Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy [CTE]

Started by Diomedes, May 02, 2011, 09:57:35 PM

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ice grillin you

NFL and NFLPA announce largest youth helmet replacement program in history

Partnership between NFL, NFL Players Association, USA Football, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association (NAERA), NCAA, National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), Rawlings, Riddell, Schutt, and Xenith is supported by U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission

As part of a joint commitment to player safety, a group of sports entities and equipment manufacturers has entered into an unprecedented partnership to create a youth football safety and helmet replacement program for youth in underserved communities.  The initiative will remove helmets that are 10 years old or older and replace them with new helmets at no cost to the beneficiary leagues and will provide coaches with the latest educational information to help keep their young athletes safer and healthier.   

In its first year, the program is being piloted in four markets: the California Bay Area, Gulf Coast region, Northern Ohio, and the tri-state region around New York City.  The NFL, NFLPA, NCAA and NOCSAE have committed a combined total of approximately $1 million to the program in its first year. The pilot program is designed to provide valuable information on the state of youth football helmets, including the number of helmets 10 years old or older in use.  As of 2012, NAERA members will no longer recondition or recertify any helmet that is 10 years of age or older.  NOCSAE will collect the helmets when removed and use them for ongoing research programs.

USA Football, the sport's national governing body and the Official Youth Football Development Partner of the NFL and NFLPA, will lead the execution of the program. Other partners in the initiative are the NFL, NFL Players Association, CDC, NAERA, NCAA, NOCSAE and the SGMA.  Equipment manufacturers Rawlings, Riddell, Schutt, and Xenith are providing discounted helmets.  To learn more or apply for helmets, visit www.usafootball.com/playersafety

The effort, initiated by CPSC Chairman INEZ TENENBAUM, is expected to educate thousands of youth football coaches on vital health and safety issues and provide nearly 13,000 new helmets to youth football players in low-income communities in 2012.  Helmets will be distributed beginning in July.

"We are pleased to be part of this initiative, which will give children in underserved communities access to new helmets, and to reach coaches and parents with educational information to help protect young athletes from head injuries," said NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL. "This program is part of our focus on player safety at all levels of the game. We are proud to join with these well-respected organizations to make the Helmet Replacement Program a reality."

"The time has come to accelerate the culture change needed to improve the health and safety of youth football players," said CPSC Chairman Tenenbaum.  "Even with our push for improved safety equipment, it is vital that parents, coaches and players understand that there is no such thing as a concussion-proof helmet.  The best answer is safer and smarter play, which is why this game-changing program is aimed at reducing hits to the head and trauma to the brain.  I want to thank everyone involved in this initiative for joining together in a common commitment to youth player safety."

Helmets do not prevent concussions. Therefore, the program includes a strong educational campaign that features important safety information from the CDC, the CPSC and USA Football, including materials on concussion awareness, proper helmet fitting, and fundamentally sound football instruction with USA Football's Tackle Progression Model and Levels of Contact module.  In addition, leagues that receive helmets through this program will be required to have their coaches complete USA Football's Level 1 coaching course.  Elements of the education component are as follows:

*"Start with Safety": Concussion awareness and response information, featuring links to CDC content and resources
*"Perfect Fitting":  Helmet fitting information, including links to manufacturer-specific fitting resources
*"Tackle Safety": USA Football's Tackle Progression Model and Levels of Contact information and videos
*"Helmet Condition": Reconditioning and replacement information
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous


Diomedes

That is well written.  It's a little to punchy and catchy for me, but still a pleasure to read.
There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

Diomedes

If this were a different subject and I were SD, I'd advance the following article as proof positive that CTE is a scam.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/21/autopsy-no-apparent-damage-to-seaus-brain/?hpt=hp_t2
There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

Sgt PSN

Lol. Well played.  I'm guessing the standard autopsy doesn't reveal things like the CTE, right?  Which is why brains are shipped to that lady doctor in the article grantland article for more in depth examinations. 

ice grillin you

sad

QuoteSAN DIEGO -- Junior Seau, who committed suicide last May, two years after retiring as one of the premier linebackers in NFL history, suffered from the type of chronic brain damage that also has been found in dozens of deceased former players, five brain specialists consulted by the National Institutes of Health concluded.

Seau's ex-wife, Gina, and his oldest son Tyler, 23, told ABC News and ESPN in an exclusive interview they were informed last week that Seau's brain had tested positive for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression.

"I think it's important for everyone to know that Junior did indeed suffer from CTE," Gina Seau said. "It's important that we take steps to help these players. We certainly don't want to see anything like this happen again to any of our athletes."

She said the family was told that Seau's disease resulted from "a lot of head-to-head collisions over the course of 20 years of playing in the NFL. And that it gradually, you know, developed the deterioration of his brain and his ability to think logically."

CTE is a progressive disease associated with repeated head trauma. Although long known to occur in boxers, it was not discovered in football players until 2005. Researchers at Boston University recently confirmed 50 cases of CTE in former football players, including 33 who played in the NFL.

Seau shot himself in the heart May 2. His death stunned not only the football world but also his hometown, San Diego, where he played the first 13 years of his 20-year career. Seau led the Chargers to their first and only Super Bowl appearance and became a beloved figure in the community.
 
Within hours of Seau's death, Tyler Seau said he received calls from researchers hoping to secure his father's brain for study. The family ultimately chose the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., to oversee the research.

Gina Seau said the family chose the NIH because it was a "complete, comprehensive, unbiased scientific institution of the highest level."

