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Concussions in American Football

Debate regarding the health effects of concussions on American football players has caused considerable controversy. Concussions and other types of play-related traumatic brain injuries have been proposed as a major cause of player suicides and other symptoms after retirement including memory loss and depression.

Concussions in the National Football League


There has been controversy for about 20 years regarding the long-term damage of repeated concussions among National Football League (NFL) players, often as a result of contradicting study results published by the NFL and other organizations. In 1994, then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue approved the creation of the MTBI Committee with the stated goal of studying the effects of concussions and sub-concussive injury in NFL players. Tagliabue appointed rheumatologist Dr. Elliot Pellman to chair the committee. Pellman's appointment was met with harsh criticism, because he is not a neurologist or neuropsychologist and often admitted ignorance about head injuries. The same year, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported a statistically significant increase in the risk of neurocognitive disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in retired football players, which furthered public knowledge about the risk of long-term neurocognitive disease related to repeated head impacts. Despite the NIOSH study, Pellman and the MTBI Committee drew their own conclusions that continued to contradict these findings and those of other organizations. Biomechanical engineers and neurosurgeons informed the Committee that the helmet safety standard at that time was insufficient to minimize the risk of concussions. The MTBI Committee began studying the nature of tackle plays resulting in concussive impacts and developing its own biomechanical analysis of the effect of these forces on the brain. It started publishing study results in 2003 that stated there were no long-term negative health consequences associated with concussions sustained by NFL players. A six-year study by the Committee concluded that, "Players who are concussed and return to the same game have fewer initial signs and symptoms than those removed from play. Return to play does not involve a significant risk of a second injury either in the same game or during the season."
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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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