Brain Scientist: Football and CTE Are NOT Linked

[BFritz21]

This brain scientist wouldn't let his son play football, but decided to dig deeper into the sport and found that football and CTE WERE NOT LINKED!

I was blown away by this, so I started reading, and it's a lengthy read, but I couldn't stop reading it and it kills pretty much all of the narratives that we've been hearing lately.

Quote:By Dr. Peter Cummings

My name is Peter Cummings. I am a forensic pathologist and a neuropathologist, which means I study brain trauma for a living. I am also a football coach and I let my 11-year-old son play football. I may be the only neuropathologist on Earth who lets his kid play football.

Coming to this decision was a serious undertaking and the result of many hours spent pouring over medical journals and football rulebooks.

Before I began this journey, football was banned in my house. I wouldn’t even watch it on TV because I didn’t want my son to see it and develop a desire to play. Despite my efforts, he discovered football via a video game. He immediately fell in love with the sport and I was forced to do some serious soul searching: Should I allow him to pursue his interest and play?

Honestly, I was scared of CTE.

CTE stands for “chronic traumatic encephalopathy”; in real words it means damage to the brain caused by repetitive injury. The hallmark of CTE is the deposition of a protein called ‘tau’ in the brain. Tau has a number of functions, including stabilizing the structure of nerve cells. When nerves are injured, tau builds up and can cause problems.

You may have a read about a recently published paper reporting the presence of CTE in the brains of 99 percent of former National Football League players examined. The findings of this study sent the media into a frenzy and produced a lot of negative press toward football. As a result of the media attention, people are now saying there should be no more youth football; there are even people who are insinuating I am abusing my son by allowing him to play football.

People are coming away from the constant media barrage with the belief that concussions are the sole and direct cause of CTE, most or all football players have CTE, and CTE has led football players to become violent, commit suicide or develop dementia.

I had the same impression before I decided to look a little deeper. But when I dove into the published literature regarding CTE, I discovered the scientific evidence to support the media’s narrative was lacking; in fact, I found bodies of evidence to the contrary and a whole other side to the science that is largely ignored.

I’m not alone. A number of members of the medical and research communities are also voicing serious doubts about the current state of the science linking concussion and CTE.

In fact, it’s not entirely clear if CTE is unique to traumatic brain injury. CTE-like pathology has also been seen in the brains of people who’ve died of epilepsy, without any history of head trauma. There are also cases of opioid overdose deaths where the brains show signs of early aging, including tau accumulation. This might suggest other mitigating factors make some people more prone to developing CTE than others.

Replication and independent verification are two crucial steps in the scientific process. Yet many findings associated with CTE haven’t passed these tests. Contrary to what appears in the headlines, multiple researchers have found no significant relationship between playing football and increased risk of violence, suicide and dementia in the general football playing population. In fact, studies have shown a lower rate of death due to violence and suicide in NFL players as compared to the general population.

None of these studies make headlines, let alone even footnotes in most media reports. So when headlines state “CTE found in 99% of brains from deceased NFL players,” it only fuels people’s fear of CTE. They are assuming, like I did at first, that 99 percent of football players will get CTE.

But one has to be careful about interpreting the headlines, and I will tell you why:

The study population in the most recent CTE paper represents a biased sample, as stated by the authors themselves. This means only the brains of self-selecting people who displayed neurological symptoms while living were studied. This is important because this sample was not a reflection of the general football population. The study was based on 202 brains out of the millions of people who’ve played football – 111 of which are former NFL players.

So, when you hear “99 percent of football players had CTE,” that doesn’t mean that almost every football player will get CTE, and it doesn’t mean your child has a 99-percent chance of developing CTE if he or she plays football. It means 99 percent of a specifically selected study sample had some degree of CTE; not 99 percent of the general football population. This is an important distinction.

Because of this sampling bias, we cannot estimate the prevalence or incidence of CTE (meaning the total number of cases and the number of new cases expected each year in football players); nor can we establish risk or a cause-effect relationship between head injury and development of CTE. To do that you need a randomly selected population comprised of people with the disease and people without the disease.

In other words, we do not have a complete picture of what causes CTE, how common CTE is, or what the chance of getting CTE may be for anyone, or even what symptoms, if any, CTE causes.

