Sinclair University

Traumatic Brain Injury in Athletes of Contact Sports

Joshua Burroughs

English 1201-506

Professor Freeland

1 May 2022
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Junior Seau shot himself in the chest with a gun in his home in Oceanside, California on

May 12 of 2012 (Sheehan). Junior Seau played professional football for 20 years in the National

Football League (NFL) and was also selected to a Pro Bowl in 12 of those 20 seasons (“Junior

Seau: Pro”). It is believed that Junior Seau’s suicide was linked to Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy, or CTE, and that this disease was a result from over 20 years of constant hard

hits to the head and high-speed collisions with other players (Breslow). The example of Junior

Seau, although atypical in Seau’s case, signifies how catastrophic brain injuries in athletes truly

are. Unfortunately, Junior Seau is one of many former NFL players who has suffered from this

degenerative brain disease. A study conducted in 2017 found from a sample of 202 dead football

players, 177 were diagnosed with CTE, and, out of 111 former NFL players within this study,

110, or 99 percent, were diagnosed with CTE (Met et al.). This study further demonstrates how

playing sports like football can be dangerous to the health and safety of athletes who play at any

level. Undoubtedly, brain injuries in athletes across all levels of play are dangerous due to many

serious diseases like Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and brain injuries need to be further

researched in order to be informed on this modern-day issue. Possible counters to brain injuries

include the use of headgear to protect the brain while playing a sport, not playing through any

brain-related injury, or simply being more educated on the issue of brain injuries in contact

sports. With the current modern-day problem, additional measures need to be taken to keep

current and future athletes safe while participating in a contact sport.

To begin, a brain injury is a damage or injury to the head or brain. In further depth, the

type of brain injury that many athletes experience are traumatic brain injuries, which is a

common type of injury to the head. These head injuries may be a result from any violent hit to

the head or body, but it could also be caused by an object penetrating the tissue of the brain
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(“Traumatic Brain Injury”). Additionally, traumatic brain injuries can be further classified into

three different classifications: severe brain injury, moderate brain injury, and mild brain injury.

Traumatic brain injuries are especially dangerous to someone’s health as it is very common to

leave a person disabled or deceased as a result (Jasmin and Sather). A type of traumatic brain

injury that occurs in athletes are concussions. A concussion is any change or unwanted

transformation of neurological function resulting from a direct hit to the head or neck region or a

hit to the body that transfers force to the head (Cardenas). Concussions have remained a relevant

issue in sports because, in many contact sports, there are many hard hits and high-speed

collisions. As described by Emily A. Harrison, concussions are not a new issue or discovery in

football because the concussion crisis

Fig. 1. Timeline of the development of football helmets over time (Harrison).

started over a century ago. (Harrison). As concussions have remained relevant, so has the

discussion of the safety of athletes. In professional football, helmets have developed overtime as

a way to combat traumatic brain injuries like concussions in football players. As seen in the

historical image above, technological advances over time have developed in an attempt to limit

concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. However, even though technological advances
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have been used to prevent concussions in football players, concussions are still a prevalent issue

in many contact sports to this day.

Contact sports are very dangerous to the safety of athletes through the threats set on the

health of these athletes' brains. Contact sports are dangerous as many victims of traumatic brain

injury are athletes of both professional and amateur sports, especially football (Johnson-

Winegar). Johnson-Winegar illustrates that football, a very extreme contact and high impact

sport, can be vastly threatening to the health and safety of a football player’s brain. Additionally,

football is very dangerous to the brain of the youth. A study of 42 NFL players revealed that

players who went ahead and played football before the age of 12 did not perform as well on

intelligence tests when compared to players who began after the age of 12 (Johnson-Winegar).

Also, the same study showed that every former NFL player scored well below average on these

intelligence tests for their age (Johnson-Winegar). This study illustrates how dangerous football

is to the brain of players because these players were all below average in the education level for

their age. Moreover, football is extremely dangerous at a very young age as those who start

playing earlier score even lower in education for their age. Contact sports are also very

dangerous as these sports have a much greater rate of traumatic brain injuries when compared to

other sports or recreational activities. The contact sport of football accounts for greater than 60%

of all concussions, and the high school sport with the greatest amount of concussions in males is

football (“What You Need”). In addition, soccer, which is considered a contact sport, is the

largest contributor to concussions in high school females (“What You Need”). These statistics

demonstrate that contact sports can be dangerous as they put the brain of an athlete at risk. On

top of that, contact sports result in the

Fig. 2. Trends in the rate of Emergency department visits related to concussions or other
traumatic brain injuries throughout different sports and activities. Noncontact sports include
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swimming, bicycle riding, and more. Contact sports include football, soccer, basketball, hockey,
and more. Limited contact sports include gymnastics, baseball, and more. Recreational activities
include scooter riding, amusement parks, and more (Waltzman et al.).

greatest amount of emergency department visits related to concussions. As seen in the graph

above and the description of it, contact sports, as of recent years, contact sports have a

considerably greater amount of emergency department visits, and, when compared to other sports

with less frequent contact, contact sports exhibit close to double the amount of emergency

department (ED) visits (Waltzman et al.). These statistics of traumatic brain injuries, including

the percent of concussions encompassed by the sport of football and rate of ED visits in contact

sports, illustrate how dangerous contact sports are to the brain of athletes.

