I’ll spam this fact wherever I see comments on CTE.
CTE is not correlated with the number of concussions. It’s correlated with years of exposure to repetitive minor hits. It’s a very important distinction because the NFL (and every other professional sport with blows to the head) is trying to push the narrative that concussion is the boogeyman, so that if they can reduce concussion (and they can), they can declare their hands clean from CTE. The only way to reduce CTE is drastic changes to the game.
While I have no doubt they’d skin their grandmother’s alive to save a buck, reducing concussions and head injuries is straight up just a good thing. Having concussion protocols etc and taking these decisions out of the hands of people motivated to win at all costs and into the hands of medical professionals is a good if incomplete step
Yeah, agreed that reducing concussion is definitely a good thing. Especially strict rules around return to play after concussion cause that’s when you can really do damage.
My problem is that scientists can say: “CTE is a problem in the NFL.” And then the NFL can say “we are addressing it by offering goofy helmet coverings, reducing punt return collision speed, and using better protocols for post concussion”. Then no one is pointing out that none of those changes address CTE at all, and the NFL knows that. In reality, reducing CTE would involve changing the sport in ways that the fans would not like.
We know this from military deployments. Even office staff near bombed regions get TBI, and certainly civilians will get brain damage from forces traveling through them.
NFL players die 25 years younger than national average, a combination of brain injury and long term effects of steroids.
I’ll spam this fact wherever I see comments on CTE.
CTE is not correlated with the number of concussions. It’s correlated with years of exposure to repetitive minor hits. It’s a very important distinction because the NFL (and every other professional sport with blows to the head) is trying to push the narrative that concussion is the boogeyman, so that if they can reduce concussion (and they can), they can declare their hands clean from CTE. The only way to reduce CTE is drastic changes to the game.
While I have no doubt they’d skin their grandmother’s alive to save a buck, reducing concussions and head injuries is straight up just a good thing. Having concussion protocols etc and taking these decisions out of the hands of people motivated to win at all costs and into the hands of medical professionals is a good if incomplete step
Yeah, agreed that reducing concussion is definitely a good thing. Especially strict rules around return to play after concussion cause that’s when you can really do damage.
My problem is that scientists can say: “CTE is a problem in the NFL.” And then the NFL can say “we are addressing it by offering goofy helmet coverings, reducing punt return collision speed, and using better protocols for post concussion”. Then no one is pointing out that none of those changes address CTE at all, and the NFL knows that. In reality, reducing CTE would involve changing the sport in ways that the fans would not like.
I think you’ve pretty sussinctly explained exactly why they are doing what they are doing
We know this from military deployments. Even office staff near bombed regions get TBI, and certainly civilians will get brain damage from forces traveling through them.
NFL players die 25 years younger than national average, a combination of brain injury and long term effects of steroids.