CTE and Head Hits Effects Zach Murphy University PSYC 101:Introduction to Psychology

CTE and Head Hits Effects

Zach Murphy

University

PSYC 101:Introduction to Psychology

Professor Tambra Riggs-Gutiérrez

April 5, 2024

CTE and Head Hits Effects

Brain health can be affected for a long time by sports that involve trading blows to the head. The impact of the repeated trauma is felt over a long period, resulting in a spectrum of neurological and cognitive indicators caused by the total of the blows. Whether we realize it or not, the circumstance underscores the urgent need for more education, protection, and investigation into how these injuries affect brain health in sports in the long run.

CTE is a progressive, degenerative brain disease affecting people showing a history of repetitive brain injury, for example, overt concussions and subclinical mild traumatic brain injury. It is common among athletes in contact sports, vets, and people with battle injuries and long-term brain damage, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which are characteristic human health hazards. However, these reused traumas lead to a development of protein accumulation in the brain that can interrupt cellular functioning and is responsible for a spectrum of clinical deficits (Iverson, 2019). The influence of CTE on the sports community at large has recently started to bring concern regarding the safety limits of some sports regulations.

According to studies by psychologists, health development is a consequence of repetitive brain damage leading to a chain of neurological and pathological effects (Zimmerman et al., 2021). Repeated concussions create conditions in which the brain cells get damaged, and excessive tau proteins that have changed structure and become harmful accumulate in abnormal amounts. This build-up of the tau protein eventually overcomes cells and begin to lose their normal function even when they die: factors associated with CTE.

Physical symptoms of CTE can vary among the patients but typically involve problems with thinking, problem-solving, depression, mood disorders and behavioural changes, motor problems, and other motor disorders. Memory loss and confusion are the first symptoms of cognitive issues. Dementia is a debilitating disease that usually develops later in the course of a neurodegenerative disease (Querzola et al., 2022). Among affecting a person’s mood and behaviour, there are other symptoms such as depression, impulsiveness, cruelty, and suicide. Physical symptoms might refer to problems with motor skills like being unstable on the feet or having difficulty with coordination. Such symptoms often begin expressing themselves within a decade or a couple of decades after initial brain traumas.

Some CTE-related sports include North American football, boxing, ice hockey, rugby, and soccer, with roles or positions generating head impacts. The truth regarding CTE sensitization in these sports has led to more and more regulation of the sports organizations and how they deal with safety for the players, especially the control of the concussions and heady impacts (Martin & McMillan, 2020). The game development has resulted in the enrichment of research in areas of helmets as well as rules that minimize head contact.

A drawback when dealing with CTE is that with current techniques, it is possible to diagnose CTE with confidence by analyzing brain tissue after death. This drawback restricts the understanding of the full scale of this matter. Generally, the researchers are moving towards finding some biomarkers for CTE that could enable and diagnose people that would be significant for managing and preventing the disease.

The dispute concerning CTE and contact sports follows responses and reforms piped. For example, some youth sports organizations have changed rules so that head impact is reduced. On the other hand, there are focus on concussion protocols that ensure players are first properly assessed and ruled out if their condition calls for more time to rectify themselves before returning to play (Martin & McMillan, 2020). Through lawsuits at the professional level, some leagues gradually introduced safeguarding steps that followed players closely and helped them prevent brain injuries. Also, some of these leagues invested heavily in research on brain injuries and their long-term effects.

The social impact of CTE and its connection with contact sports cause several moral dilemmas to be debated. According to Joseph et al. (2015), it problematizes the sports organizations, the players themselves, their parents, and coaches’ decision-making dynamics by balancing the benefits of play against the possible long-term cognitive harms. This dispute is principally concerned about the children, specifically concerning their susceptibility to the high degree of damage that can result from the reoccurring blows.

The education of athletes, coaches and their environments about the risks of repetitive brain trauma is also paramount. Increased awareness will often promote the early recognition of symptoms, prompt coverage proposals for medical care and informed decisions regarding participation in contact sports. However, as is the case of two other aspects that include conducting further research on the mechanisms of CTE, improved procedures of diagnosis of living patients and the development of effective treatments should be the next important focus.

Summarily, CTE is a severe and problematic brain disorder induced by multiple brain injuries that mostly damage the whole nervous system with impact in sports which involve contact. The increasing understanding of its effects on players has inspired many new ways of playing the game and managing the whole sport and personal safety net for all athletes. The struggle to reduce CTE hazards remains prevailing, but the balance of sports diverting from a cultural and personal value to preserve brain health is at stake. As research evolves, the chances that CTE may be understood and prevented are great. Such an environment suits today’s sports lovers, and the hope to enter tomorrow’s sports world is valid.

References

Iverson, G. L. (2019). Retired National Football League players are not at greater risk for suicide. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 35(3), 332–341. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acz023

Joseph, C. M., Robert, W., Jeffrey, B., Austin, A., Christina, M., & Vincent, M. (2015). Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Contact Sports: A Systematic Review of All Reported Pathological Cases, 10(2), 0117338. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117338

Martin, A., & McMillan, A. (2020). Concussion killjoys: CTE, violence and the brain’s becoming. Biosocieties, 17(2), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-020-00209-1

Querzola, G., Lovati, C., Laganà, M. M., Pirastru, A., Baglio, F., & Pantoni, L. (2022). Incipient chronic traumatic encephalopathy in active American football players: neuropsychological assessment and brain perfusion measures. Neurological Sciences : Official Journal of the Italian Neurological Society and the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 43(9), 5383–5390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-022-06212-7.

Zimmerman, K. A., Kim, J., Karton, C., Lochhead, L., Sharp, D. J., Hoshizaki, T., & Ghajari, M. (2021). Player position in American football influences the magnitude of mechanical strains produced in the location of chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology: a computational modelling study. Journal of Biomechanics, 118, 110256–110256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110256