4 ms·

But it should not be unexpected for the number to be higher. For years people who weigh hundreds of pounds are hitting each other repeatedly. And they are paid

But it should not be unexpected for the number to be higher. For years people who weigh hundreds of pounds are hitting each other repeatedly. And they are paid considerably well for it. Plus, we should compare this to other sports as well, as even most non-contact sports (soccer, basketball, even baseball) have collisions from time to time. Football should have a higher percentage than those, but without knowing the percentages in even 'safe' sports, these numbers are practically meaningless. The real issue would arise if they can somehow test high school students and find similarly high percentages (90+ percent), but since you can't test right now until they are deceased (from what I understand), that would be extremely hard to do.

tomtheelder 9y ago
> The real issue would arise if they can somehow test high school students and find similarly high percentages (90+ percent), but since you can't test right now until they are deceased (from what I understand), that would be extremely hard to do. I think that's seriously downplaying the issue. Let's say hypothetically HS football players are developing it at 10% vs 1% in the general population. That alone would be a massive discovery, and grounds for seriously reworking or even eliminating HS football. You don't need these rates to be in the 90% range for this to be game changing, so to speak.
heygrady 9y ago
Early studies (2012) found that high school students had CTE [1]. When the issue broke nationally a few years ago, early indicators were that high school students were at higher risk than older athletes [2]. There have been some doctors that claim to be able to diagnose living people with CTE [3]. However, concussions are difficult to diagnose [4] and may go unreported. Sadly, one common side effect of concussions is suicidal thoughts [5]. Which is one of the main reasons people are asking if football is worth the risk [6]. [1] http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/12/long-term_brain_damage_found_in_six_former_hs_football_players.html http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/12/lo... [2] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/high-school-football-players-face-bigger-concussion-risk/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/high-school-footba... [3] http://www.tsn.ca/a-possible-breakthrough-on-testing-cte-1.210725 http://www.tsn.ca/a-possible-breakthrough-on-testing-cte-1.2... [4] http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net/why-concussions-are-so-hard-to-diagnose/ http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net/why-concussions-are-so-h... [5] http://www.gq.com/story/the-concussion-diaries-high-school-football-cte http://www.gq.com/story/the-concussion-diaries-high-school-f... [6] https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2017/07/26/is-football-worth-gambling-with-high-school-and-college-players-brains/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2017/07/26/is-footba...

tomtheelder 9y ago

> The real issue would arise if they can somehow test high school students and find similarly high percentages (90+ percent), but since you can't test right now until they are deceased (from what I understand), that would be extremely hard to do. I think that's seriously downplaying the issue. Let's say hypothetically HS football players are developing it at 10% vs 1% in the general population. That alone would be a massive discovery, and grounds for seriously reworking or even eliminating HS football. You don't need these rates to be in the 90% range for this to be game changing, so to speak.

heygrady 9y ago

Early studies (2012) found that high school students had CTE [1]. When the issue broke nationally a few years ago, early indicators were that high school students were at higher risk than older athletes [2]. There have been some doctors that claim to be able to diagnose living people with CTE [3]. However, concussions are difficult to diagnose [4] and may go unreported. Sadly, one common side effect of concussions is suicidal thoughts [5]. Which is one of the main reasons people are asking if football is worth the risk [6]. [1] http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/12/long-term_brain_damage_found_in_six_former_hs_football_players.html http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/12/lo... [2] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/high-school-football-players-face-bigger-concussion-risk/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/high-school-footba... [3] http://www.tsn.ca/a-possible-breakthrough-on-testing-cte-1.210725 http://www.tsn.ca/a-possible-breakthrough-on-testing-cte-1.2... [4] http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net/why-concussions-are-so-hard-to-diagnose/ http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net/why-concussions-are-so-h... [5] http://www.gq.com/story/the-concussion-diaries-high-school-football-cte http://www.gq.com/story/the-concussion-diaries-high-school-f... [6] https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2017/07/26/is-football-worth-gambling-with-high-school-and-college-players-brains/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2017/07/26/is-footba...