The scariest parts of concussions are actually the emotional and long term effects that they have on the body. Emotionally, an athlete can be overwhelmed by feelings of sadness, anxiety and even anger. Although the mental, physical, and emotional symptoms of a concussion are dangerous, the long term effects of that one brain rattling have proven to be the most critical. .
Athletes with a history of repetitive brain trauma and symptomatic concussions can commonly develop a progressive degenerative disease found in the brain known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE has been known to eat away at the minds of boxers as early as 1966, however in the year 2002, a doctor by the name of Benner Omalu brought the destructive disease to the public. Two former and deceased Pittsburgh Steeler football players were bought to him to perform an autopsy and for the sake of science. The more notable name of the two would be former all-pro center Mike Webster. What Dr. Omalu discovered was that the constant blows to the heads of the athletes lead to a degeneration of the brain tissue, and the build-up of an abnormal protein called tau. Tau is simply a brown protein that eats away at the matter in the brain bringing about dementia, memory loss, and commonly death. Other notable name to develop CTE are John Grimsky, and WWE wrestler Chris Benoit.
Atlanta's Center for Disease Control estimated that anywhere from 1.6 million to 3.8 million concussions occur yearly, and between 5-10% of athletes receive a sports related concussion, and that goes for all sports. On top of those statistics, football, one of the most popular sports in America, is the sports where athletes are most susceptible to concussions at a whopping 75% chance of being concussed. The average NFL football player takes anywhere from 900-1500 blows to the head per season. In the year 2012 the brains of 35 former NFL players were donated to the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
