Person. (2016, July 25). NFL, NFLPA announce policy to enforce concussion protocol. Retrieved from http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000676669/article/nfl-nflpa-announce-policy-to-enforce-concussion-protocol

Summary: This article talks about how the NFL enforces its concussion protocol. The NFL wants to protect the health and safety of their players. The concussion protocol allows for the NFL to investigate incidents and then determine the fines to the clubs. It allows for game day concussion protocol to make sure that the players are being evaluated and are getting the care that they need. If the clubs fails to follow the new concussion protocol, then there will be disciplinary action. There will be representatives that will monitor concussion protocol and investigate when violations happen. If a violation occurs the first time, the clubs medical team members involved must pay a fine and attend remedial education. A second or more violation of concussion protocol will result in a fine. If a club teams’ medical team did not follow protocol, then the club has the chance of getting their draft picks taken away.  Back in 2014, the NFL put in a system to help track injury and to see how they could help improve the safety of the players. There was also a study done with all 32 NFL teams on the helmets the players wear. The NFL also wanted to improve the medical care on the sidelines of the field with evaluating injuries to players during the game.

Response: I really liked this article and how it’s helpful because of how the NFL wants to enforce this concussion protocol. The concussion protocol is there to help with the healthy and safety of the players. Even with the concussion protocol, the NFL really wants to monitor how the teams follow the rules when it comes to concussion protocol. I liked that the NFL did a study on the players to help improve the safety for the players. They also did a study on all the helmets the players wear. The helmets are what help to keep the players safe on the field when they are being tackled. When looking at the different helmets it allows the NFL to have a better understanding of which ones are helping and which ones need a change. Not every player wears the same helmet because everyone plays a different position. There are different helmets for different types of players. The NFL also increased the medical staff on the sidelines to help with evaluating players when they come off the field with an injury.

Delsohn, S. (2014, September 29). OTL: Belcher’s brain had CTE signs. Retrieved from https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11612386/jovan-belcher-brain-showed-signs-cte-doctor-says-report

Summary: This article talks about a former player of the Kanas City Chiefs who had killed himself after he had shot his girlfriend. The family has allowed the body to be exhumed so his brain can be examined. The family wants to know if what happened has to do with a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) or if it was something else. CTE is a brain disease that is found in athletes with repeat brain injury. The only way to diagnose CTE is after someone has passed. It allows doctors to exam brain tissue and look for an abnormal protein called tau. Tau has been found in multiple brains of NFL players all of whom have committed suicide. There are now scientists working to find common symptoms in the brain disease in living players. Players that have CTE often have problems with memory and making decisions. There are others that may have depression, mood, and behavior problems. At times there may be players that do not show any symptoms at all. Since then there have been other players who have had behavior changes, depression, amnesia, etc. It has been a big concern round the NFL with players having repeat brain trauma. There was a lawsuit settled that requires the NFL to pay for medical exams, concussion compensation and medical research for retired NFL players and families.

Response: I did not know what to think when I first read this article. It started with this sad thing this player did to his girlfriend and then what he had done to himself. What gets your attention is that the family of the player wanted to know more about why he had done this to himself and his girlfriend. The family got answers by having the body exhumed and it told them that he had CTE which causes players to have depression and mood change. It helped to open the discussion that this is becoming a problem throughout the NFL. The NFL does not know why some players seem to get CTE while others do not. There have been lawsuits that the NFL has had to deal with because of the medical treatment the player needs. The NFL is concerned about CTE and have been helping with medical research on the players who have retired. I like that they are looking at players who have retired to see how they can help.

Kounang, N. (2017, November 16). Ex-NFL player confirmed as 1st case of CTE in living patient. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/16/health/cte-confirmed-in-first-living-person-bn/index.html

Summary: This article talks about a person living diagnosed with having CTE. The only way to be certain that a player has CTE is to exam their brain after they have passed. “The discovery was first made in 2012 using an experimental brain scan that can trac a signature protein of CTE called tau” (Nadia Kounang, CNN). There was a transformation in how Fred acted. Fred went from being a family man in their lives to a person dealing with memory loss and depression. It started to tare their family apart. The disease is starting to be categorized into four different stages. The fourth stage seems to be the most severe. “Researches don’t know exactly why certain people develop the disease and others don’t, they believe it results from repeated blows to the head that trigger a buildup of tau proteins in the brain” (Nadia Kounang, CNN). CTE had been known around the football game due to players getting concussions repeatedly. There also have been CTE found not just in football, but in wrestlers, boxers and military troops. The research is starting to show that using a radioactive tracer called FDDNP will help bind the tau proteins in the brain. It then helps to show these proteins on a PET scan of the brain. They are now raising money to help take this research to the next level to further test this technology.

