Saturday, September 19, 2015

A sporting life?

The blog has a few times posted reports that professional sportspersons are being purposefully placed at risk from injury.

Once more it is being confirmed that this is indeed the case.

A large majority of NFL players may suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a rare brain disease believed to be caused by repeated head trauma. Researchers from the Department of Veteran Affairs and Boston University tested 91 dead former NFL players, and found it in 87 of them — that's 95 per cent. The disease has been identified in 79 per cent of those tested who played football at any level going all the way back to high school.

Dr Ann McKee, chief of neurophysiology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the lab where the tests were done, told PBS: "People think that we're blowing this out of proportion, that this is a very rare disease and that we’re sensationalizing it. My response is that where I sit, this is a very real disease. We have had no problem identifying it in hundreds of players."


Many former NFL players have sued the league because of injuries sustained because of the health problems they get later in life — from severe headaches to dementia to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In April, a class-action lawsuit between the NFL and nearly 5,000 former players was settled in a deal that could cost the league up to $1 billion roughly a season’s profits

1 comment:

ajohnstone said...

World Rugby's chief medical officer has told the BBC the sport's rules may have to change to reduce concussions. Reported concussions in rugby have doubled in five years and a UK expert said on average one player at every Six Nations match suffered a brain injury.
Reported concussions in English rugby rose by 59% in 2013-14 and in Scotland, the figure has also nearly doubled in the past two years.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34249189