Moving the Chains: The Progression of Solutions to the Concussion Crisis
By: Jackson Fitzgerald
CAS 138T: Rhetoric and Civic Life
4-10-16
1
On March 14th 2016, Jeff Miller, the National Football League’s (NFL) senior Vice
President on health and safety stated publically that football and brain injuries—most notable
CTE—are linked1. This acknowledgement came nearly two decades after the questions as to
whether this link had some merit arose. Despite multiple studies being done to simply learn
about any potential connection, the NFL never admitted to it. Even from 2002 until 2013, after
the now highly recognized Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered CTE in multiple ex-NFL players, the
NFL stood their ground on the topic. Despite so many ex-players suffering from cognitive issues
and labeling football as the cause, the NFL stood their ground. And even though over 50 more
cases of CTE found in deceased players (all under the age of 60) from 2004-2012 , 2 the NFL
stood their ground. During this entire age of denial, the number of concussions and brain injuries
continued to rise throughout the NFL. (See Appendix A)3
It is now clear that playing football increases someone’s chance for long-term
neurological and cognitive disease and problems. This was the case for the late NFL Hall of
Famer Mike Webster. Webster played in the NFL for over nineteen years, most of which was for
the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s—the team famous for their formidable defense known as the
“Steel Curtain.”4 Although Webster played offense, his gritty style earned him the nickname of
“Iron Mike,” which stuck with him even after his playing days. Yet, despite having a successful
career and being married to his college sweetheart for over twenty years, Mike Webster was
living a horrible lifestyle in the latter years of his abbreviated life. Depression, bankruptcy,
trouble sleeping, divorce, family exile, anger problems, and other health and personal problems
impacted Webster’s life until his death from a heart attack on September 24th, 2002.5 Yet what
caused these mental illnesses and resulting downward spiral was unknown until his cadaver
diagnosis by the aforementioned Dr. Bennet Omalu. Webster was his first case of retired football
2
players who Omalu diagnosed with CTE. From that day forward, the Pandora’s box of CTE and
concussion problem identification was opened. The contents of this proverbial box are now
deeper and darker than even Dr. Bennet Omalu could have imagined at the time.
The brain injuries that result from playing football impact the players in different forms.
The most immediate of negative consequence is a concussion. Simply put, a concussion is a
bruise to the brain that results from the rattling of the brain inside the skull from a collision. The
harsh symptoms and ailments of a concussion can include headaches, dizziness, short-term
memory loss, concentration loss, and oversensitivity to light; these are particular to the afflicted
person in the short run.6 The problems can persist despite a true and accurate concussions
diagnosis. However, if a concussion were to go undetected and undiagnosed, additional
concussions could cause harsher cognitive problems that would be impactful for a longer period
of time. This would put the player at a higher risk then for concussions in the future.
A large issue that occurs when younger players receive a concussion is that these athletes
miss school, struggle in classes, or are impeded with brain development altogether—depending
on the severity of the concussion itself.7 The complications that must be overcome are not
necessarily long lasting or life altering, but these early problems can impede someone’s
educational path and future success. According to researchers at Boston University School of
Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “ [there is] a link between repetitive head
impacts early in life and structural brain changes later in life.”8 In other words, even ending a
football career at the high school or college level does not guarantee that brain ailments from
playing football will be absent. If anything, the injuries are only much more severe for youth and
high school players in this isolated instance.
3
The most recent phenomenon that has lead to the “concussion crises” in the United States
is the realization of a high number of ex-NFL players being diagnosed with long-term cognitive
ailments, the neurologically deteriorating disease. As previously mentioned, the number of
deceased players who have been diagnosed with CTE is above 50 since 2002. The disease results
in depression, anger problems, and several different cognitive ailments. An abbreviated life is
also almost an inevitable result as well. Due to these intense life-altering symptoms, playing
football is not worth the inevitable long-lasting impact for many people. Therefore, with the
game of football and the NFL at its peak of popularity, the need to decrease the number of
concussions and cases of CTE is needed now more than ever. How this problem can be tackled is
an issue in and of itself.
