CTE Research Breakthrough: They Can Test Living Players

Published on 29-Sep-2017 by J Square Humboldt

Football - NFL    NFL Daily Update

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CTE Research Breakthrough: They Can Test Living Players

Fortunately, not everyone related to football has been sidetracked by what or what isn't being protested.

Like medical researchers.

Dudes know how to keep their eye on the ball and whatever comes near it.

It seems their diligence is starting to bear tangible fruit in the battle to contain the brain malady known as CTE.

So the earlier it's discovered, the more there's hope for effective treatment.

Researchers began to follow a promising diagnostic trail two years ago, when results started seeing the light of day:

Last year, it was confirmed after his death that former UCLA and Minnesota Vikings LB Fred McNeill suffered from CTE.

What made this unique was analysis predicted this with certainty while he was still alive.

Sufficient data was being accumulated to the point that doctors were on the verge of discovering the biomarkers that made reliable diagnoses possible.

Now, it seems they've found what they were seeking.

 

Meanwhile, technology is doing its bit to minimize the trauma caused by repeated blows to the head.

Last year, a Seattle start-up announced what its founders claim to be a safer helmet:

Even more importantly, though, is developing everyday techniques to significantly reduce the number of blows.

The Seattle Seahawks and teams at renowned research universities like Washington and Vanderbilt looked overseas for a solution and found it in the sport from which gridiron football was derived:

The ill-informed among us mistakenly believe this will make NFL and college players soft.

It won't.

It definitely won't.