There are limits to how many times a baseball player can throw a ball before he wears out his shoulder, but there are no limits to how many times an athlete can get hit in the head without permanent damage.
Turn Text Only Off
Page Utilities
BrainLine Kids is a service of 
Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a neurodegenerative disorder
that appears to be linked to repetetive brain trauma.
It appears to start while you are an athlete and then progress throughout your life.
We find a number of abnormalities in the brain, and the pathologic work is done
by my colleague Dr. Anne McKee.
It's best known for an abnormality called tau protein that has become hyperphosphorylated.
Meaning it's a structure of the axon that actually starts falling apart.
There's a number of other abnormalities that come with it.
It appears to start in certain parts of the brain and progress to others.
People who start showing symptoms, often in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, deal with
short-term memory problems, deal with behavioral disorders, personality change,
impulse control problems, and mood disorders, frequently depression.
Dr. Robert Cantu and I started the Sports Legacy Institute in 2007
after I had been acquiring some brains for pathological study
to really get to the bottom of what is happening with repetetive brain trauma.
Because of the battles that were going on back in 2007 with people denying
that there were any problems to concussions, we realized that to continue that research
and then to turn that research into policy change and education, we needed to have a structure.
So we put together SLI, a 51c3 charity,
and then we partnered with Boston University School of Medicine to do the long-term research
and basically found their top Alzheimer's researchers, which is the disease most similar
to CTE, and said can you please work on CTE. And they agreed.
So I worked with Dr. Anne McKee and Bob, and they run our clinical and pathological research
programs, and then SLI is now focused on supporting and facilitating that work.
For example, I sign up a lot of people to donate their brain
and participate in longitudinal research.
I still chase brains for research, and we have over 105 in the brain bank.
In SLI I'm focused on education, policy change, advocacy, and fundraising.
We do a lot of grassroots education. We do a lot of policy work.
One of the more recent things we launched is the Hit Count Campaign.
The idea that we have limits on how often a baseball player can throw a ball
so they don't wear out their elbow, but we don't have limits to how often
you can hit them in the head to wear out their brain.
We will be working with a lot of researchers to get that implemented.
Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Erica Queen, BrainLine, and Dan Edblom.
Christopher Nowinski,
Chris Nowinski is a co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine and the co-founder and CEO of the Sports Legacy Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to solve the sports concussion crisis. A former All-Ivy Harvard football player and WWE professional wrestler, he was forced to retire from a series of concussions in 2003.
The contents of Brainline (the “Web Site”), such as text, graphics, images, information obtained from the Web Site’s licensors and/or consultants, and other material contained on the Web Site (collectively, the “Content”) are for informational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for medical, legal, or other professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Specifically, with regards to medical issues, always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Web Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. The Web Site does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Web Site. Reliance on any information provided by the Web Site or by employees, volunteers or contractors or others associated with the Web Site and/or other visitors to the Web Site is solely at your own risk.
Related Content
Audio/Video:
Second impact syndrome (SIS) can have in-an-instant, tragic consequences. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), on the other hand, can have slow and heartbreaking consequences.- The Science Behind Second Impact Syndrome and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
- Tau protein shows up in the brain in other neurodegenerative diseases, but only in this unique, tangled pattern in CTE.
See all videos interviews with Dr. Ann McKee.
- What Is Tau and Its Role in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
- CTE is a neurodegeneration, a brain disease that's progressive and characterized by a build-up of a protein called tau. See all video interviews with Dr. Ann McKee.
- What Is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
- From acclaimed director Steve James (Academy Award-nominated "Hoop Dreams," "The Interrupters"), HEAD GAMES is a revealing documentary about the silent concussion crisis in American sports. Athletes from the professional to the youth levels share their personal struggles in dealing with the devastating and long-term effects of concussions, an epidemic fueled by the 'leave everything on the field' culture so prominent in American sport. Inspired by events from the book 'Head Games' written by former Ivy League Football Player and WWE Wrestler Christopher Nowinski, the film contrasts eye-opening evidence and cutting-edge science on head trauma from the nation’s leading medical experts with first-hand accounts from the athletes, coaches, and parents who must tread the difficult balance between sports excellence and basic self-preservation.
- Head Games, the Film
- “Brown Is Bad, Brown Is Cell Death.” The “brown” is tau, a protein that accumulates in the brains of people, like professional football players and boxers, who have sustained repeat blows to the head. Learn about the research and education going on at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, a collaboration between Boston University School of Medicine and the Sports Legacy Institute. See all videos interviews with Dr. Ann McKee.
- Game Changers
- "We knew it existed in boxing, but we didn't know it was living amongst us ... "
See all videos interviews with Dr. Ann McKee.
- Repetitive Brain Trauma
- Until contact sports are safer, Chris Nowinski would hold off as long as possible before letting his future children play games where repetitive brain trauma is commonplace.
See all videos with Christopher Nowinski.
- No Need to Subject Kids to Repetitive Brain Trauma in Sports
- If your brain doesn't get to recover properly from one concussion before sustaining another concussion -- even a seemingly mild one -- the damage can be far worse, long-lasting, even fatal. Produced by Vicky Youcha and Brian King.
Transcript of this video.
- Second Impact Syndrome in Children
- Dr. James Kelly is professor of Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and associate director of the Colorado Area Health Education Center System. This is BrainLine's exclusive interview with Dr. Kelly recorded on July 11, 2008. Transcript of this video.
- Dr. James Kelly Talks About Second Impact Syndrome
Articles:
- A Mother's Intuition
- What Is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
- What Is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – and What Should Athletes Know?
- What Is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
- Repetitive Head Injury Syndrome
- Management of Sports-Related Concussion in Children and Adolescents
- What Should Sports Coaches Know?
- Concussion and Sports
- Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports
- Head Games
- Head to Head with Christopher Nowinski
BrainLine Footer
Getting Started |
Site Features |
Follow Us |
About |
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
RSS Feeds
BrainLine.org is a WETA website funded by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center through a contract with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Government funding support is not an endorsement of WETA or any of its products, including this website.
© 2013 WETA All Rights Reserved
