Dr. Bennet Omalu: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Even though football players are aware of the dangers the game can bring upon them, they take part despite it. The passion, the joy it creates; for professionals it’s also the devoted fans and compensation they receive is what keeps the players motivated. Today players are much bigger, faster, smarter, bigger, better. The game is more physical. The sport has never been so competitive. The popularity has reached new peaks, as much that the NFL has thoughts of moving a team to London, England. Additionally, Super Bowl XLVII (47) was one of the most watched television events of all time; an astonishing 108.4 million viewers (The Associated Press). Fans worship their teams and love to see big hits. Football is a contact sport; injuries are no

First, I am going to talk about the science behind concussions, CTE, and why it is such an issue for a football player. Concussions are very damaging to the brain and experiencing a lot of them can lead to CTE. I will also discuss people that influenced the understanding of concussions and CTE. In 2002, a neurologist named Dr. Bennet Omalu tried to tell the NFL about the brain damage he found while doing a former NFL player’s autopsy, but the NFL did not really listen. In 2009, another researcher by the name of Dr. Ann Mckee tried to get the NFL’s attention about her concerns about football players and concussions as well. The NFL once again ignored these assumptions. However, the NFL did listen to Dr. Elliot Pellman, who told the league as early as 1994, that concussions were not a big problem and just part of the game. I will discuss how NFL players were treated when they got their “bell rung” during a big game; and what kind of medical treatment they

Concussion is the true gripping story of one man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar business. Nigerian pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu works at the coroner’s office in downtown Pittsburgh. Here he made a discovery in the body of one of the greatest football players ever to play the game, Mike Webster. He suffered a decline in his body and started to act very strange by living out his car and tasering himself till he was unconscious so he can go to sleep; he was only fifty years old. Omalu discovered that Webster had a disease caused by multiple blows to the head from his football career, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which could affect everyone playing the game. Omalu felt that everyone should know of this and the harm

The movie Concussion stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu who performs autopsies and looks into why people died. He works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has to look into what caused fifty-year-old former NFL quarterback Mike Webster to die. Dr. Omalu finds that Webster had been pulling his teeth out and super gluing them back in. Dr. Omalu who does not watch football catches a glimpse of it one day and begins to study it. He realizes how hard these players are getting hit when contact is initiated and tackles are made. He begins to do more research and finds that animals like woodpeckers and rams have built in shock absorption that protects their craniums from hitting their skulls, but humans do not have this feature. Human brains sit in a fluid disconnected from the skull so every time a football player gets hit the brain slams into the skull. Dr. Omalu finds that humans will obtain a concussion at a force of 60g and NFL players receive blows at 100g. Players were committing suicide by many different was such as shooting themselves, crashing their cars, or drinking antifreeze. Dr. Omalu found out they were all suffering from CTE, which stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain

It is estimated that over 90% of today's NFL players have a brain issue even if they do not know about it. On average, each football player gets hit 2,500 times to the head in a career. The centers take about 25,000 tackles to the head in an average career if they go to the NFL. After 9 or 10 concussions, you probably have a disease in you. In the year 2015, there were 271 concussions, in 2014, there were 206, in 2013, there was 229, and in 2012, there was 261 concussions. That adds up to 967 in 4 years. Dr Bennett Omalu was the first doctor to find this brain issue, and he has a foundation to help the players and families that have suffered with this issue. He named it Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE is a brain disease that

The overarching question in this study was answered because in the results there was a decisive conclusion that the NFL doesn’t not in fact consider player health as they should. All five participants in the study believed this to be true. Ava Norman is one of the participants who felt the NFL should take more initiative to look into the safety of its players. In her interview she felt strongly about the issue by saying, “the NFL is put on a pedestal and gets away with too much, the league needs to look more into the issue now before it’s too late because you cannot undo a concussion” (Norman). Moreover, I believe this research symbolizes that fans are even worried about player’s health. While they love the game of football, they understand that at the end of the day it is just a game. Don Thomas felt strongly about this particular issue by saying, “I love the game of football and football is a major part of my life but after the game is over everyone should be able to return to their families safely” (Thomas). On another

For over plenty of years there has been a connection between NFL or ex NFL players and concussions. A concussions is a type of traumatic brain injury cause by a blow to the head. memory loss, dementia and Chronic traumatic encephalopathy also known as CTE had developed in retired nfl players who had suffered concussions throughout their nfl career and the number is on the rise. Due to the rising number of concussions in the nfl it has sparked so much controversy over the past years. The concussions are linked to diseases and even deaths to professional and ex professional football players.

