Throughout sports’ evolution, prioritizing player health has notably continued to lag. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), players arrive with remarkable talent, high verticals and a knack for the game, but lack the joint strength and durability for their legs to remain in top shape after constant jumps and landings, seen in retired athlete Derrick Rose (1) and current Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12). No matter how far sports evolve, the human body remains too fragile to adapt, with the same aspect carried over to the brain.
Within a majority of contact sports, such as basketball, football and soccer, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can sideline an athlete for weeks or even ruin their career. While sports associations continue to research and attempt to develop safeguards against head trauma, players’ hunger and desire to return to the game develops a stigma towards any safeguards, paranoid that they may hinder performance or ruin their aesthetic. Ideal safety lies in education on the implications of over-exerting oneself despite receiving head trauma.
A likely outcome of brain trauma, the concussion occurs due to constant changes in pace and direction. The whiplash from turning quickly causes the brain to come into contact with the skull, causing myriad effects, including difficulty reading, extreme sensitivity to bright lights and confusion. Under standard procedure, athletes require the concussion protocol to prevent further damage and to ensure the athlete slowly recovers at a pace meant to reintegrate them.
Despite the usual measures taken in preventing concussions, statistics show that between five and ten percent of all athletes will suffer from a concussion in their playing career. Alongside the rates, sports such as football and girls’ soccer hold the top two spots in the likeliest sports to suffer a concussion due to consistent contact between athletes. While 90% of athletes recover within 12 days, a small margin of athletes fail to properly recover and choose to retire in hopes of preventing further damage to the brain, seen in five time all-pro NFL linebacker Luke Kuechly (59), who chose to retire from football at a surprisingly young age of 28 following his third concussion.
“You always feel confused when you have a concussion; your head keeps hurting and the lights start feeling too bright. My only real issue with it is that I could not keep practicing or wrestling for so long, even though I felt fine. I really wanted to keep wrestling, but I kept getting disappointed every time the trainers did not clear me,” varsity junior wrestler Trig Kukla (132) said.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) emerges as a primary concern in athlete safety. First discovered in professional boxers in 1928 by Dr. Harrison Martland, CTE primarily affects athletes in contact sports such as professional football and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The constant impacts to the head eventually begin to accumulate, slowly spreading in a mold-like fashion around the brain. While physicians and morticians can only diagnose CTE after death, numerous symptoms, including memory loss, depression and difficulty in speech, can hint towards the likelihood of a player suffering from CTE before a full analysis. Advanced stages of CTE present drastic outcomes, including thoughts of self-harm and questionable actions.
June 26, 2013, authorities convicted National Football League (NFL) tight end Aaron Hernandez (99) for the murder of close friend Odin Lloyd and sentenced him to life in prison with no parole. In prison, Hernandez took his own life April 19, 2017, and researchers at Boston University found extreme degradation of his brain via continuous blows to the head. Researchers and detectives concluded that Hernandez’s crime and suicide stemmed from uncontrollable mood swings from CTE. With the death of Hernandez and the reveal of his condition, reporters and league officials around the NFL highlighted TBIs as a primary issue in sports. As athletes continuously sustain strong impacts to the head or whiplash due to extreme forces, the human brain degenerates over time. While consistent impacts prove a challenging issue, the real danger lies in the fact that scientists can not diagnose critical brain injuries until after death, only infer through observation of athlete behavior.
Alongside constant emphasis, incidents of TBIs leading to crime or death spark fear within sports communities. In the WWE, famed wrestler Chris Benoit garnered fame across the association for his style of wrestling and signature move, the Crippler Crossface. Despite the love and adoration from fans, Benoit suffered from steroid abuse and severe depression. June 22, 2007, Benoit murdered his wife and son, Nancy and Daniel Benoit, before taking his own life. Following his death, neuroscientists uncovered that his brain appeared severely damaged, resembling that of an elderly person with Alzheimer’s disease. CTE stood as the conclusive cause of Benoit’s brain damage and likely the cause of the murder, following repeated blows throughout his WWE career. Following the murder-suicide of Benoit and his family, WWE fans worldwide expressed grief and frustration, criticizing founder Vince McMahon, who denied the cause of Benoit’s brain damage and the crime.