Typically, the first step in solving a problem is realizing that there is in fact a problem in
the first place. As stated above, it was only a month ago that the NFL itself was willingly open
about their understanding of the connection between football and long-term brain injuries. For
years, the National Football League had formed different teams and committees of neurologists
and doctors to investigate the football and brain injury connection. During this time, their own
biased research pointed toward their conclusions of unrelated coincidence.9 Yet even with their
prolonged denial, their recent acceptance and acknowledgment of a connection could potentially
lead to a catalyzed change in the game as a whole. As we have already seen, on the field rules
and concussion protocol has drastically been altered since the late 2000s. These rules are even
still currently changing every offseason in order to limit the number of high-speed collisions and
concussions, in accordance with the style of play today.10
However, even with the paradigm of concussion treatment reaching a high speed of
change, it seems to many that football players will never be able to avoid receiving concussions
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or life-altering cognitive disease no matter the rules. According to a study done by Purdue
University, players who did not retain a diagnosable concussion still retained neurological
damage, supported by their player examinations and results from season-long cognitive tests. 11
In other words, playing football will lead to negative neurological impact, no matter the absence
of a concussion diagnosis. Therefore, even with new research, new techniques, new equipment,
and new rules—all of which limit concussions and brain injuries—long term effects seem to be,
as of now, imminent. Yet, there is still hope to solve these problems.
Over the past decade—despite the aforementioned egregious denial from the NFL— a
movement has been made to help limit the number of concussions on the field of play through
rules changes, newer enforced hitting technique, and newer equipment. However, within the past
few years, the number of diagnosed concussions has risen. 12 This fact does not mean that
football has become more dangerous, or that the funding into the new helmets and technology is
unproductive. Rather, the concussion protocol and understand of true diagnoses is far and
beyond the preventative research and implementation. Progress and funding for measures to
prevent concussions and high-level impacts must simply continue catch up to speed.
To do this successfully, the research must continue to receive funding. With the increase
of diagnosed concussions, the technology to limit these concussions has become far more
advanced and efficient, even if it may seem to be “falling behind” the number of diagnoses. In
2015, the NFL financed over $20 million dollars to research for newly developed helmets to
further limit these aforementioned head injuries.13 According to helmet technology engineer Eric
Nauman. "We can't completely eliminate the possibility of concussions, but we can do a lot."14
The new helmets do in fact mitigate the concussion problem. Yet, progress must continue.
Fortunately, living in the technological age has allowed us to move forward on the technological
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aspect of football, and with new innovations comes less and less concussion severity and
prevalence.
In addition to gathering research on new technique and new equipment, more in-depth
research must be looked into even more so in the medical field of neurology. According to the
British Journal of Medicine, CTE and other brain diseases are not so much a major concussion
problem as they are sub-concussive problems. In other words, CTE can arise from simply
playing football for a certain amount of time, since these sub-concussive hits are unavoidable
and inevitable to some degree, at least at this point. There is no cure to CTE at this time. A
possible way to detect CTE in living people does not exist. The different levels and intensities of
CTE are also almost unidentifiable in the death autopsies.
Therefore, one viable solution to limit the sub concussive hits is to this may simply be in
limiting the collisions in practice. Recently, the Ivy League schools mandated a change in their
own practices that would limit player-on-player collisions and full contact.15 This would help
decrease the number of concussions as well as the number of the sub-concussive hits, thus
decreasing the chance of brain trauma and disease. We also see these sort of trends going
forward even in the NFL. Summer training camps do not allow full contact as early as they used
to, and practices during the week in between games also follow this trend.
One disadvantage of having less contact during practice is that the players may lose
chances to truly perfect correct and safe tackling technique. New rules are being limited to help
diminish the number of head-to-head collisions that take place on the field. Currently, football
coaches are starting to hammer away at correct form that does not involve these head collisions
starting at the younger levels. Therefore, any progress or change that teaching this new technique
would bring may be mitigated, since real-time tackling and collisions are limited at practice.
6
Simply, the new technique cannot be used as often or practiced enough to make a change on the
field. Yet, the limiting of collisions in practice is merely used to help diminish the integration of
smaller head traumas that lead to eventual cognitive issues.
