You Might Want to Think Again Before You Go Pro Boys

hqdefault

Are you ready to risk it all for Americas favorite sport? Concussions due to football have become increasingly more prevalent and are proven to cause extreme long-term brain damage! We all knew concussions were bad for us, but how truly detrimental are they?

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recently conducted a study showing that professional football players are at a much high risk of dying from Alzheimer’s, ALS, and other diseases caused by brain cell damage than the rest of the general population. For their study they gathered data on “3,439 ex-professional football players, an average age of 57, that all had played at least five seasons between the years 1959 and 1988 for the National Football League.” They searched through the 3,439 men’s death certificates, keeping an eye out for deaths caused by ALS, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. During the course of the study, 10% of the men passed away. Leaving the scientists to conclude that football players; “have triple the risk of death caused by diseases that destroy or damage brain cells compared to other people, they are four times more likely of dying from ALS or Alzheimer’s disease, but they have about the same risk of death from Parkinson’s disease as the rest of the population.

ADDS chart; graphic describes what happens to the brain of a football player to possibly cause a concussion

As a result of this study some may ask, “Does the position they play affect their chances of developing these diseases?” The answer is yes. After the initial study, Everett J. Lehman, MS, and his team set out to find out whether the positions football player plays impacted their risk of developing one of these brain damaging disease. So, they divided a team into two different groups: the speed group and the non-speed group. The speed group consisted of the non-line positions such as the fullbacks, running backs, quarterbacks, halfbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, defensive backs, safeties and linebackers. Meanwhile, the non-speed group was made up of those positions on the line, such as the defensive and offensive linemen. From their study they discovered that football players with positions not on the line (in the speed group) were more than three times as likely to die from a neurodegenerative cause, a disease with a progressive loss of function or structure of neurons, than a player on the line. 62% of the players in the initial study in speed positions!

Everett J. Lehman said’ “These results are consistent with recent studies that suggest an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease among football players. Although our study looked at causes of death from Alzheimer’s disease and ALS as shown on death certificates, research now suggests that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may have been the true primary or secondary factor in some of these deaths. A brain autopsy is necessary to diagnose CTE and distinguish it from Alzheimer’s or ALS. While CTE is a separate diagnosis, the symptoms are often similar to those found in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS, and can occur as the result of multiple concussions.”

Which is why all we’ve been hearing about on the news and on ESPN is how the NFL has been expanding its rules to prevent “defenseless” players from taking hits above their shoulders (now a penalty if a players head dips), and how they’ve been constantly improving helmet designs to try and help protect against concussions.

This study’s conclusion is only based on 343 men’s deaths due to these brain diseases out of 3439. I don’t know about you guys but since this study is a few decades old and the equipment and protective gear has improved since then. I would like to see them conduct a more recent study to see if professional football players are still three times as likely to die from a neurodegenerative causes as they were back then. Also, I don’t think the death of 343 men is an accurate representation of the whole NFL/ professional football players.

Is it really worth it to go pro?

 

Work Cited:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/history-behind-an-apple-a-day/2013/09/24/aac3e79c-1f0e-11e3-94a2-6c66b668ea55_story.htmlhttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249912.phphttp://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/pro-football-players-have-4-times-greater-risk-of-als-and-alzheimers

One thought on “You Might Want to Think Again Before You Go Pro Boys

  1. Shannon Rose Beam

    First off, I love your title, it’s creative and catchy. My brother just happens to be a year younger than myself. Ever since he was a kid he wanted to play football. However, ever since he was a kid my Mother, would say no. The high school football coach his freshmen year asked him to play, but he had to say no because my Mother said absolutely no. I never understood why, until one morning I was listening to the radio on the way to school. Brett Favre came on the radio and he talked about his memory loss, from being hit so many times during his career. I mean football is all fun and games until you can’t even remember the game anymore. Here is the article about the interview I listened to that morning in the car, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brett-favre-admits-serious-memory-loss-in-radio-interview.

Comments are closed.