Death sentences, or even handicap for life, the reality of sports is they can lead to outcomes of all kinds. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is the outcome of many hits to the head, as concussions.. It affects the body by limiting the body movement to just the eyes. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy become the result of an extra gene, but also could be caused by concussions, or head trauma. The diagnosis of these diseases have been seen in young athletes, due to the constant head trauma. Sports have made it a big thing to comprehend and to be aware of as well. Concussions are the main cause of the diseases because of the repetitive hits the brain is taking to the skull. Sports have a variety of wins, but the intensities of the game are not worth the win with the life threatening plays.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS is a disease caused by concussions and head trauma. ALS is a rare neurological disease that mainly involves nerve cells, which control voluntary muscle movement, such as breathing, talking, or chewing. With this being a progressive disease that has no cure it has made a tremendous impact for check ups after blows to the head. A hit to the head does not always mean you have a concussion, but with symptoms and side effects the athlete should not take a chance and get it checked out immediately. This is more of a physical incapacity disease. ALS has become a common disease for athletes in the mid-twenties, and life expectancy is very slim once the diagnosis has taken place. The main reported life periods for ALS athletes has been 3-5 years, but with medication and treatments it has had higher life expectancies about 20% have 5 years, 10% have 10 years, and 5% have 20 years. The athletes lives have changed from the beginning of the diagnoses till the end of the lives they do live with the disease. Being a scary thing to think about athletes do tend to have the ability to walk away at retirement perfectly clear from ALS, which is a win.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE is a degenerative disease that is caused by sports just as ALS, but commonly diagnosed in people with the extra gene called the Tauopathy protein also known as the tau protein. Tau protein is an extra gene that could
Some of these diseases impact the athlete’s life such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Chronic Traumatic
Athletics play an immense role in the lives of youth, whether they play with friends for fun or in team competition as student athletes. Regular physical activity helps build and maintain bone and muscle health, helps reduce the risk of developing obesity, and promotes psychological well-being (U.S. Dept.). Public health programs promote the benefits of physical activity, but those benefits are reduced by the possibility of injury (CDC, 2). The participation in athletic sports outweigh the potential of sustaining a concussion.
Many scientists and doctors have researched to find the reasons why young athletes have gotten those diseases. Due to many concussions and hits to the head young athletes tend to have ALS and CTE at a younger age. Take Pete Frates, a baseball player, into consideration; he was diagnosed at the age of 27, which reveals the drastic age difference between an average person and an athlete. This occurred due to the head injuries he received playing baseball. Furthermore, the average age to being diagnosed for a regular person is 50. According to NCBI.gov, “ALS is rare before the age of 40 years and increases exponentially with age thereafter. This further proves that because of the number of concussions athletes receive they are below the age average of
Which are the two major factors that leads to ALS and CTE´s. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury and most of the time temporary. It is caused by an external impact to the head causing the brain to crash against the skull. Common symptoms are dizziness, headaches, sensitivity, balance issues, and slower processing speeds. There are many differences between male and females when it come to concussions. One of them is the type of test done because men and women both have different reactions to a concussion. While for men it is very obvious and can be determined by simple questions, a girl it is quite different because they do not respond the same way to a concussion. Most concussions just require rest letting the brain recover, but when athletes do not do this it becomes a problem. When this happens toxic proteins start to enter the spinal cord which have been tied up with ALS and CTE. Lou Gehrig born on June 19, 1903 is a good example because of his consistent game record. He suffered from so many concussions and injuries while setting this record, but he never rested because he wanted to keep his streak going which gave him the name “The Iron Horse” It is said that his head was so swollen that he had to borrow Babe Ruth's hat because his would no longer fit. These consecutive blows to the head are the actions considered to have caused his ALS. which was diagnosed in 1939 and later died in 1941 two years after his
The brain disease in football player can cause, the slow losing of neurons of brain losing memory, and words of case kill yourself. The second type of CTE, big concussion, you are bleeding inside of hate the damage is dangerous you possibility to death or suicide.
“Meh, what’s some brain damage gonna hurt”, was a quote that ultimately lead to the death of John McCrae athlete, Rowan Stringer. She was known to be a “leader” and an “amazing rugby player” on her school varsity rugby team according to various sources. The concept that shocks me the most is that she died from second impact syndrome, revealing her brave, yet poor decision that resulted in her unfortunate death. As you can see, concussions can be life threatening. In order to appropriately handle a concussion, one must be aware of the symptoms of a concussion, how to deal with concussions, and the consequences of concussions.
