NIH Neuroscientists: Junior Seau Had Brain Disease Caused By Hits To the Head

McGruber writes "ABC News/ESPN broke the story that a team of scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) analyzed the brain tissue of renowned NFL linebacker Junior Seau and have concluded that the football player suffered a debilitating brain disease likely caused by two decades worth of hits to the head. From the article: 'In May 2012, Seau, 43 — football's monster in the middle, a perennial all-star and defensive icon in the 1990s whose passionate hits made him a dominant figure in the NFL — shot himself in the chest at his home in Oceanside, Calif., leaving behind four children and many unanswered questions.' As Slashdot earlier reported, more than 30 NFL players have in recent years been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition once known as 'punch drunk' because it affected boxers who had taken multiple blows to the head."

Comments

Concusion detection tech

[toadlife]

There exist sensors that can be placed into the helment and detect hits that are potentially damaging. The cost is actually nominal. The NFL should make these mandatory.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2011/January/Helmet-Device-Could-Help-in-Concussion-Detection/

Re:Concusion detection tech

[0100010001010011]

They should remove the damn helmets and pads. The reason you get the huge hits is because of them. People hit harder because you have 'protection'. Which leads to worse injuries. It's like asking someone to run into a wall. If you run into the wall with a helmet you're going to hit harder because the bits that you can feel don't hurt as much but there is still internal damage. Compared to running straight into a wall unprotected. It's going to hurt your forehead probably before it hurts the brain.

I'd love to see the same results from career Rugby players.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[0100010001010011]

I play Rugby. I've torn both ACLs. I've had numerous other injuries. But when you knock heads with someone there are

In a similar manner to how the people with congenital insensitivity to pain end up with more damage to their body because they have no pain feedback. Your brain has no internal pain receptors. It's why they can perform awake open brain surgeries. But you do have an extensive network of pain nerves all over your skull. By mitigating the pain the rest of the skull feels (with helmets) you're preventing the body from knowing when it is starting to damage the brain.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[ganjadude]

Thank you, I was going to reply with the same. Prior to the modern NFL players wore leather on their heads or nothing at all, and as someone who played pro rugby for 1 year myself, while it is more common for a rugby player to end up with a more severe injury, they dont happen as often. The gear worn by NFL players gives them a false sense of security, and as such they hit harder. If you have an exposed head, you are less likely to use your head as an attack point, something that NFL players do pretty much every play.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[Desler]

You're joking, right?

Concussion in Rugby is hidden epidemic

Concerns rise over rugby concussion risk

Concern at lack of rugby head injury reporting

Rugby players urged to donate their brains to help head-injury research

The saddest part is your bullshit got modded as interesting and insightful.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[0100010001010011]

Yep. Just like you see all the time in Rugby... except you don't. Rugby Injuries: A Review of Concepts and Current Literature. If you count actual injuries per 1000 hours of playing time professional Rugby has fewer injuries than the NFL.

And given a choice between a broken bone and permanent brain damage, I'll take the broken bone.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[Americium]

It's less, but not by much.

11.3% for high school rugby

15.3% for high school football

Professional injuries don't bother me nearly as much as the amount of injuries that occur in high school and even earlier. I don't see how you could reasonable argue that either concussion rate is acceptable at all, and the uncertainties in these studies actually overlap.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[G-Man]

Runners who use minimalist/no shoes generally use a forefoot/midfoot strike (the ball of the foot hits the ground first), while those with thickly padded shoes are usually heel-strikers.

Heel strikers tend to run more upright, with the heel landing well forward of the runner's center of gravity, while fore/midfoot strikers lean more foreward, with the foot landing almost under the CG. It's like you are always just 'falling forward', with your feet catching you from falling on your face. It takes some getting used to, but the effect is much lower impact than heel striking.

The reasoning is twofold: 1) If your foot lands well forward of your CG, you are effectively retarding your forward progress and increasing the force traveling up your legs, and 2) By striking with the heel, you remove the flexing of the foot and calf muscles as a shock absorber, and the force travels directly up the leg - right up into your knee. The padding in the heel of the shoe (and it's always the heels that are heavily padded) don't make up for the loss of the foot/calf system as a shock absorber.

You can run using a fore/midfoot strike with a thickly padded shoe, but the thick heel just seems to get in the way.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[broen]

11.3 concussions per 100 player-seasons.

15.3% players sustained concussions per season.

These numbers are not comparable.

Re:Concusion detection tech

[Swampash]

The fundamental difference is that - as sports of strategy - rugby football is real-time while American football is turn-based.

Rugby is far more improvisational while American football is far more orchestrated. That's not to say that rugby can't have set plays and that American football can't be spontaneous, but I think the generalisation is accurate. That also means that rugby players are more jacks-of-all-trades and American football players are specialists.

The fastest guy on a rugby football team also has to be able to make and shrug off tackles and (pardon the arcane terminology) clean out at rucks; the biggest guy on a rugby team also has to be able to run and catch and pass and kick. Possession can change in an instant. In rugby you have to be able to go from playing offense to defense and back at the drop of a hat and for long uninterrupted passages of play without a whistle going. A rugby player has to be able to do a bit of every other player's job if circumstances require.

