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ALS and CTE: Its Role in Society
Sports have been a part of the United States’ history, dating back from the Greek to the
Roman civilizations. Basketball, baseball, football, soccer, boxing, and swimming are just a few
sports that continue to impact society in today’s world. Although concussions cannot be avoided,
they can sometimes be prevented. Security measures have been taken to reduce the risk of
concussions, which caused many rules and regulations to be changed or implemented to prevent
further head trauma. Rules should be changed to reduce head traumas, but should only be
changed to the point where the athlete will not suffer other injuries that can alter their life
forever. Some policies that can be implemented to protect athletes from
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further head trauma could be to personalize every athlete’s helmet by adding more cushion where they need it or by forcing the athlete to rest after receiving a concussion which will decrease the symptoms of concussions, ALS, and CTE. Another disease caused by consistent blows to the head is CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The disease causes the deterioration of brain and nerve cells. Although CTE can be diagnosed at an early stage, it can be deadly. The mind dies off with the body. CTE alters brain function causing many ailments such as excessive aggression, suicidal tendencies, shaking, uncontrollable movement, seizures, and depression. These ailments can lead to greater risk in developing Parkinson’s disease, Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or Huntington’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is very similar to Huntington’s because both diseases cause the body to move uncontrollably, allowing the individual to lose control of their body. Dementia is very similar to Alzheimer’s because of the symptoms that come with the diseases. In Dementia, the individual seems lost or seems to forget many moments of their life and Alzheimer’s is similar, but in Alzheimer’s, the individual has an increase in forgetfulness, but remembers moments when they were young. CTE is caused when an individual suffers a head injury which causes the brain to release an increase of amyloid plaques that cause a chemical called Beta Secretase to be released. These chemicals intoxicate the brain and the blood causing organs and nerves to die off. For this reason, people with CTE seem to slowly deteriorate with their body because the increase in toxins into the bloodstream poisons the blood causing the body to slowly die. CTE affects all types of people, but it has made more of an impact on athletes in contact sports such as football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and boxing.
These are only a few examples of sports in
which athletes are being diagnosed early on with CTE. CTE is destroying the lives of many
individuals, especially young athletes.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS, is a neurodegenerative disease
that affects many individuals worldwide. Overtime, this disease gradually overtakes the body’s
functions causing the body to slowly deteriorate as the mind continues to work in its normal
manner. ALS causes the individual with the disease to lose the ability to move and eventually
lose the ability to speak, eat, and breathe. Although ALS affects the rest of the body, it does not
affect the brain. The brain continues to work normally even as the rest of the body begins to shut
down. A person diagnosed with ALS tends to live two to five years after diagnosis, but the
average rate of life is variable. There have been cases where many individuals have lived fifteen
years after diagnosis. Although this is true, the majority of people diagnosed with ALS have died
within the average rate of survival. ALS can be found in a variety of people, but researchers have
begun to examine ALS’ targets. They discovered that many athletes were either dying
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or developing ALS at an abnormal pace. This uncovered news began to force many individuals to ask themselves, what causes ALS, and who is in danger? Many athletes are being diagnosed with ALS at a younger age than most individuals who do not play contact sports. Researchers are questioning themselves on why are athletes being diagnosed at an earlier age and more commonly than the everyday person.
Athletes are being diagnosed at an earlier age because they are in sports. The athletes
with ALS and CTE’s disease have participated in contact sports such as boxing, football, and
soccer. One example of an athlete diagnosed at an early age would be Lou Gherig, a famous first
baseman for the New York Yankees. He was one of the best athletes in America’s history. He
played seventeen seasons in a row and played alongside Babe Ruth, one of the county’s best
baseball players. Lou Gherig was adored by his fans. He was called the “Iron Horse” because he
played baseball even if he was in an excruciating pain. In 1939, Lou was diagnosed with ALS, a
neurodegenerative disease. Later that year, he retired from baseball. He died two years later.
