All About CTE, a Traumatic Brain Injury Commonly Seen in Football Players
Aaron Hernandez, the former Patriots dumbass who committed suicide earlier this year while serving a life sentence for murder, is the latest footballer to be publicly diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The condition is associated with depression, aggression, and impulsive control problems.
What causes CTE?
One hard hit to the head can cause immediate brain injury, often in the form of a concussion. But when someone gets hit on the head frequently over the years, it seems to trigger a CTE.
The Concussion Legacy Foundation describes it as follows:
This does not mean multiple concussions: most people diagnosed with CTE have suffered hundreds or thousands of blows to the head over the years while playing contact sports or serving in the military. And it’s not just a concussion: the strongest evidence points to subconcussion or blows to the head that don’t cause a full-blown concussion as the biggest factor.
What Happens to the Brain with CTE?
The brains of people with CTE contract in general and in certain areas, such as the medial temporal lobe, which plays a role in memory. Tau protein tangles are visible in parts of the brain. We all have tau protein, but it forms tangled fibers in CTE and some other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Researchers are still studying how these confusions are formed and how they relate to the symptoms people display during life.
The severity of CTE is divided into four stages . The most common symptoms at each stage include:
- Stage 1: headaches, attention problems.
- Stage 2: depression, mood swings, loss of short-term memory.
- Stage 3: memory loss, explosiveness, aggression. In one study, 75 percent of people at this stage were considered cognitively impaired.
- Stage 4: severe cognitive problems, memory loss, dementia. They may also have Parkinson’s disease, which affects their movements.
Does every footballer have a CTE?
No, many don’t. CTE has also been found in other groups of people, such as military veterans, boxers, and victims of abuse. Players with longer football careers who started contact sports at a younger age seem to be more likely to receive CTEs.
If you’re curious about anything specific, Wikipedia has a current list of NFL players with confirmed or suspected CTEs .
How do I know if I have it?
So far, CTE has only been diagnosed after death by brain exam, so you cannot get a definitive diagnosis. Some soccer players with CTE symptoms have been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and CTE symptoms may also overlap with other conditions affecting the brain. Researchers are trying to figure out how to make a diagnosis and then treat it. But at the moment there is no specific treatment for CTE.
If you have symptoms such as depression, memory loss, or poor impulse control, seek treatment, but be aware that your doctors will start looking for other sources of these symptoms, and that (yet) there is no such thing as a specific treatment for CTE. So, for example, if you are depressed, you may end up receiving the same treatment as depressed people without head injuries.
If possible, try contacting a CTE expert. There is also a CTE Diagnostic Research Program that involves NFL and collegiate football players. And if you’d like to contribute to CTE research after death, study the Boston University Brain Donation Program .