CNN
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Right here’s a have a look at concussions within the Nationwide Soccer League. A concussion is a sort of traumatic mind harm brought on by a blow to the pinnacle.
Studies present an growing variety of retired NFL gamers who’ve suffered concussions have developed reminiscence and cognitive points reminiscent of dementia, Alzheimer’s, melancholy and persistent traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative illness of the mind and is related to repeated head traumas.
(The NFL Participant Concussion Pamphlet)
Imbalance
Headache
Confusion
Reminiscence loss
Lack of consciousness
Imaginative and prescient change
Listening to change
Temper change
Fatigue
Malaise
(NFL and IQVIA)
(Preseason and regular-season practices plus video games)
2015 – 275
2016 – 243
2017 – 281
2018 – 214
2019 – 224
2020 – 172 (no preseason video games because of the Covid-19 pandemic)
2021 – 187
1994 – In response to a sequence of participant retirements because of head accidents, together with the retirement of Chicago Bears fullback Merril Hoge because of repeated concussions, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue creates the Gentle Traumatic Mind Damage Committee. Dr. Elliot Pellman is called chairman regardless of not having expertise with mind accidents.
2002 – Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist and co-founder of the Mind Damage Analysis Institute, identifies CTE within the mind of former Pittsburgh Steelers’ heart Mike Webster, 50, who died by suicide. Omalu is the primary to determine CTE in American soccer gamers.
January 2005 – The NFL’s Gentle Traumatic Mind Damage Committee finds that returning to play after sustaining a concussion “doesn’t contain important danger of a second harm both in the identical recreation or through the season.”
2005 and 2006 – Dr. Omalu identifies CTE within the brains of former Pittsburgh Steelers gamers Terry Lengthy and Andre Waters. Each died by suicide.
February 2007 – Dr. Pellman steps down as chairman of the Gentle Traumatic Mind Damage Committee however stays a member.
August 14, 2007 – The NFL formalizes new concussion tips which embrace a phone hotline to report when a participant is being compelled to play opposite to medical recommendation.
October 28, 2009 – Half I of the Home Judiciary Committee listening to on Authorized Points Regarding Soccer Head Accidents. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defends the League’s coverage relating to concussions.
January 4, 2010 – Half II of the Home Judiciary Committee listening to on Authorized Points Regarding Soccer Head Accidents. Dr. Ira Casson, one of many co-chairs of the Gentle Traumatic Mind Damage Committee, denies a hyperlink between repeat head impacts and long-term mind harm.
March 2010 – The NFL’s Gentle Traumatic Mind Damage Committee is renamed the Head, Neck and Backbone Committee. Two new co-chairs are chosen, and Dr. Pellman is now not a member of the panel.
October 20, 2010 – Goodell points a memo to all groups that warns of doable suspensions for “violations of the enjoying guidelines that unreasonably put the protection of one other participant in jeopardy.” He says this “is particularly true within the case of hits to the pinnacle and neck.”
February 17, 2011 – Former Chicago Bears defensive again Dave Duerson, 50, kills himself with a gunshot wound to the chest moderately than his head so his mind will be researched for CTE. Boston College researchers discover CTE in Duerson’s mind.
August 17, 2011 – A category motion lawsuit in opposition to the NFL over concussion-related accidents is filed by former gamers. Former Atlanta Falcons security Ray Easterling is listed because the lead plaintiff. On April 19, 2012, Easterling, 62, dies by suicide. An post-mortem finds indicators of CTE.
Might 2, 2012 – Former NFL linebacker Junior Seau, 43, is discovered lifeless with a gunshot wound to the chest, categorized as suicide. On January 10, 2013, the NIH releases the outcomes of their evaluation of Seau’s mind tissue confirming that Seau did endure from CTE. Seau’s household recordsdata a wrongful dying lawsuit in opposition to the NFL on January 23, claiming that Seau’s suicide was the results of a mind illness brought on by violent hits he endured whereas enjoying the sport. On October 5, 2018, Seau’s household reaches a confidential settlement settlement with the NFL.