Gherig was not the only athlete diagnosed at an early age. Athletes are being diagnosed earlier in
their lives because they are getting consistent head trauma and fail to rest. Aths are being put
back in the game without resting the brain from hard hits. He failure to do this results in an
unhealed brain that continues to get more trauma hit after hit. These are the reasons why
athletes are being diagnosed and dying at an earlier age and concussions play a big role in this. Concussions are consistent blows to the head and shaking of the brain. Concussions are generally seen in everyday life, but are most commonly seen in the athletic world due to the dangers that sports pose on the athlete. Concussions are traumatic brain injuries caused by hard hits to the head. Head trauma, on the other hand, is when an outside forces injure the brain. Although both males and females get concussions and head traumas, females are more vulnerable to getting concussions because of their anatomical structure. Women have a smaller and weaker neck than men do. If a male were to fall, he has the power to resist his head from hitting the ground because they have a strong neck and strong muscles connecting to their neck while a female would probably develop a concussion from having her head hit the ground forcefully because she has a smaller and weaker neck compared to those of the opposite sex. I had a very similar experience last winter when I suffered a concussion. I was competing in a basketball tournament in which we were short players because it was the day after Christmas. We only had six players, so we had one substitute who could come in for us. We were running across the court and I ran to my position. After I got to the block on the court, I turned around and was about to catch the ball when I was struck from the side. The girl had been running when she ran into me, so I felt the impact as she hit me. I fell backwards and the first thing to hit the court was my head. I vaguely remember the echo my head made on the floor. Although I was still conscious, I remember feeling the sharp pain that pierced my brain and the unbearable pain shooting through my head. I felt dizzy, confused, and scared. I felt as everything was cloudy and I felt so tired. I just wanted to go to sleep, but I remember people were talking to me, asking me things, but I was so confused and I just wanted to sleep. Later when I went to the hospital, I found out I had a concussion. I had severe headaches, nausea, my personality changed, I felt helpless, angry, and indifferent. I went back for a checkup a few months later and found out I was suffering from post concussion syndrome. Up to this day, I am still taking medication for my headaches and I am working on going back to the person I was before. Although concussions, head trauma, ALS, and CTE, are still in the rise, the sports world is trying to change that. They are trying to diminish the risk of getting a concussion which can lead to other diseases. One sports organization that has tried to make a difference in this situation has been the NFL. The NFL has changed some rules such as the rule that allows professional football players to have more cushion in their helmets to protect the sides of the head. Even though the NFL has diminished the risks of receiving a concussion, the NFL has brought on a new risk, not protecting the linebackers who always have head on collisions with other players. With the new helmets, the offensive line is more protected, but the linebackers are being deprived of the cushion at the front of their helmets which is where they need it the most. The sports world is also trying to implement rules to keep the athletes safe from concussions, but posing new threats to being hit somewhere else, where it can handicap them forever. For this reason, athletes, such as professional football players, should be taken into account what type of security measures they need to take to be safe, such as more cushion in the front of the helmets for linebackers and more cushion for the sides of the helmet in the offensive line. Athletes should be the first priority in the minds of the sports organizations. If an athlete is suspected of having a concussion, they should make that athlete go see a medical professional that will clear them after they are healthy. The athlete’s team and coach should be understanding and should allow the athlete to rest. Athletes should also get equipment tailored to their needs to protect them as much as possible. This does not mean that rules should be changed to the point where the game is not a game. Policies should be changed however, to ensure the athlete’s safety and well being. After all, sports would not be anything without the athlete participating in it. Clearly, new policies should be implemented to ensure the safety of the players. This would change the world of sports, but would make a good impact. Athletes make up the sports world, so equipment should be made to ensure they are safe from concussions or head trauma. If an athlete is suspected of having a concussion or having any type of brain injury, they should be taken out of the game. The athlete should see a medical professional and be careful not to do anything. The athlete should rest and not do anything that can stress them out or cause them more brain damage. Concussions are more than head injuries and could potentially be more devastating than at first glance. Concussions are not a joke, so they need to be taken seriously to prevent life threatening diseases such as CTE or ALS.
was one of the 3 highest paid players EVER in the American League and he was
It is truly remarkable how Randy Pausch and Morrie Schwartz stories are so similar but yet so different. They both seem to have an outlook on life in a positive way, not sad or demeaning. The only crippling difference is the fact that Morrie was at the age that wasn’t abnormal to be sick and Randy was just dealt the cards for a short life. One of Professor Randy Pausch’s many quotes during The Last Lecture makes a similar point between his experience and Morrie’s when he says, “…it’s hard to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer – people who get it don’t live long enough.” ALS is such a rehabilitating disease that scientist have issues pinpointing the causes to even get close to a cure, which didn’t hinder either of their strive to keep going as far as they could.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth was an American icon or symbol just as Uncle Sam was; the Babe started it all. He was the best pitcher in his day and still remains the strongest slugger in the game. Ruth had power, strength, an appetite and a desire for the game that no other player would ever have. It was "Babe Ruth, a hero of prowess who had achieved greatness by the sheer extent of his extraordinary ability" that put a smile on all the youngsters faces. No matter where he was the fans would follow; the attendance was always the greatest in his presence.
Jackie played one season in 1945 for the Negro Baseball League. He traveled all of U.S. with the Kans...
The overview definition of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is defined in the Medical Dictionary for Allied Health as a “progressive degenerative disease of the lateral columns of the spinal cord leading to weakness paralysis and death (Breskin, 2008).” This definition is brief but by looking at this one helps to better define the disease, which follows. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig disease the progressive destruction is of the motor neuron this results in muscular atrophy. The nerve cells effected are from the brain to the spinal cord and the spinal cord to the peripheral these are the nerves that control muscle movement. ALS affects muscles that are controlled by conscious thought, this includes arms, legs, and trunk muscles. ALS leaves sensation, thought processes, the heart muscle, digestive system, bladder, and other internal organs unaffected.
