Football Players and Other Athletes Getting CTE At High Rates
Fans watching the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Los Angeles and Kansas City couldn’t help but feel uneasy watching Chargers TE Donal Parham Jr. get carted off the field after hitting his head on the turf. After all, one needn’t look far to find stories of the lasting effects of repeated concussions and the often tragic repercussions they have on players and their families after their playing careers are over.
Former cornerback Philip Adams, who played football for 20 years, was accused of fatally shooting six people in April 2021. On April 7, authorities say that Adams murdered physician Robert Leslie, his wife Barbara, two of their grandchildren and two HVAC technicians who were working at their home. Adams later killed himself with a gunshot to the head. When his autopsy was released on Dec. 14, it revealed that the former NFL athlete had unusually severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE in his frontal lobe. According to Dr. Ann McKee, who examined his brain, participating in football for a long period of time “definitely…gave rise” to Adams’ mental and emotional problems.
Philip Adams isn’t the only former NFL player to suffer from this disease. Aaron Hernandez, another ex-football athlete who developed CTE, hanged himself while serving a life sentence for a murder in 2013. The illness is not limited to a few examples. A 2017 Boston University study found that 99% of former NFL players’ brains had CTE, as well as 88% of CFL, 91% of college football and 21% of high school football athletes, respectively. While the study was limited because there was no control group and CTE sufferers’ family members were more likely to donate their brains to medical research, the data was still troubling.
Professional and amateur football players aren’t the only ones susceptible to CTE. Ice hockey players, boxers and soldiers serving in combat can also develop symptoms. Any activity where individuals experience repeated head trauma is at risk. The NFL is getting all the latest headlines about CTE, but NHL athletes have also been in the news in recent years. Notable hockey enforcers Todd Ewen and Bob Probert, who played for the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings, among other teams, made their careers throwing punches on the ice. Both men died from CTE before they lived to see 50.
CTE is becoming a serious problem, and pro sports organizations are trying to find a solution. The NFL is experimenting with soft shelled helmet covers that promise to mitigate head trauma impacts. The league tested two of these, the Guardian Cap and the Defend Your Head Pro-Tech Helmet Cap, on about 100 NFL players this past season. The Guardian Cap showed a 10% average decrease in force impact, while Defend Your Head had a 5% reduction.
While the NFL has acknowledged the issue, the NHL is still playing defense against CTE-related lawsuits. Just two years ago, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told a House of Commons subcommittee in Ottawa that there was no consensus on a link between CTE and concussions. In spite of Bettman’s public stance, in March 2021 the league reached a settlement with Todd Ewen’s widow. With more NHL family members planning a fresh CTE lawsuit, in particular the late Steve Montador’s estate, maybe it’s time for the NHL to pull its head out of the sand and follow pro football’s lead.
-Jeff Dahlberg
Twitter: @JeffDahlberg3