In American football every step, every pass, every hit is planned out and prepared for in advance and the positions and responsibilities are far more specialised. The offensive teams specialise in offense, the defensive teams in defense, and the special teams in kicking plays. Large numbers of complex pre-planned plays have to be memorised. A top-level punt returner would probably make a top-level rugby winger - each the fastest man on his team - look laughably slow. A defensive tackle would probably make a rugby prop - each the heaviest strongest man on his team - look frickin' anorexic.

The notion of taking a rest on the sideline while a specialist team takes its turn on the field is alien shit to a rugby player. Similarly the notion of the biggest guy on the field spontaneously making a run down the sideline (entirely on his own initiative, without ever having discussed it with his teammates or coaches) before getting smashed by the fastest guy on the other team is a scenario that seems just as alien to an American footballer.

TLDR? Basically rugby is Starcraft while American football is Civilization.

Obligatory SMBC

[djlemma]

It's a Tradition!

In Fine Slashdot Traditon

[MyLongNickName]

In fine Slashdot tradition, let's hear from 52 people telling us that correlation does not imply causation and that only people with brain trauma or predisposed to it play football.

Re:In Fine Slashdot Traditon

[Jmc23]

Nope. It takes an idiot to not understand it, just like any other activity humans participate in.

Re:Go figure.

[KillDaBOB]

Well, I hope your son never plays soccer beyond the Recreational level. Part of the game is heading the ball, which can travel quite fast. It may be a very light ball compared to other sports, but remember your physics lessons: it doesn't matter what it weighs if it's moving fast enough. Pro soccer players (the linked article is about a pro sport, yeah?) often have brain damage from taking hundreds of shots to the noggin from a ball traveling 60+ mph; and that's the low end of a kick, there are players who can kick for 80+ mph, and a few who claim 90+ mph.
I think you're suffering from a condition called "over-protective parent disorder." ALL sports have risk involved. Some more than others, yes, but the two examples you give are also dangerous. ACL/MCL tears and ankle problems (along with the above example) are major parts of soccer. Swimming? Drowning doesn't seem to be very fun- and yes, it does happen.

Re:It's even in the same paragraph this time!

[MichaelusWF]

Boxing used to be one of the biggest sports in the US, now it's a Vegas sideshow, and the whole "beating people retarded" problem is a pretty big reason why. It's not that people are ignoring boxing's problems, it's that they've already addressed them and the popularity of the sport has plummeted as a result. Most people don't want to box, it's hard to find people willing to fight for a pittance in return for guaranteed brain damage. (Note, by comparison, the popularity of MMA, which does not rely purely on knockouts to win -- you can still give someone brain damage, but it's not literally the only or even the easiest path to victory) Football, on the other hand, is something that a lot of people play starting as young as grade school. I've never seen a grade school boxing league, but I see ads for peewee football signups every year.

Re:Go figure.

[ColdWetDog]

heading in soccer also causes brain damage.

Banging one's head against the desk when some idiot posts a convoluted edge case as a rebuttal to a general argument probably also causes brain damage, hypertension, blurred vision and damaged keyboards.

I should probably quit doing it.

Re:didn't shoot himself in the head?

[Anonymous Coward]

Could be. According to Wikipedia, "Seau's death recalled the 2011 suicide of former NFL player Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest and left a suicide note requesting that his brain be studied for brain trauma.[31][32]" That could be where he got the idea. Seau didn't leave a note, though.

Re:It's even in the same paragraph this time!

[Radres]

Yet golf had unsurpassed popularity when Tiger Woods took over, and the predominantly white hockey still lags behind the other pro sports like football, basketball, and baseball.

Re:Phut Bawh

[Applekid]

Why does everything have to be a political argument? This mostly has to do with being humane. If you wouldn't want this to happen to yourself or your loved ones, why would you pay to see it happen to somebody else?

Because for generations school funding had been diverted away from the fundamentals of an enriching education in favor of sanctioned sports. And as the public school system crumble with teachers and professionals alike saying we need to focus on education, our politicians gladly raise our taxes only for the windfall to again be mismanaged into non-priority academics.

Best case is that it was blind loyalty to a stupid game of tribalism, worst case is that it's intentional to keep the cup rattling for more money.

Re:Phut Bawh

[MightyMartian]

Frankly I wish they would dispense with the half-assed warfare of football, and bring back the gladiatorial games. Instead of mock battles over some stupid ball and goal posts, let's just move the game straight to big motherfuckers cutting each other to pieces. We can triple their pay, and they likely won't make it to 40, let alone to the point where they start suffering the ill effects of neurological damage.

I mean, if these guys are going to end up brain damaged messes in the end anyways, why not just short circuit all of that and go for the blood. That's what audiences really want, anyways. I can just see Hank Williams Jr. shouting "It's time for Monday Night Slaughterhouse!"