This blog is to help parents understand the importance of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and how it could affect their children.
Have you ever heard of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE? How does this affect our children? Reports say that CTE is due to concussions and/or sub concussive hits to the head. Most children who would get a concussion may be from physically active sport they are participating in. The most current conversation now about CTE, is related to America’s all time favorite game of football! But it is not just football that can cause these hits.
So what is a concussion? It is a hit to the head from either another person, a ground surface or an object. A sub concussive hit is where the head is hit, but not hard enough to diagnose a concussion. Both of these contribute to CTE.
Dr. Bennet Omalu, the physician whom some say he re-discovered this disease has continued to provide more research on the topic of CTE. Some research supports that the disease was originally discovered in 1966. This is true although no doctor did any extensive research until Dr. Omalu came along and no one had named it except for boxers where it was referred to as “punch drunk”. Omalu has been researching CTE for the last 14 years. It all started when he did an autopsy on a pro NFL player, Mike Webster. The brain initially looked normal until Omalu dissected it and discovered an abnormal protein called Tau in the brain. Once he began to bring all this information to the public, Omalu got quite a bit of resistance from the NFL. From all this Omalu inspired a movie called “Concussion” to help raise awareness for the diagnosis of CTE. Take a look at this clip to describe more in relation to Dr. Omalu and his discovery.
Back in the 1920’s a diagnosis called “dementia pugilistica” referred to boxers who had been hit so many times in the head. Now in 2016 it is recognized as CTE in all physically active sports and even in the military. CTE may have some similar symptoms as Alzheimer’s disease but they are different. Alzheimer’s is associated by genetics and CTE is known to be caused from repeated blows to the head. As I am sure this information is new to you, it is still in the infancy stages of development. Please take a few minutes to watch this clip of the movie “Concussion” as well as a brief interview with Will Smith who plays Dr. Omalu in the film. It is very interesting his take on playing the character.
Where does this leave you as the parent?
Be sure that your child wears a helmet with any physical activity that you can use a helmet. Check with your child’s coach as to what the rules are in place regarding head contact. Be sure to take your child to the doctor if you feel that they may have suffered a concussion or even a sub concussive hit to the head. Researchers are still looking for more information to understand CTE completely. For now do what you can as a parent to protect your children’s brain for the future. See your pediatrician for more information regarding CTE and head trauma.
References:
Steiger, B. (2016). Meet Bennet Omalu, MD: The Physician Leader Whose Research Inspired The Movie Concussion. Physician Leadership Journal, 3(2), mar/April 2016, 8-10. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
Drysdale, T. A. (2013). Helmet-to-Helmet Contact: Avoiding a Lifetime Penalty by Creating a Duty to Scan Active NFL Players for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Journal of Legal Medicine, 34(4), 425-452. doi:10.1080/01947648.2013.859969
Wortzel, H. S., Brenner, L. A., & Arciniegas, D. B. (2013). Traumatic Brain Injury and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Forensic Neuropsychiatric Perspective. Behavioral Sciences & the Law Behav. Sci. Law, 31(6), 721-738. doi:10.1002/bsl.2079
First of all, I let me just say that I LOVE the picture of the kids playing under the tree! It was the first thing that caught my eye. This was an interesting topic to me because I did not know much about chronic traumatic encephalopathy so I wanted to read more about it. Your videos were very interesting as well. I am a big fan of Will Smith, he is an amazing celebrity. I saw the movie Concussion and related it to this topic. I don’t have kids, but it definitely opened my eyes to be more away of hits to the head for all kids that I know.
What a great blog. The first image is so eye catching and your writing was easy to understand, therefore I was able to incorporate this blog into my life with my own children. I had not heard of this condition before I read your blog. I can’t wait to see the movie! It is so important to protect our children from these types of preventable conditions. Thank yo for doing such a great job and bringing CTE into the light.
Awesome idea for a blog! I love the approach you took for providing information about CTE. Also, incorporating the movie, “Concussion,” into your post was a nice touch. I had the opportunity to see the movie, it was an eye-opener and very informative. I agree that CTE is a topic that people need to be aware of, especially parents. As a mother, I encouraged my son to play sports and didn’t think twice about too many blows to the head could affect his health later in life. I think bringing awareness about CTE is extremely important – it doesn’t mean we are anti-sports, instead it give us a better understanding and allows us to take the necessary safety precautions. In regards to your visuals, I thought your pictures and video clips were perfect for the topic, as they caught my attention from the start. Overall, the post was educational, easy-to-read, and kept my interest. Great job!
I’m an avid NFL football fan. I have followed this situation on CTE since it have caught the attention of the public. Some young football players have already retired to pursuit other careers because of the potential diagnoses of CTE due to playing football. I did not know that after the dissection the doctor found a protein called Tau. Nice blog!!!
Great work on your blog! I found your topic to be very interesting as I have a younger cousin who is fourteen and has already suffered from 2 concussions from playing sports. He already has cardiac issues, and I worry about him playing contact sports even more. I don’t know if we push our children even harder than they use to be, so their play is that much more aggressive and rough which is resulting in more injuries. I found your videos to be very interesting and will be sharing the info that I got from your blog post!
I found this blog to be very interesting and informative. There was great information regarding CTE, that as a parent, I would find helpful in helping to make an informed decision as to whether or not to allow my child to play contact sports. The videos were engaging as was the image of the children playing under the tree. Thank you for sharing this important information with us.