One in Three Pro Football Players Think They Have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
The staggering data comes from a new study in JAMA Neurology
When I first learned about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in medical school, it was in the context of professional boxers. Repeated blows to the head, we were taught, could lead to a neurological syndrome — colloquially “punch drunk syndrome” — formally dementia pugilistica that was essentially impossible to treat.
But I bet if I say CTE today, you don’t think of boxers. No, especially at this time of year, I imagine your brain goes to one place.
Football.
The first reports of CTE in a football player occurred in 2002, when all-star Mike Webster of the Steelers and Chiefs died of a heart attack at age 50.
CTE was discovered in his brain on autopsy. Since that time, American football has quickly become the poster child for the syndrome. Which is not to say that other sports don’t have their cases — CTE has been reported in ice hockey players, in rugby players, and more rarely in soccer players associated with heading the ball.
