Diary of a concussion

Diary of a concussion

Elizabeth Lopatto

Former players have agitated for research on what multiple concussions do to the human brain. John Urschel, a 26-year-old offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, was so concerned about his mind, he retired in July after three seasons so he could focus on his PhD work in mathematics at MIT. Urschel’s conversion to full-time PhD student came on the heels of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of donated NFL players’ brains: 99 percent of the NFL players’ brains had signs of damage. Now, there’s some selection bias there — healthy retired players’ families are probably less likely to donate their brains — but the study did find that the longer someone played, the more likely it was their brain showed signs of CTE. The study’s authors cautioned against using it as an estimation of CTE prevalence, or as a way of estimating risk.

The science on CTE is still in its infancy. Another study, published earlier in July in JAMA Neurology, found that high school football players who played in the 1950s died with normal brains. CTE is real, and a real problem — but we don’t know how widespread it is, or exactly what it means. What I quickly realized, as I lay in the ER, is that reporting on multiple concussions hadn’t exactly prepared me for a single one.