That basically says that people were chosen to have their brains studies don't necessarily represent the entire population and that the people who chose which brains to analyze cherry-picked because they knew their brains would show what they wanted them to show.

Quote:Most of the published CTE cases are from former NFL players. How football might affect the brains of our youngest players, including my son, is a question the research hasn’t answered yet.

Despite the lack of cases and evidence, some in the concussion research field have stated children shouldn’t play tackle football until high school. Some people are even calling for the end of youth football all together.

They have bolstered their opinion with a paper published in 2015 concluding former NFL players who began playing tackle football before the age of 12 were more likely to experience long-term neurocognitive problems. However, a more recent study of retired NFL players published last year by a different group at Vanderbilt University found no association between age of first exposure to football and subsequent adverse neurological outcomes.

Other research groups have not found a significant link between playing high school football and an increased risk of later-in-life cognitive deficits.

Two separate papers from the Mayo Clinic failed to show an increase in dementia among former high school football players as compared to other athletes and non-athletes who attended high school between 1946-1956. Another study, released in late August, also failed to show cognitive deficits in former Wisconsin high school football players from the 1950’s.

People may argue that football was different in the 40s and 50s and that today’s players are stronger, faster and hit harder. But one also has to consider that football was more violent back then, with little attention to safety. Certainly the equipment provided less protection.

Football is a sport in crisis, and it is so, at least in part, because the sensationalized media coverage is causing a false impression of the strength and validity of the CTE science. The news is terrifying athletes at all levels. Every time an athlete forgets their keys or has a headache, they’re scared it’s CTE.

The story of former NHL player Todd Ewen is a sad example of how this fear has resulted in tragedy. Todd suffered depression which he believed to be the result of CTE and was untreatable. Sadly, he committed suicide. Even before an autopsy could be performed, the verdict was in: CTE was the culprit. However, the subsequent autopsy failed to detect any sign if CTE.

The fear of CTE can affect on-field performance, as well. I spoke with one NFL player last year who said after our talk, “You mean it’s not 100 percent I will get CTE?” I told him no. I was informed later that he felt relieved and his on-field performance thereafter improved significantly.

Concussions are not unique to football; they are seen in hockey, rugby, soccer, water polo and even synchronized swimming. By focusing so much attention on football, other athletes who may be at risk are slipping through the cracks, including girls. Current data suggest in sports in which both boys and girls participate (such as soccer and basketball), girls have twice as many concussions as boys. No one knows why.

The surprising gender discrepancy and the lack of adequate representation of athletes from other sports in the current research makes me wonder if the debate is more about an aversion to football than it is about concussions.

Many of the news stories give the impression football has done nothing to protect players and the sport has been sitting idly while waiting for more proof. But, football has responded proactively to the perceived concussion crisis by implementing innumerable rule changes to promote player safety.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are unaware of these changes. A recent poll by the University of Massachusetts Lowell reported that 46 percent of parents had no idea what their youth sports organizations or school athletic directors were doing to promote safety in their respective sports. This knowledge gap probably exist to some degree because rules changes aren’t sexy news.

I am not paid from a grant studying CTE; I have no association with the NFL. I have one motivating factor: my son. I whole-heartedly support the ongoing CTE research. Although I have no affiliation with any CTE research labs, I have directed the families of deceased athletes to CTE studies. I also directed a friend of mine, who is a female rugby player with post-concussion issues, to a CTE study. I decided to coach so I could stay informed about the constantly evolving rules changes in football. I made the decision to allow my son to play football after long deliberation over all the facts. To suggest this decision is child abuse is preposterous. I am a forensic pathologist, a neuropathologist, and a dad, and I let my son play football. That should speak volumes.

That shows that when a child starts playing football and getting contact does not mean that someone will be more likely to develop problems or have CTE when they get older, which is telling because the brain is still developing until the age of 25(?), so damage early would mean they would be more likely to begin having problems that would last.

There's also the mention of how other sports also have concussions, and you don't hear people calling for a stop in those.

I think that just the overall violence and pressure of players to perform might be why players are depressed and why it gets so much more attention, but this was amazing to me.