June 7, 2012 – A unified lawsuit combining greater than 80 concussion-related lawsuits on behalf of greater than 2,000 Nationwide Soccer League gamers is filed in federal court docket in Philadelphia. The gamers accuse the NFL of negligence and failing to inform gamers of the hyperlink between concussions and mind accidents. The NFL and ex-players attain a deal within the lawsuit that requires the NFL to pay $765 million to fund medical exams, concussion-related compensation, medical analysis for retired NFL gamers and their households, and litigation bills, in keeping with a court docket doc filed on August 29, 2013. On January 14, 2014, a federal decide declines to approve the proposal, saying she doesn’t imagine enough proof had been produced to point out that the settlement was satisfactory. Closing approval within the lawsuit settlement is given on April 22, 2015. The settlement supplies as much as $5 million per retired participant for critical medical circumstances related to repeated head trauma.
September 5, 2012 – The Basis for the Nationwide Institutes of Well being declares the NFL has dedicated to donating $30 million to help analysis on medical circumstances outstanding in athletes.
December 13, 2013 – The physique of former NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher is exhumed as a way to carry out checks on his mind, a lawyer for the participant’s household tells the Kansas Metropolis Star. On December 1, 2012, Belcher, 25, shot his longtime girlfriend to dying after which killed himself. Dr. Piotr Kozlowski releases a report on Belcher on September 30, 2014, stating that he possible had CTE when he killed his girlfriend and himself.
November 25, 2015 – Frank Gifford’s household says he suffered from CTE. Gifford’s prognosis comes amid a rising concentrate on the dangers athletes face from struggling repeated concussions, and simply hours after the NFL admitted its concussion protocols had failed when St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum saved enjoying Sunday even after his head harm on the sector.
March 14, 2016 – For the primary time, a senior NFL official publicly acknowledges a connection between soccer and CTE. At a round-table dialogue with the US Home Committee on Vitality and Commerce, when requested if “there’s a hyperlink between soccer and degenerative mind problems like CTE,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice chairman of well being and security coverage, solutions “the reply to that query is actually, sure.”
July 25, 2016 – The NFL and NFL Gamers’ Affiliation (NFLPA) implement a brand new coverage to implement concussion protocol. Groups violating the coverage are topic to self-discipline, via fines or shedding upcoming draft picks.
September 14, 2016 – Goodell declares an initiative meant to extend the protection of the sport, particularly by stopping, diagnosing and treating head accidents. As a part of the initiative, the league and its 32 membership homeowners will present $100 million in help of engineering developments and medical analysis – along with the $100 million beforehand pledged by the league to medical and neuroscience analysis.
July 25, 2017 – A examine revealed within the medical journal JAMA identifies CTE in 99% of deceased NFL gamers’ brains that had been donated to scientific analysis – 110 out of 111 former NFL gamers.
September 21, 2017 – Legal professional Jose Baez tells reporters that outcomes from checks carried out on the mind of Aaron Hernandez, the previous New England Patriots tight finish who was convicted in 2015 of homicide, confirmed a “extreme case” of CTE. The conviction was vacated after Hernandez’s dying in April 2017.
November 10, 2017 – Researchers publish within the journal Neurosurgery what they are saying is the primary case of a dwelling particular person recognized with CTE. Lead writer Dr. Omalu confirms to CNN that the topic of the case, whereas unnamed within the examine, was former NFL participant, Fred McNeill – who died in 2015. The one strategy to definitively diagnose CTE is with a mind examination after dying.
September 12, 2019 – The NFL declares {that a} complete of $3 million has been made obtainable within the “NFL Helmet Problem,” together with $2 million in grant funding to help the event of a helmet prototype and an additional $1 million prize for the winner.
August 25, 2020 – Two retired gamers, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, file a lawsuit in opposition to the NFL for allegedly discriminating in opposition to Black gamers who submitted dementia-related claims within the concussion settlement.
June 2, 2021 – The NFL pledges to finish “race-norming,” a controversial apply that assumes Black gamers begin with a decrease stage of cognitive mind operate than different White and non-Black gamers, and to assessment earlier check scores for bias within the settlement payout qualification course of.
March 4, 2022 – A federal decide approves modifications to the NFL’s concussion settlement settlement to finish the usage of race norms and demographic estimates based mostly on race for scoring of diagnostic checks.
October 8, 2022 – The NFL and NFLPA conform to replace the league’s concussion protocol, after a assessment of the response to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s harm on September 25. Underneath the brand new protocol, gamers will likely be unable to compete if they’re experiencing ataxia, which describes an absence of coordination brought on by poor muscle management.