Response: I found this article interesting because of how there is a player living with CTE. It talked about how the player had mood changes in how he used to act. Which is kind of concerning for a person who normally did not have mood chances. I also learned that there are different stages of CTE. The different stages have different effects on a person. Not every person who has CTE will have the same symptoms or will have each stage. CTE effects everyone differently and not everyone will end up getting it. I liked how they discovered CTE in other sports and not just football. Every sport in which people have the chance of getting hit in the head is possible for CTE, but football is the only one that you really see it the most. I like how they found this protein to help to detect CTE, but there is still research to be done to take it to the next level.

Person. (2017, July 26). NFL issues response to CTE research report. Retrieved from http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000822159/article/nfl-issues-response-to-cte-research-report

Summary: This article talks about the research done on the brains of NFL players with CTE. There was a study done that on 111 former NFL players it found that they had evidence of CTE. The largest up to date on this brain disease that there is a range of symptoms that include memory loss. The study does not confirm that it is found in all NFL players. Many of the families that have been donors are players who have had repeated concussions and other symptoms before they have passed. The NFL likes the research that is being done because of how it is helping them to have a better understanding on how they can improve the health and safety of their players. The NFL wants to help in more research on CTE and helping in the prevention and the treatment of head injuries. “The NFL pledged $100 million in support of independent medical research and engineering advancements in neuroscience related topics” (NFL.com Wire Reports). The NFL also made about 47 new rule changes to help protect players, practice methods, help to educate players, and coaches on concussions to help with the league’s medical protocols. “The NFL has 29 medical professionals on the sidelines of each game” (NFL.com Wire Reports). Since the league put in these new concussion protocols it is helping to let players and coaches know when their player gets a concussion.

Response: I liked this article because of all the research that the NFL is doing on players brains with CTE. I found interesting is that even with doing this study on 111 players they found that the players had CTE. CTE is the largest brain disease with so many different symptoms. What is trouble some is that when doing this study, they are not sure if it is in all NFL players. I like that the families of players who have had repeated concussion were willing to let them test their brain to see if they had CTE. I like that the NFL wants to continue to do research to help with what CTE is. Since of finding that players are getting CTE from repeated head injuries that NFL made new rule changes to help improve the safety of their players. Since the rule change and adding more medical staff to the field it is helping make the game safer and healthier for the players.

NFL Concussions Fast Facts. (2019, August 15). Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/us/nfl-concussions-fast-facts/index.html

Summary: This article talks about what a concussion is and how several retired NFL players who have had a concussion are developing memory and cognitive issues. The cognitive issues that are being seen are dementia, Alzheimer’s, depression and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). “The CTE is a degenerative disease of the brain and is associated with repeated head traumas like concussions” (NFL Concussions Fast Facts). When it comes to a concussion these are the common symptoms include imbalance, headache, vision change, etc. The number of concussions that happen through the preseason and regular season can vary but in the 2018 season there was 214 concussions. The amount of concussions leads to how the NFL plans to make changes to how concussions will be looked at. There were guidelines put in place back in 2007 for players to have a place to call if they were forced to play even though they had medical advice that told them not to. In 2010, the NFL commissioner let all 32 teams know that there would be a suspension for whoever broke these playing rules that could but a player in harm’s way. 

Response: I see this article not being very helpful at first because of how it was more of a timeline of the different stages through the NFL. It looked at the environment of how the players who have retired are now having this CTE problem. It is hard to detect because of how it can only be found after the player has passed. The CTE happens to players who have had repeated concussion and have been hit in the head a lot. There are a lot of concussions to players throughout the seasons, but also when they continue to play after already having a concussion. The NFL started to change rules to help make the game safer for the players. The NFL is taking a stand in that if the teams do not follow these rules, that action will be taken because of how the player was not ready to go back into the game. The article helped by having different hyperlinks along the timeline in the article to help back up the information that was being talked about. This led me to choose to write about them to have a better understanding of how the NFL is making changes in rules and research in CTE.

Hello I am Kaitlin and I am currently a sophomore at Kutztown University. I am studying Middle Level Education with concentration areas in math and social studies.