In addition to technology research, the neurological science field must also continue to
receive funding from medical non-profits, private studies, or even the NFL. The progress of the
overall “concussion crisis” has come with the direction of our overall understanding of the brain
and impacts on the brain. With more time and more research, we will continue to learn more
about the origins of CTE. Garry Small, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at
UCLA, explained, "… the results are extremely encouraging, [but] we've got to do more
studies," He also stated that "We're looking toward preventive treatments to protect them rather
than repair the damage.” 16 In other words, the solution that this part of the plan would bring
could help cure CTE and other cognitive diseases, as opposed to simply preventing them. This
solution would allow what some consider an inevitable consequence of playing football to be
mitigated and overcome with a cure.
Each plan and its respective potential solution to the concussion crisis do come with its
fair share of advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of attempting to prevent brain injuries
through advancements in technology is that it would no longer discourage people to play football
at all, no matter the level of competition. Professionals and Pee Wee leagues alike would remain
intact, and the decreasing number of concussions would benefit those players in both the short
and long term. However, the funding for this plan could be seen as a waste of resources, since it
was previously mentioned that football would inevitably cause brain injuries, simply based on
the way the game is played. Consequently, the disadvantages would purely be the “waste of
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resources ” or the potential negative economic consequences of requiring new expensive
equipment.
In regards to the funding of curing the brain diseases, this could help those players who
are already diagnosed with CTE or life-altering brain diseases. Their lifestyles would go back to
normal, despite their misfortune of having been impacted with this disease in the first place.
However, a large disadvantage of this aspect, similar to the previous solution of advanced
technology, is the large amount of funding that would be required, as well as the funding that
would be needed to diagnose CTE in players during their playing days. Often, as we see with
retired players, CTE is only discovered after their tragic early deaths. Therefore, the one project
would need an entire new component in the form of individual testing throughout the world that
is the NFL, CFL, and even College Football. Each player would need diagnoses, and—once
again—the costs of treatment would skyrocket.
With every applicable solution, there must be some sort of fuel behind the engine of
progress. In the case of these plans, the solution typically requires financial support. The most
immediate and common resource for this funding of scientists is the NFL itself. As previously
stated, the NFL denied the connective tissue that existed between football and concussions.
Consequently, if the NFL were to be the hand that feeds the research, the research must not
undermine the football industry. 17 In other words, the studies almost inevitably would be
corrupt—which was the case for the past twenty years. Therefore, a disadvantage of conducting
NFL-funded studies would be the high chance of fraudulent research and corrupted results,
which, as preciously stated, help the NFL, circumvent their knowledge of the harms of football.
This reliance could potentially be a curse more so than a blessing.
8
Finally, an overall underlying disadvantage of each component of the plan is the
possibility of not having success in research, or not having a decrease in the number of
concussions at all. While this would not entirely be due to the plan itself, it still would be a
detriment to football overall. It has been hypothesized that either youth football will not be legal
in 15 years 18 or that—as shown by the rapid change of rules—football will either cease to exist
or not even be recognizable in the somewhat near future. 19 While the research would take time,
the popularity of football would take a hit, and currently is in high school football.
20
( See
Appendix B) Therefore, another wave of retired football players would be vulnerable to the
horrific symptoms of CTE. The plans would not grant immediate solutions, and therefore could
be seen as ineffective due to the requirement of time.
However, at the end of the day, and advantages of implementing these plans would
outweigh the disadvantages. Simply put, the chance for these players continue playing without
the inevitable consequence of obtaining CTE is far and away the most important aspect. The
overall prevention may be impossible; the cure/accurate diagnosis may not take place for
decades; the resources may simply go to waste and not implement change; the NFL may skew
any resource though corrupt data and research interpretation. But the fight for the overall safety
in players is not simply an end goal. Rather, it is a process, and the fight must continue.
As Nobel Prize winner Nicholas Butler once said, “ Optimism is essential to
Achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.”21 The hope for football
players to be free of any cognitive problems is one that must never be stopped. The number of
CTE cases as of now is at an all-time high. The way of life of many of these players is only
getting worse and worse. Yet to many, despite the negative impacts and consequences, many
players will stay play due to their limitation; they must play to support their families. So while
9
they keep playing, the improvement of equipment and research into the concussion crisis must
not stop. Otherwise, the paradigm of imminent young death in football players will no longer be
a trend, but rather the new paradigm.
