Schweitzer 1

Maddie Schweitzer

Dunham

ENG 1201

21 March 2021

What are the Long Term Effects of Multiple Concussions?

Majority of people around the world have been diagnosed with at least one concussion in

their lifetime. Most concussions are caused by various sports injuries or simply just by accident.

Some high performing athletes have been forced to end their careers because of having too many

concussions; how many is too many? At what point do concussions begin to have detrimental

impacts on the brain?

Concussions are diagnosed at two different levels: mild and severe. Traumatic brain

injury (TBI) may cause either long or short term effects on the brain such as thinking, sensation,

language and emotions depending on the severity of the injury. Severe TBI may also cause

epilepsy and put people at high risk for diseases such as Alzhiemers and Parkinsons. A

degenerative disease that's been under great scientific research and review recently is Chronic

Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a disease that forms when an individual experiences

too many major head injuries. (“What Are the Potential Effects of TBI?”)

CTE was discovered by Doctor Harrison Martland in 1928. Martland studied professional

boxers and soon realized that something wasn't right. He described a group of boxers as having

“punch drunk syndrome”. Martland made the conclusion that military veterans, athletes or

people with a history of repetitive head trauma have developed a degenerative disease called

CTE. He found that this disease can start to form in individuals' brains as early as 17 years old.
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This disease causes individuals to be bipolar, have constant mood swings, form dementia, and

develop paranoia. (“What Is CTE?”)

Since 1928, this topic has been researched and tested a lot. The Nigirian-American

physician, Bennet Omalu, not only raised awareness for this disease, but he also changed modern

medicine and lab studies for the better. Omalu worked alongside Martland in this case and took it

over after Martland had passed away. Omalu made the astonishing discovery that the majority of

players in the NFL will end up with CTE one day. It wasn’t until famous NFL star, Mike

Webster, passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack that questions about this disease started

to arise. Omalu was fixated over the death of Webster so much he wrote a lengthy article about

degenerative CTE in 2004. It wasn’t until 2007 that the public took him seriously enough to be

on national news. Omalu’s fame as well as the fame for CTE sky rocketed across the world after

that day. Unfortunately, the only downside to Omalu’s study is that scientists aren’t advanced

enough in technology to detect CTE while a person is still alive. CTE can only be detected after

an individual has passed away. (Laliberte)

Multiple severe concussions may also play a role in chronic headaches and/or migraines.

When the initial impact of a concussion occurs, the injured individual may receive an instant

headache or feel unstable. For some patients, the headaches go away after 4-7 weeks but for

other patients, they are forced to live with agonizing headaches for the rest of their life.

Shockingly, females are more at risk especially if they have pre-existing migraines or a family

history of migraines which makes an individual even more susceptible to developing a

post-traumatic headache. (“Concussion and Migraine” )

Multiple minor concussions are less likely to leave lasting impacts on the brain. Minor

concussion symptoms usually resolve themselves within 7-10 days if the concussion protocol is
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followed properly. The basic concussion protocol is to get plenty of rest, stay in quiet and dark

spaces and drink a lot of replenishing fluids (Bai). Minor concussions generally have the same

symptoms as severe concussions; they are just on a different pain level scale. Even if the

concussion is classified as a minor injury, it still makes an individual more susceptible to another

head injury. (Allen)

Scientists don’t have the exact answer of what multiple concussions may do to the brain

at this time. They have outlined that CTE may be a possibility of multiple severe concussions but

unfortunately, the degenerative disease cannot be diagnosed until the individual passes. This is

because scientists have to run various complicated tests on the brain that cannot be done while a

person is still alive. If a person receives multiple minor concussions, the final outcome of their

brain will be less traumatic than a brain that has sustained multiple severe concussions.
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Works Cited:

Allen, Mark. “Multiple Concussions: Long-Term Effects and Treatment Options.”

Post-Concussion Treatment Center, CognitiveFX, 5 Apr. 2019,

www.cognitivefxusa.com/blog/multiple-concussions-effects-and-treatment.

Bai, Nina. “With Dangers of Everyday Concussions Revealed, Scientists Race to Find

Solutions.” With Dangers of Everyday Concussions Revealed, Scientists Race to Find

Solutions | UC San Francisco, UCSF, 17 Mar. 2021,

www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/10/412006/dangers-everyday-concussions-revealed-scientists-r

ace-find-solutions.

“Concussion and Migraine.” Living with Migraines , American Migraine Foundation, 16 Nov.

2019, americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/concussion-and-migraine/.

Laliberte, Richard. “How the Discovery of CTE Shifted Thinking Behind Concussion Protocol.”

Brain and Life Magazine - Trusted by Neurologists, Aug. 2018,

www.brainandlife.org/articles/when-bennet-omalu-md-identified-a-degenerative-brain-di

sease-in/.

“What Are the Potential Effects of TBI?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 25

Feb. 2019, www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/outcomes.html.

“What Is CTE?” Concussion Foundation, Concussion Legacy Foundation, May 2019,

concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CTE#:~:text=CTE%20was%20first%2

0described%20in,then%2050%20cases%20were%20confirmed.