Professional athletes’ responses to TBIs remain polarized; while certain athletes choose to cut their careers short in fear of worsening conditions, other athletes bear through it and choose to forge a career riddled with injury and risk. Similar to Tua Tagovailoa’s (1) resolve to continue playing despite the numerous concussions, Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre chose to keep playing even after claiming to suffer from 1000 concussions in his career. Unfortunately, numerous athletes opt to retire in caution of worsening conditions from TBIs. Former National Hockey League (NHL) player and U.S. Olympian Adam Deadmarsh chose to end his tenure in the league, understanding that following a second impact to the head, he faced an extreme risk of CTE and other degenerative brain diseases.
With brain injuries remaining a prominent issue in sports, former athletes and their families push to help curb the statistics. Athletes such as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Mark Henry and NFL linebacker Reggie Williams (11) have committed to donating their brains post-mortem to science in hopes of finding the causes and effects of TBIs on athletes’ lives during and after sports. Despite Henry and William’s selfless decisions to donate their brains, by the time scientists gain a further opportunity to find options that minimize the risks, athletes will continue to suffer from TBIs, and rates will continue to rise.
Through extensive and strenuous research into TBIs, neuroscientists uncover differing areas affected. With consistent analysis of areas affected by TBIs in the brain among athletes, doctors, and researchers create a total image capable of illustrating how certain areas damaged by TBIs affect cognitive functions. Functional Magnetic Resonance imaging (fMRI) has risen as an efficient and clear route to understanding the long-term consequences of singular or repeated blows to the head and how the brain develops CTE.
While research on the effects of TBIs proves crucial, the current rates of injuries among athletes require surefire solutions to resolve. Safeguards in sports include the Guardian Cap, a padded covering over the helmet of NFL players. Despite the near-guaranteed protection and insurance against a re-concussion, the Guardian Cap’s usage in the NFL garners criticisms, even from athletes. Tagovaiola, despite receiving several concussions and missing portions of his career, refused to wear a Guardian Cap, citing personal views on the usage and why it may hinder his performance.
As TBIs continue to occur across professional sports at an eye-catching rate, athletes begin to emphasize safety and spread awareness on the effects and how athletes can protect themselves. Former U.S soccer athletes Megan Rapinoe (15) and Abby Wambach (20) spoke on the issues of concussions, hoping to contribute to both awareness and advocating for optional safeguards. Alongside other athletes, sports leagues worldwide begin to highlight the safety for future generations of upcoming players.
“It’s always good to give athletes time to recover from concussions and other TBIs. A lot of athletes I have seen who went back into sports faster than what was recommended have seen a lot of change in their lives, especially with their regular activities, such as walking. While it’s always stressful to lose time to practice and play, athletes should definitely prioritize their own health and safety over success,” University of Georgia Associate (UGA) athletic trainer Ryan Madaleno said.
Domestically, NC takes several measures to ensure athlete safety in case of suffering from a TBI. While following the concussion protocol, NC trainers work with local physical therapists in preparing an athlete to return to play in their best shape. To guarantee athlete recovery, sports coaches prevent athletes from participating until officially cleared by a trainer. Alongside consistent player improvement, NC and other Cobb County schools guarantee that athletes recover to the same form as before the injury occurred.
“We do our best to make sure that the wrestlers are safe, but it mostly depends on how they do. We teach the moves right, and if someone gets injured, there’s not much to do. Injuries are a part of the game, and as long as we have Marcus Underwood and Angie Guggino, our wrestlers are gonna make a full recovery,” wrestling head coach Michael Dillard said.
TBIs as a whole prove to infringe on athlete success. While efforts and research grow in understanding the cause, athletes continue to suffer from the implications of severe impacts. As athletes come together to recognize player safety and mental health, TBIs and their repercussions of CTE come to the spotlight as an issue in athletics.