10
Appendix A:
*Bleacher Report
11
Appendix B:
Endnotes:
12
Schwarz, Alan, and Ken Belson. "N.F.L. Shifts on Concussions, and Game May Never Be the
Same." The New York Times, March 15, 2016. Accessed April 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/sports/nfl-concussions-cte-football-jeffmiller.html?_r=015.
2 Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Steve Fainaru. League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the
Battle for Truth. New York: Crown Archetype, 2013.
3 Fetchero, Sam. "NFL: Will the Rate of Concussions Increase If the Season Extends to 18
Games?" Bleacher Report, March 7, 2011. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/629467-will-therate-of-concussions-increase-if-the-nfl-extends-the-season-to-18-games.
4 Silver, Jonathan D. "A Life Off-center: Mike Webster's Battles." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
October 17, 2014. Accessed April 6, 2016.
5 Silver, “A Life off-center: Mike Webster’s Battles.” Accessed April 6, 2016.
6 "Managing Return to Activities." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. February 16, 2016. Accessed April 6, 2016
7 Reinberg, Steven. "Kids' Concussion Symptoms Can Last a Year, Study Says; Symptoms May
Affect School and Quality of Life." Consumer Health News (English), March 5, 2012. Accessed
April 4, 2016. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-282183636.html?refid=easy_hf.
8 Hohler, Bob. "Brain Risk Seen in Early-Age Football ; BU-Brigham Study Focuses on Ex-NFL
Players." The Boston Globe (Boston, MA), August 11, 2015. Accessed April 4, 2016.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-38606602.html?refid=easy_hf.
9 Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Steve Fainaru. League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the
Battle for Truth.
10 Fox, Ashley. "NFL Taking a Hard Line on Illegal Hits." ESPN.com, September 20, 2013.
Accessed April 4, 2013. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9698667/nfl-taking-hard-line-illegalhits.
11 Venere, Emil. "'Deviant Brain Metabolism' Found in High School Football Players." States
News Service, August 19, 2015. Accessed April 4 , 2016. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1425982842.html?refid=easy_hf.
12 Eilperin, Juliet. "Obama to Host a White House Summit on Growing Concerns over Sports
Head Injuries." The Washington Post, May 29, 2014. Accessed 2016.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-36103204.html?refid=easy_hf.
13 Fine, Larry. "New Football Helmet, Turf Cushion Win Research Challenge." Banger Daily
News, December 3, 2015. Accessed April 4, 2016.
14 Venere, Emil. "'Deviant Brain Metabolism' Found in High School Football Players." Accessed
April 4 , 2016.
15 Belson, Ken. "Ivy League Moves to Eliminate Tackling at Football Practices." The New York
Times, March 1, 2016. Accessed April 4, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/sports/ncaafootball/ivy-league-moves-to-eliminatetackling-at-practices.html?_r=0.
16 Mihoces, Gary. "Study Gives Hope for Brain Disease Treatment."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/01/22/nfl-concussions-cte-junior-seau/1855555/
17 Schwarz, Alan, Walt Bogdanich, and Jacqueline Williams. "N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion
Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry." The New York Times, March 24, 2016. Accessed April
4, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/sports/football/nfl-concussion-researchtobacco.html.
1
13
Roope, Jim. "Should Youth Football Be Banned." CNN Radio, October 15, 2015. Accessed
April 2, 2016. http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2012/10/15/should-youth-football-be-banned/.
19 Drummond, Katie. "Can the NFL Survive Its Concussion Crisis." The Verge, January 31,
2014. Accessed April 2016. http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/31/5364378/can-nfl-survivefootball-concussion-crisis.
20 Kaplan, Emily. "High School Football at a Crossroad." The MMQB, November 23, 2015.
Accessed April 2016. http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/23/high-schools-dropping-and-addingfootball-safety-concerns.
21 "Nicholas Murray Butler - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11
Apr 2016. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/butler-bio.html>
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