I didn't say too much because I didn't want to influence other people's opinions, but let me know what you think.

[*PhilHos*]

[Yojimbo]

For the one millionth time CTE DOESN'T ONLY COME FROM CONCUSSIONS. Yes there is a lot of science still to study on the condition. The fact that you can't test for it until a person is dead makes a very hard subject to study.

I wouldn't doubt for a second that boxers, mma, hockey players and even professional (scripted) wrestlers all suffer from CTE.

The entire second write-up assumes the media is telling everyone you only have to get one concussion anytime in your life for any reason and you'll get CTE. The reason it's so prevalent in professional athletes is because by the time they retire, they've been smashing heads for 20+ years starting in middle school. As opposed to not playing again after high school and you have maybe 6-8 years of the sport.

[*PhilHos*]

(09-19-2017, 03:37 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: For the one millionth time CTE DOESN'T ONLY COME FROM CONCUSSION. Yes there is a lot of science still to study on the condition. The fact that you can't test for it until a person is dead makes a very hard subject to study.

I'm willing to volunteer the entire Steelers organization for further study.

[sonofstat]

I'm no brain surgeon but i would think any activity which involves 300lb+ men repeatedly using their skulls to force violent collisions is not gonna end well for some players further down the line.

[*jason*]

(09-19-2017, 04:42 PM)sonofstat Wrote: I'm no brain surgeon but i would think any activity which involves 300lb+ men repeatedly using their skulls to force violent collisions is not gonna end well for some players further down the line.

And that's only part of it. Take a good look at Deshawn Watson's head hit the ground when Geno smashed him. Watch Bondine's head bounce off the turf when he was tackled by Watt. Jeremy Hill straight up landed on the crown of his head diving for a 1st down. They can try and take head shots outta the game, but that's only part of the equation.

[Murdock2420]

(09-19-2017, 03:40 PM)PhilHos Wrote: I'm willing to volunteer the entire Steelers organization for further study.

No need, the connection between steroids and disease is already well documented. 

[BmorePat87]

So playing football is as bad for your brain as drug overdoses and seizures.

It's not so much that he's saying they're not linked, he's questioning whether or not the methodology can truly prove that they are linked and seems to be suggesting it's not as widespread as the study and media wants people to believe it is.

[BFritz21]

(09-19-2017, 04:42 PM)sonofstat Wrote: I'm no brain surgeon    but i would think any activity which involves 300lb+ men repeatedly using their skulls to force violent collisions is not gonna end well for some players further down the line.

I'm no CTE specialist, but I'd think that 300+ linemen are less-likely to get CTE than running backs or linebackers (or maybe even receivers) because they typically line up so close to the people that they're blocking that there's no room to get enough speed to make a collision that would rattle the brain.  I'm sure it can't be healthy, but it just seems like a linebacker that has a few yards head-start would cause it more to a running back with a few yards head-start colliding at the line.

Then again, sometimes linemen do block linebackers and, even if they didn't, the fact that they have contact every play, even if minor, would make the frequency more apt to cause problems down the line, even if not CTE.

[grampahol]

One thing that IS absolutely true of the media, if it bleeds it leads. Journalism has always attracted a certain amount of sensationalism. That's to be expected as they have to compete for eyeballs just like the NFL. 
When I see stories claiming that fentynol is 1000 times stronger than heroin I have to laugh. It's not that people don't overdose, they do, but not everyone does. 
I was once a heroin addict and have been around people overdosing and have revived several people myself so I do know a bit of what I'm talking about. 
On the flip side my 88 year old father has used fentynol patches now for several years for severe spinal stenosis. He's still alive and has never overdosed. I change his fentynol patches for him every 3 days and if it were true that it's 1000 times stronger than heroin I would die every time I touch one of his patches. Obviously neither of us are dead yet. 
This doesn't stop certain members of the media circus from making the outrageous claims because they want headlines at just about any cost even exaggerating to the point of scaring my dad into sometimes wanting to risk severe pain and withdrawal from his pain medication. 
The CTE issue is pretty much the same nonsense to scare us all to believe WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! 
Well of course we're all gonna die, but not right now. 
I'd estimate that a good 90% of everyone who is reading post right now has at some point in time played football and I'd estimate that 100% of you are still alive as of right now. And yes, you're all going to die, but not right now. My dad played football with a leather helmet. He's 88 now soon to be 89.