Gladwell provides research conducted by Anne McKee a neuropathologist who is involved in the detection of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E) on football players which was caused by head trauma. Using the research of McKee who is deeply involved with C.T.E allows the reader to better understand C.T.E. First we are presented on how by autopsying a brain of a person who had received a diagnosis of dementia. McKee discovered that this patient was a boxer in his early days and due to many hits in the head he developed C.T.E. Unfortunately, this person was diagnosed with dementia but ultimately he had C.T. E “which is a progressive neurological disorder found in people who have suffered some kind of brain trauma”. (Offensive Play). We are also presented with a research done by Kevin Guskiewicz director of the University of North Carolina’s Sports Concussion Research Program. Guskiewicz carefully monitors North Carolina’s football team with sensors on the player’s football helmets. These sensors allow Guskiewicz to measure the force of the impacts the players receive while playing football. Guskiewicz compared the hits to the head a payer receives to a car accident: “if you drove your car into a wall at twenty-five miles per hour and you weren’t wearing your seat belt, the force of your head hitting the
As motor neurons degenerate, this obviously means they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that otherwise normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look thinner as muscle tissue atrophies (Choi, 1988).
He was a perfect example of a hero in the Roaring Twenties. Babe Ruth was known for getting the most home runs out of any player in the history of baseball. The aspects of today’s games lead back to Ruth. Home runs became the most important and dominating factor of the game, besides good pitching. At the age of 19 Babe Ruth began his baseball career, on July 11th of 1914 he played in the big league with the Boston Red Sox.
In 2005 Dr. Bennet Omalu first discovered CTE In the Brain Of the retired player Mike webster, after he passed in 2002, at the age of 50. However CTE has been identified, there is no way to diagnose it in living individuals. In a study done by the National Institutes of Health, and the Concussion Research Funding, they came to the conclusion that, “Current tests cannot reliably identify concussions, and no technique reliably differentiates individuals who will recover quickly, suffer long-term symptoms, or develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)” (NIH, NFL, and Concussion Research Funding). Therefore, currently there is no way to treat or identify whether or not a person has CTE officially until they have died. Doctors only way of identifying if a person has CTE is to diagnose based off their symptoms. CTE symptoms vary based on the severity of the case, However according to researchers at the CTE Center at Boston University School of Medicine; “CTE is associated with “memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse-control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia” (Karaim). Theses Symptoms have a dramatic effect on the everyday lives of the people that have CTE. With nearly anywhere from 1.6 million to 3.8 million concussions occur each year, leading professional athletes and
ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease attacks the muscles of the body. Typically, symptoms don’t usually begin until the age of 50 or older. However, it’s possible to show symptoms at a younger age. It is a disease that progresses extremely fast. Unfortunately as the disease progresses, loss of muscle strength get worse. The reduction of the muscle strength slowly gets worse until paralysis or death. The following are symptoms of ALS: muscle cramps, muscle weakness, difficulty with breathing and difficulty with swallowing. Other symptoms include slurring of words, hoarseness, and weight loss. ALS does not affect the five senses of the body. Eventually, Lou Gehrig’s Disease will prevent the body from doing everyday activities such as driving, climbing stairs, and eating.
... middle of paper ... ... One should also rest a lot when they have a concussion. One may have to sit out for longer than expected, but that is because one’s brain needs time to heal physically and mentally.
The onset of symptoms are sometimes seen about eight to ten years after an individual retires from their sport, which roughly equates to someone aged thirty to fifty years old (Baugh et al., 2012; Wortzel et al., 2013; Karantzoulis and Randolph, 2013). As with all diseases, symptoms can range from mild to severe. Researchers have found a positive correlation between the number of brain injuries sustained during a length of time playing a sport and the severity of symptoms (McKee et al., 2009). The specific brain regions affected by CTE are often debated, but some of the areas most commonly agreed upon to show deterioration are: limbic system (thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, mammillary bodies), hippocampus, cerebral cortex, frontal lobes, substantia nigra, and the brainstem (McKee et al., 2009; Baugh et al., 2012).... ...
...agnosed at a later stage, most people die within two years of diagnosis and treatment.
Early symptoms of ALS are very slight and often overlooked. They begin as simple things, such as tripping or dropping things. Twitching or cramping of muscles and abnormal fatigue of the arms and legs may soon follow, causing difficulty in daily activities, such as walking or dressing. In more advanced stages, however, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing and swallowing ensue, until the body is completely taken over by the disease. Intellect, eye motion, bladder function, and sensation are the only abilities spared.
This is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it results in progressive loss or death of neurons. It often starts off with effecting simple motor skills like writing and holding things, after a few months usually patients start losing the ability to walk, talk, or move any of their limbs. Although the brain trauma is what causes it, ALS has little-no-effect on the brain. This fatal disease is typically diagnosed around age 60 and most patients are given about 3-5 years to live after being diagnosed. It has been found that 10% of cases are shown as genetic. It was brought to attention that athletes were beginning to get diagnosed with ALS at a younger age than most. After extensive research in the early 2000’s, Brain Analyst, Dr. Mckee ran tests and finally came to the conclusion that the toxic proteins in the brains of ALS patients were coming from repeated blows to the head. It was then made evident why so many athletes in contact sports such as football, soccer, boxing, etc… were being diagnosed at such a young age and more frequently than