"97% Of NFL Players With History Of Head Trauma Show Signs Of Brain Disease"

From Business Insider and the Daily Mail

Review by Josh Revitch in SRM 334 (section 3)

Head injuries have always been a concerning topic in the NFL. After Junior Seau’s death last May by committing suicide, talk about the correlation of traumatic brain injuries and death skyrocketed. After this event, many former players sued the NFL due to the lack of information given to players about the long-term effects of head injuries and concussions. In early January this year, the autopsy of Junior Seau showed that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease caused by multiple and continuous blows to the head. From this discovery, researchers examined the brains of deceased, former NFL players. Scientists discovered that 31 out of the 34 brains they looked at had stage three or four CTE including players such as Dave Duerson, Cookie Gilchrist and John Mackey.

Social media allows for people to ask questions, give advice, and speak their mind about this topic. There are signs of concern about this topic as many parents have children playing football. The NFL is going to contribute money to researchers to discover how to prevent these types of head injuries. Teams are also going to have neurological specialists on their sidelines to give evaluations of players that get concussions during games. Hopefully the rule for allowing athletes to play post-concussion gets stricter as research shows detrimental, long-term side effects of head injuries and concussions.

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Review by Matt Dumblauskas in SRM 334 (section 3)


Concussions have emerged as a major safety issue in football during the past couple of years. This article addresses some of the steps that the NFL is taking and has taken in the past to help prevent or reduce the number of concussions. Recently the NFL has partnered with Boston University and is willing to give $1 million or more to fund independent research projects to help find a solution to this concussion problem. The article also mentions that NFL alumni association is encouraging players to donate their brains to help with the research process. The NFL is also is investing in independent research that can give insight into how helmets can be more protective. This includes how the helmet is worn and used, along with the make of the helmet.

In the past the league has been cautious about concussions, but has not looked into fixing the problem to this extent. When a player used to get a concussion, the team waited for symptoms to decrease and then that player was eligible to play. Now that all of this research shows a lasting effect of head trauma, I think that the game will change. I do not think that players will necessarily play the game differently because playing the game to their top potential is number one on the list of priorities for most players. That being said I do believe that the style of play will be taught differently at a young age. I also feel that these new steps are going to cause more parents to not let their kids play the game. The media aspect of this topic allows the spread of concussion awareness and is helping to spark a change. With the recent death of Junior Seau and the fact that his brain had CTE, the public is starting to look for answers. We as viewers do love to see big hits, but we do not want to see our favorite players being severely injured or even dying due to head trauma complications. Fans are now using social media to ask questions and show concern.