With the dangers set on the brain of athletes of contact sports, many deadly diseases can

result. Concussions, as a result of playing contact sports like football, can leave a former player

in jeopardy of developing detrimental diseases like dementia and Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy. As described by Anna Johnson-Winegar, multiple former NFL players are

suffering from diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s, and even
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dementia, which the players believe are related to continuous concussions and brain injuries

during their years in the NFL (Johnson-Winegar). With many former NFL players accusing the

concussions of professional football to cause many detrimental diseases, contact sports are

clearly dangerous to the health of players. Along with ALS, Alzheimer’s, and dementia resulting

from repeated hits in football, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is also a dangerous

disease linked to football players. This disease, CTE, negatively damages the brain and cognitive

abilities of people who have experienced repeated concussions or other brain injuries (“What is

CTE''). Additionally, this disease can be dangerous to the health of a victim as it may have life-

changing effects (“What is CTE”). Many common symptoms for a victim include, aggression,

loss of memory, impaired judgment, and possibly dementia later in life, as seen in many former

NFL players (“What is CTE''). These effects can leave a person in danger as the cognitive skills

of this person can be heavily changed in a negative way. CTE was a disease that, in the past,

many experts believed to solely exist within bowers. However, CTE has recently become a large

issue for many football

Fig. 3. Timeline of the progression of the view on the disease of CTE and how CTE has evolved
throughout history in relation to boxers and football players (Lindsley).
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players and players of other sports. As seen in the timeline pictured above, CTE, over time, has

developed into a well-known concern for professional football players (Lindsley). Over the past

century, as implied by the timeline, information regarding CTE in football has expanded, and,

therefore, people have become more worried about CTE and brain injuries in football. Football is

especially dangerous to the health of players due to the risk of developing the degenerative

diseases of CTE. Boston University, BU, conducted a study on CTE and the correlation to

football. In this, BU researchers found that following every year of football play, the risk of

developing CTE increases by about 30% (Brown). Moreover, BU researchers also discovered

that after about 2 to 3 years of football play, the risk of developing CTE doubles. With CTE

increasing every year of playing football, there is a danger posed to the health and safety of these

athletes. Moreover, these statistics show that football can be very detrimental to the health and

safety of players during their active years in the NFL and even after play, and there needs to be a

solution.

As a result of contact sports like football being very dangerous to the health and safety of

players, there is a necessity to solve or combat the issue of traumatic brain injuries within

football and other contact sports. The first plausible solution, in relation to the brain injuries

within football, is to find a cure to treat degenerative diseases like CTE. However, there is not a

current treatment for CTE. Instead, players, the NFL, and scientists must develop a method to

prevent CTE from ever developing within a person. This can be done in many different ways, but

one plausible solution is to set a responsibility on the NFL to frequently scan active players for

CTE. Scanning players for CTE has only become possible due to a massive scientific

breakthrough in 2013. In 2013, scientists and researchers at UCLA created a method to identify a

certain protein in living brains using positive emission tomography (PET) scans and a tracer
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(Drysdale). The tracer, FDDNP, can be used to indicate if a player is developing CTE or not. The

results illustrated that former and current NFL players had much higher FDDNP indications

when compared with control groups and this suggested that these higher levels of FDDNP in

players are correlated to CTE (Drysdale). With the use of PET scans, it is possible to monitor

patterns in NFL players in order to keep players safe from developing CTE. Not only can this

process be used for NFL players in the future, players of all contact sports can be monitored to

prevent the future and stop any current development of CTE in players.

Along with scanning players for CTE, other precautionary measures can be taken by

players of contact sports to keep these players safe from any type of traumatic brain injury. One

precautionary measure that can be taken is to always play it safe when playing a sport. This

means that when a player is injured, many of these players strive to play through the injury as a

result of their competitive drive, but smart athletes will know that long term health is far more

important than playing in that one game (Chang). Many players know this because a second

injury to the brain while the brain is already damaged can cause severe issues long term (Chang).