Dr. Russell Lonser, the former chief of surgical neurology at the NIH, helped coordinate the study. In an interview, Dr. Lonser, who was recently named chairman of the department of neurological surgery at Ohio State University, said that because of the publicity surrounding the case, the study of Seau's brain was "blinded" to ensure its independence.

Three independent neuropathologists from outside the NIH were given unidentified tissue from three different brains; one belonged to Seau, another to a person who had suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, and a third from a person with no history of traumatic brain injury or neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Lonser said the three experts independently arrived at the same conclusion as two other government researchers: that Seau's brain showed definitive signs of CTE. Those signs included the presence of an abnormal protein called "tau" that forms neurofibrillary tangles, effectively strangling brain cells.

A statement released by the NIH said the tangles were found "within multiple regions of Mr. Seau's brain." In addition, the statement said, a small region of the left frontal lobe showed "evidence of scarring that is consistent with a small, old traumatic brain injury."

In addition to his previous role at NIH and, now, at Ohio State, Dr. Lonser serves as chairman of the NFL's research subcommittee, part of the league's Head, Neck & Spine Committee, which helps set policy related to concussions. The NFL in September made a $30 million unrestricted donation to the NIH. Dr. Lonser said the league "was not involved in anything regarding how this brain was handled or managed at any step of the process, to be absolutely crystal clear about that."

"The NFL had no influence whatsoever," he said.

The study of CTE and football is still in its infancy. The prevalence of the disease has not been established. It cannot be diagnosed in living people, only by examining brains that are removed during autopsy.

More than 4,000 former players are suing the NFL in the federal court, alleging the league ignored and denied the link between football and brain damage, even after CTE was discovered in former players. The Seau family said it has not yet decided whether to join the lawsuits.

Over the past five years, under pressure from Congress, dissenting researchers and, more recently, the lawsuits, the NFL disbanded a controversial committee on concussions that was established in 1994 under former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The league made several rule changes and overhauled its policies to focus on head trauma and long-term cognitive problems.

Asked if she believed the NFL was slow to address the issue, Gina Seau said: "Too slow for us, yeah."

Tyler, whose mother was Junior Seau's high school sweetheart, and Gina both described dramatic changes they noticed in Seau during the final years of his life, including mood swings, depression, forgetfulness, insomnia and detachment.

"He would sometimes lose his temper," Tyler said. "He would get irritable over very small things. And he would take it out on not just myself but also other people that he was close to. And I didn't understand why."

Seau, who also played for Miami and New England, was never listed by his teams as having had a concussion.

Gina was married to Seau for 11 years and had three children with him. They divorced in 2002, but she said they remained close friends until his death. Seau sent a group text to his four children and Gina the night before he took his life.

"I love you," he wrote.

"The difference with Junior & from an emotional standpoint (was) how detached he became emotionally," Gina said. "It was so obvious to me because early, many, many years ago, he used to be such a phenomenal communicator. If there was a problem in any relationship, whether it was between us or a relationship with one of his coaches or teammates or somewhere in the business world, he would sit down and talk about it."

Gina recalled that Seau frequently said, "Let's sit down and break bread and figure this out." She added, "He didn't run from conflict."

Tyler, Gina and her two oldest children, 19-year-old Sydney and 17-year-old Jake, all said they found some solace in the CTE diagnosis because it helped explain some of Seau's uncharacteristic behavior.

Still, it also left them conflicted that a sport so much a part of their lives had altered him so terribly.

"It definitely hurts a little bit because football was part of our lives, our childhood, for such a long time," said Sydney, a freshman at USC. "And to hear that his passion for the sport inflicted and impacted our lives, it does hurt. And I wish it didn't, because we loved it just as much as he did. And to see that this was the final outcome is really bittersweet and really sad."

Jake, a high school junior who quit football to focus on lacrosse, added: "He lived for those games, Sunday and Monday nights, you know? And to find out that that's possibly what could've killed him or caused his death is really hard."

Tyler said he was holding tightly to his memories of getting up at 5 in the morning to lift weights with his father before heading to the beach for a workout and surfing. And while the diagnosis helps, he said, it can't compensate for his loss.

"I guess it makes it more real," he said. "It makes me realize that he wasn't invincible, because I always thought of him as being that guy. Like a lot of sons do when they look up to their dad. You know? You try to be like that man in your life. You try to mimic the things that he does. Play the game the way he did. Work the way he did. And, you know, now you look at it in a little bit different view."

Tyler added: "Is it worth it? I'm not sure. But it's not worth it for me to not have a dad. So to me it's not worth it."
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous

Seabiscuit36

"For all the civic slurs, for all the unsavory things said of the Philadelphia fans, also say this: They could teach loyalty to a dog. Their capacity for pain is without limit." -Bill Lyons

Tomahawk

If guns were banned, he might not have shot himself to death.

ice grillin you

he would have just found a higher cliff to drive off of
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous

Seabiscuit36

"For all the civic slurs, for all the unsavory things said of the Philadelphia fans, also say this: They could teach loyalty to a dog. Their capacity for pain is without limit." -Bill Lyons

Zanshin

Cliffs don't kill people. It's the damn fall.

General_Failure

Falls are fine. Ban impacts, which I guess also means ban football. So ban football.

The man. The myth. The legend.

Zanshin

We should probably just wrap everyone in bubble wrap all the time and be done with it.

Diomedes

There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

Sgt PSN

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/8848510/thomas-jones-elects-donate-brain-science-dies

Pretty good job by Jones to not only make the decision to donate his brain, but also for doing some work to keep the CTE exposure towards the front page.