While examining his brain, they found the first case of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in a football player (Ezell). Dr. Omalu continued into the brains of football players. He diagnost another player with CTE. After that, two other doctors connect concussions to dementia. Dr. Bailes and Dr. Guskiewicz wrote, “that the onset of dementia-related syndromes may be initiated by repetitive cerebral concussions in professional football players” (Ezell). This was the first major finding connecting football to brain injuries.

In the movie concussion starring Will Smith, who played Dr. Bennet Omalu, they wouldn’t let him speak at conferences about his findings. The NFL threatened him to stop or they’d hurt him and his wife who was pregnant with their son. Early in the 2000’s they had a highlight reel on Sportscenter of people getting knocked out from huge hits. After the concussion news came out they got rid of it to get rid of evidence. The NFL also had players with brain damage hide it and tell the people nothing was wrong. Teams also took star players and gave them smelling salts and put them back in the game with concussions so they couldn’t leave the game. If the players stayed in the game, it wouldn’t look bad to outsiders. This author concludes that the NFL went out of their way to hide this from the

The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.

It was not until Dr. Bennet Omalu examined, NFL superstar, Mike Webster’s brain. While Webster was alive, he was examined and it was found that he developed dementia due to his multiple concussions (NFL Concussion Fast Facts). Unfortunately, Webster ended up committing suicide; however, it was believed to be linked to his brain damage. Omalu took a close look at his brain and discovered that Webster had CTE. Omalu was the first to identify CTE in American football players (NFL Concussion Fast Facts). CTE is a degenerative disease of the brain and is associated with repeated head traumas, like concussions. It was also found that a total of seven NFL players, that had committed suicide, all had CTE developed in their brains. All of these different findings showed why it was even more important for the NFL to fix the

Concussion revolves around Dr. Bennet Omalu and the research that established Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Omalu is a forensic neuropathologist from Nigeria who came to America to chase dreams as a doctor and researcher. Omalu’s discovery began in the brain of Mike Webster, a National Football

Concussions has become major issue in sports. Over the years, the awareness of this injury is increasingly. I feel that as science is improving so will everything else in sports in terms of injuries. Back then if you had a surgery the scar was big but now it all becoming less and less. No matter what happens people won’t stop watching football just because of concussions and injuries. The athlete wont stop because they are concussed but will continue to do their job, so that is why I believe this new way of testing for concussion will be a success instead of just protocol that have been around for seven

Concussions have been shown to be the cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or “CTE”, which has led to player suicides and other debilitating symptoms after retirement, including memory loss, depression, anxiety, headaches, and also sleep disturbances. “In CTE, a protein called Tau forms clumps that slowly spread throughout the brain, killing brain cells. CTE has been seen in people as young as 17, but symptoms do not generally begin appearing until years after the onset of head impacts.”(What Is CTE). This is why people are studying and trying to understand concussions fully in order to prevent and treat future ones. Concussions are very serious and shouldn’t be taken lightly which is why it has become a major topic in football. As much as professional and young athletes want to prove their toughness and continue to play, new research is proving that concussions are far more dangerous than anyone could have predicted.

Bennet Omalu made concussions a big deal and not just a keeping it in the dark from people and the the players for the NFL. He was the one who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy AKA(CTE) a disease caused by trauma to the head. He discovered CTE do to the death of Mike Webster. Mike died unexpectedly Dr.Omalu believed it was do to the mood disorders,depression ,drug abuse,destitution and Mike one Attempted suicide do to the depression. Dr.Omalu did a self analyses Mike brain tissue and he found out that Mike suffered from dementia pugilistica which is caused by repeated hits to the head. Dr. Omalu finally discovered CTE after the death of Tony Long he committed suicide in