[PikesPeakUC]

(09-23-2017, 12:57 PM)grampahol Wrote: One thing that IS absolutely true of the media, if it bleeds it leads. Journalism has always attracted a certain amount of sensationalism. That's to be expected as they have to compete for eyeballs just like the NFL. 
When I see stories claiming that fentynol is 1000 times stronger than heroin I have to laugh. It's not that people don't overdose, they do, but not everyone does. 
I was once a heroin addict and have been around people overdosing and have revived several people myself so I do know a bit of what I'm talking about. 
On the flip side my 88 year old father has used fentynol patches now for several years for severe spinal stenosis. He's still alive and has never overdosed. I change his fentynol patches for him every 3 days and if it were true that it's 1000 times stronger than heroin I would die every time I touch one of his patches. Obviously neither of us are dead yet. 
This doesn't stop certain members of the media circus from making the outrageous claims because they want headlines at just about any cost even exaggerating to the point of scaring my dad into sometimes wanting to risk severe pain and withdrawal from his pain medication. 
The CTE issue is pretty much the same nonsense to scare us all to believe WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! 
Well of course we're all gonna die, but not right now. 
I'd estimate that a good 90% of everyone who is reading post right now has at some point in time played football and I'd estimate that 100% of you are still alive as of right now. And yes, you're all going to die, but not right now. My dad played football with a leather helmet. He's 88 now soon to be 89.

It would be really hard for the dead people who have played football and died to reply to this, so I'd believe you on that one.

Everyone wants to scream sensationalism because it hasn't happened to them or hasn't affected their lives, and yet we have multiple studies who bear fruit relating the two sides. Multiple head traumas experienced in football deteriorates the brain. It happens and can affect quality of life. There are athletes, guys who have made their living playing the game, who now say they would not let their kids do so. That's new and not insignificant. 

It's easy to shun these reports, mainly because we never see the effects of them in our day to day life, but there continues to be more and more evidence that it's happening and it's real.

[Yojimbo]

New study out linking sub-concussive hits to CTE:

https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awx350/4815697

[6andcounting]

(09-19-2017, 03:40 PM)PhilHos Wrote: I'm willing to volunteer the entire Steelers organization for further study.

You don't know how hard I'd laugh if I hear Burfict or Pacman want to donate their brains. 

[*rfaulk34*]

(01-21-2018, 08:21 PM)6andcounting Wrote: You don't know how hard I'd laugh if I hear Burfict or Pacman want to donate their brains. 

What brains?

[grampahol]

It's a bit like saying there's no link between getting your fingers cut off and table saws because you can get your fingers cut off plenty of other ways. Sharp or even dull knives, hatchets, chain saws, big mean dogs and so on.
It's kind of like guns don't kill people, people kill people..Well duh..
Football is only one of many many different ways to get a concussion .. Car wrecks, boxing, falling down steps and so on .
Unfortunately many people are pretty intellectually lazy and draw on only one very small sample size to draw huge conclusions and the media will latch on to anything to sell ads and sensationalize something to try to convince you that one very small aspect of just about anything IS GOING TO KILL YOU.. Drinking water can be deadly..if you drink ,oh, let's say 100 gallons a day..
Don't forget, dihydrogen monoxide kills millions of people every year so it should be banned! And while we're at it, ban hydric acid! The stuff is just too dangerous.
Why, I bet your kids are dropping hydric acid without even telling you. That's the latest fad you know.. Teenagers daring each other to try hydric acid and god only knows where that might lead them!
And don't overlook oxidane and the ever dangerous 7732-18-5. Step in a puddle of 7732-18-5 and your socks may end up rotting..

[J24]

Football is dangerous and it's not like this is news to anybody. I don't know why people get suprised by hitting your head/Using it as a weapon is not good for you.

I also don't get why people thinks it will be banned. People go to war so they can get a free college but there not going to play football for that and possibly a million dollars. Also if you think hearing about a football player sucide once in a while is sad then look what happens to our troops with suicide rates.