When playing it safe, an athlete can take some time off to recover from the brain injury and get

back to playing, instead of rushing back to play and sustaining a further, and sometimes worse,

injury that may cause lifelong effects. Another precautionary measure that can be taken is

developing a safer technique within the contact sport. Techniques that include not leading with

the head in football, maneuvering around contact in basketball, and avoiding restless movement

or contact in soccer can keep a player safe from developing any injuries to the brain (Chang).

These techniques can keep an athlete safe and healthy and allow the athlete to stay on the field or

court and off the sideline. This is because safer technique in a sport can protect the head from

any sudden movement. Moreover, when a player learns the right technique and develops the skill
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to avoid dangerous plays, it can make it possible to limit injuries and make it less likely that

further injuries will occur (“Sports and Concussions”). When a player is skilled enough to avoid

injury, these players can have a safer career and healthier future.

The opposition to contact sports being dangerous to the health of athletes may say that

many athletes in other contact sports, like soccer, do not experience as many concussions or

traumatic brain injuries. This argument may include the idea that soccer, although identified as a

contact sport, does not have very many collisions to the head or neck region of an athlete.

However, these arguments are not sufficient as, even though soccer is not identified as a sport of

high-risk for concussions, many different studies have illustrated that soccer can be very

dangerous to the brain of an athlete competing in soccer (Levy). Additionally, soccer can be very

dangerous to an athlete’s brain as concussions are about 22% of all soccer injuries (Levy). These

statistics highlight that soccer, like all other contact sports, is very dangerous to the health and

safety of the athletes who perform in the sport. On the other hand, another argument against the

idea that further measures should be taken to keep an athlete safer in contact sports is that many

contact sports wear protective helmets that should be able to protect the brain of the athlete.

These people may argue that all players of sports like football and hockey should wear helmets

and other safety equipment during play of these dangerous contact sports because this protection

can help to limit brain injuries like concussions in an athlete (“Sports and Concussions”).

However, this argument is weak for two reasons. One, this argument is weak simply due to the

fact that in contact sports like soccer and rugby, players do not wear helmets that can protect an

athlete’s head from brain injuries. Two, this argument is weak because helmets cannot protect

the head of an athlete from concussions or other traumatic brain injuries. The misconception that

helmets protect the head of athletes from concussions or brain injuries is actually a common one.
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However, a helmet in sports like football or hockey is mainly used to protect the skull from

fractures, and helmets are fit snug meaning they cannot stop the brain from moving within the

skull (International Concussion Society). Moreover, in many high school athletics, helmets are

not protective due to the fact that helmets are used for many years in a row. Helmets, over time,

can become less effective in protecting the brain through force absorption, and, therefore, a

helmet that has been used for 2 or more years is not as effective as a new helmet in protecting the

brain (International Concussion Society). Many high schools use helmets over multiple years,

and this puts the brain of a young athlete in danger. As a result of helmets not being great in

protecting an athlete’s brain from traumatic brain injuries, there needs to be a commitment to

developing newer technology to help protect the brain of sports players, especially young high

school athletes.

This leads to the third, and final solution: newer technology in helmet designs. Newer

technology in helmet designs can allow these helmets to better absorb force and keep the brains

of athletes safe while playing a contact sport. Current technology in helmets, as described earlier,

can still allow the brain to move on impact, causing the brain to move and be damaged as a result

of a hit. However, if new technology is designed for better force absorption, concussions in

athletes of hockey and football can occur less frequently. New technology is currently being

developed to better deal with the twisting motion to the head and neck region as well as the big

hits that are the root of all concussions in contact sports. As described by Robert Sanders, Robert

Knight was able to invent an improved helmet that was far more effective in dampening the

effects of a direct hit and absorbing the twisting forces that are put on the brain and neck during

play of a contact sport (Sanders). This new technology can allow players to play like they always

do with less worry about concussions or other injuries to the head and neck region. Throughout
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the future, as technology progresses and develops over time, new technology in helmets can

allow society to move closer to a concussion-free and safer style of play in contact sports like

football and hockey.

Overall, brain injuries are a large issue in modern-day contact sports. Sports including

football, hockey, soccer, rugby, boxing, and others have had an increase in reported concussions

and traumatic brain injuries in the past years. This has led to many to question the safety of the

future of these athletes as many are developing life threatening diseases like CTE and dementia.

Junior Seau, as stated earlier, was a former NFL football player who took his life as a result of

repeated concussions. These concussions, over the 20 seasons Seau played in the NFL, all led to

the development of CTE in Seau’s brain, and, eventually, Junior Seau’s death. With the spike of

traumatic brain injuries, concussions, and diseases caused by these brain injuries, there needs to

be measures taken to solve this modern-day issue. Resolutions like scanning athletes of contact

sports for CTE, precautionary measures like playing it safe and learning the right technique in

sports, and new technology in helmets to better absorb force in contact sports can allow society

to move closer to a safer environment for these athletes.

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