this disease, nerve cells break down, which reduces functionality in the muscles that they supply. The cause unknown. The main symptom is muscle weakness. Medication and therapy can slow ALS and reduce discomfort, but there's no cure. Neale Daniher Every three months, he has lung function tests which determine how well he is able to draw breath. He says those tests showed a marked downward trend in the past six months. Until a year ago he could still breathe well enough for a short swim, but can't do that now .said Neale He says his lung function is below the typical level for a healthy 56-year-old This much-loved man of football earned respect first as an outstanding footballer then as the coast of the Melbourne Demons. Friends lauded his
Athletes are more susceptible to these diseases at a younger age than the average person due to high impact sports. The National Football League (NFL) helps the families of football players who have been diagnosed with these diseases. Concussions can cause ALS or CTE’s. With all of this knowledge on these diseases,
Recent studies show that some athletes are now actually being diagnosed with either of these diseases as early as in their late 20’s. For example, Pete Frates, a former baseball player for the Boston College, was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27. He first realized something was wrong when he was struck on the left wrist with a baseball and never fully recovered from the lingering weakness. He was diagnosed on March 13, 2012 and immediately started to raise awareness. In 2014 he launched the Ice Bucket Challenge along with the help of his friend Pat Quinn to raise money for ALS research. In addition, Chris Henry, who was a football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, was diagnosed with CTE at age 26. He is the only known player to have had CTE and was still active in sports. He was diagnosed after he had fallen from a pickup truck and died on December 16, 2009. Although his family had no knowledge of this, they did notice the mood swings, headaches, and anger management issues that he did not have before. Medical research show that athletes such as Pete Frates and Chris Henry are being diagnosed at an early age because they frequently suffer from head trauma and concussions. Athletes often do not realize the potential danger they are putting themselves in each time they play and get a brain
A CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a, “progressive degenerative disease that is believed to plague people who've suffered severe or repeated blows to the head” (Murphy). A player can have a CTE and not even know that they are suffering from it. This is because CTEs can only be discovered after the person dies. Paul Bright, for example, was a football player who played from the time that he was seven until he was a freshman in high school. He had experienced only one concussion, but it changed his entire life. His family and friends described him as hard working and upbeat, but then, something changed. He became reckless and erratic; these traits caused him to die at age twenty-four from a motorcycle wreck. His mother sent his brain off to be tested and discovered that he had been suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This brain disease had caused him to make the type of impulsive decisions that took his life (Murphy). In addition to the CTEs players may experience, the likelihood of dying from brain and nervous system issues increases significantly for football players. Studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health discovered that, “death involving neurodegenerative causes among the retired players was three times higher than in the general U.S. population, and the risk for two major
Today, thousands of athletes across the country suffer from this common injury. This injury is an illness that is one with several serious side effects and can permanently end any star's career. Could you imagine being at the top of your game and then suffer a career shattering injury, many athletes face it every day. Today, concussions are a constant threat across the world of every sport. Primarily in football and hockey are two major sports with a level of play that causes an increase in concussions. Medical experts and leagues are doing the best they can to understand this growing problem. By comprehending the role concussions can play in the game of professional hockey, the league can help
Diagnosed at such a young age, usually non-athletes get diagnosed with ALS at the age of 40-70 with average age at 55. Non-athletes don't suffer with injury to the head as much as Athletes do. Athletes however, tend to be diagnosed with ALS between 20’s and 30’s. CTE was discovered in 3 of 14 high school players and 48 of 53 college players. One Athlete named Junior Seau, who committed suicide in May, two years after retiring as one of the linebackers in the NFL. Seau suffered from the type of Chronic brain damage. The family of Seau stated “ a lot of head-to-head collisions over the course of 20 years of playing in the NFL, developed the detention of his brain and ability to think logically” (paragraph 4), resulted to the disease of CTE.
In today’s day and age, baseball is no longer considered the past-time of America. Football has gradually become more and more popular and is nothing short of the most watched and anticipated season in America. In the nation today there are 3 million kids who participate in youth football, which consists of children age five to 16. Also, there are an estimated 1.1 million high school football athletes, and 100,000 players at the collegiate level. While the sport is arguably the nation’s most popular sport, it may come with consequences. Over the past few years, concerns have been raised about the risk that players may face from taking repeated hits to the head. Studies show that more than 50 former professional football players have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease caused by impact. The question is, how can these possibly life-ending risks be lessened or even ended.
In America, the sports industry is one of the largest and most powerful country; whether the sport is football, baseball, basketball, or any of the other sports the country has. Recently reports and documented cases have risen involving some of these sports’ greatest athletes, as well as current players, dealing with concussions (Famous sports concussions, 2012). Numerous athletes, some of them being the sport’s highest profile players, were found to have several mental illnesses and diseases, that have been attributed to head injuries sustained while they were playing their sports. The biggest and most predominant of these injuries is concussions. They can cause not only immediate issues, but also a lifetime of health
Many players are dying due to this brain trauma CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head. Players are getting better and harder hits are doing more damage to the brain than several years ago, rules are being reformed to make sports much safer(Weir 4) It's no wonder that kids and adults are getting hurt much more often than many years ago athletes are naturally getting bigger The average weight for an athlete has gone up 50 pounds since ten years ago.