES3220
27th February, 2013

There is a dark cloud hanging over the world of contact sports and it is growing at an alarming rate. With the size and speed of today’s athletes, the sports of football and hockey have become more exciting, fast paced, wide open, and fun to watch. However, there is another consequence of these ever growing athletes on their sports. They have made the collisions in them increasingly more violent. The velocity that these athletes hurl themselves through the air has created an atmosphere that could not have been imagined when these sports were created. Although the athletes’ bodies have become
Some of the reasons for this are more strict return to play guidelines by physicians, better diagnosis, a lower rate of reporting symptoms by players, and better testing (Burke et al, 2011). Greater efforts should be made to inform participants in hockey about the adverse effects that come from “playing through” concussions and dizziness and the risks involved with not reporting symptoms to team physicians. Also stricter measures need to be followed immediately after a concussion has been suffered from (Burke et al, 2011).
Probably the most important reason sports organizations have to take more aggressive actions to prevent concussions is because high school, college and professional football players suffer a high amount of concussions. The evidence is mounting that some NFL players suffer the same brain damage or ‘punch drunkeness’ that has for years been associated with boxers (Miller, 2010). One problem is that not all players wear the latest helmets. Some of the older helmets in use still meet regulations, but they don’t have the latest technology to protect players. Many players prefer older model helmets simply for comfort, and while newer helmets are not concussion-proof, they can provide better protection. Probably the most serious problem is the pressure team physicians feel to get players back on the field (Lazarus, 2011). These are dangerous trends being that “the typical football player, over the course of a high school, college, and