The Effects of Tackle Football to Players and Brain Trauma Caused by Tackle Football

side note: this is something i wrote in my debate class and just thought it'd be fun to share, enjoy!

Football, the American sport! Well, just like America’s education attainment standards, tackle football is stupid! Football is not stupid because of the theory of the sport, but rather the injury behind it. According to Mayo Clinic, “Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is the term used to describe brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas.” They go on to say that the diagnosis can only be made via autopsy, and that CTE is likely caused by contact sports, (one of the, if not most likely being football). In fact, when the Senior Vice President for Health and Safety Policy of the NFL, John Miller, was asked if there was a link between football and CTE, he responded with a bold “... certainly, yes.”

So, now that we know what CTE is and what football has to do with it, let’s talk about the problems that can occur due to it. Problem one, CTE can only be diagnosed by postmortem neuropathological analysis, with emphasis on the first part, postmortem, meaning after the patient dies. This is because brain imaging methods like MRI and CT scans do not have the abilities to check for CTE, and just because you have symptoms for CTE does not necessarily mean you have CTE. Also, since research for CTE is fairly young, it is nearly impossible to find affordable care for CTE symptoms near most people, and if you can find it, appointments will definitely be packed for about a year, and there’s not much that the doctors can do to help you if you’re suspected to have CTE. CTE is also very confusing, primarily being that you do need to have a concussion to have it, and secondarily being its symptoms, like memory loss, confusion, and impaired judgement can all be confused with other brain disorders, like ALS, dementia, and sometimes Alzheimer's. CTE may also cause criminality, and can cause football players to steal, and even murder, due to their impaired judgement (sounds familiar?). In fact, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who discovered CTE first by examining the autopsy of the football player Mike Webster, says he’ll “bet [his] medical license” that O.J. Simpson has CTE.

By now you could probably be a bit worried, either if you play tackle football, or if you know someone who does. Likewise, tackle football is not the only sport that causes players to get CTE, other contact sports, such as boxing (a sport where CTE is also very common), and soccer (where it is pretty rare), can also cause CTE. And with that, I’ll leave you these facts; there is no cure for CTE, and there likely will not be one for a very long time. Helmets might help with external injuries, or a hit to the ground, but your brain will still shake inside of its skull, causing minor head traumas over time, and no helmet can prevent that. In other words, there is no cure and no prevention if you play a contact sport, your best bet to stay safe would be to not play at all. So ask yourself what’s more important, the love of a sport, or your life.

Sources:
to.pbs.org/2lWlKgC
bit.ly/2kS8pVm
es.pn/2lVLwSb
bit.ly/2l1Sc2B
mayocl.in/2lr27Ql
wapo.st/2lT1TSt