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1 online resource (streaming video file) (45 min. 43 sec.) ; 277094675 bytes |
| Summary |
How the quest to make footballers run faster and hit harder is putting players at risk of brain damage and early onset dementia.Some have described it as the sports equivalent of an arms race. No matter what the code, all coaches want their players bigger and faster, capable of handing out and taking physical punishment. This week Four Corners and PBS Frontline go inside American high school football to look at the impact this arms race is having on players, focusing on the latest research into brain injury. The news for sports stars and sports fans is sobering."It's a progressive deterioration of your brain. We're seeing it over and over again in football players."(US neuropathologist)American high school football is played with an intensity that matches almost any professional contact sport played anywhere in the world. It's estimated that each year in this high stakes competition up to 60,000 players are concussed. Until a few years ago this was seen simply as part of the game. Not anymore. Now these injuries are receiving far more scrutiny and the reasons are clear. Over the past decade researchers have begun to make a link between head trauma and brain damage and an increased risk of dementia.Last year a Frontline documentary team spent a season with a top line high school team. Its task was to assess the changes to football training and coaching that were making the players bigger and the game more brutal. In scenes that have clear parallels with Australian football and rugby, we see the players making and taking big hits. We see players getting knocked out and then being encouraged to play on, possibly risking further damage. At the same time Frontline also talked to the doctors trying to assess the impact these collisions have on the brain.One of the key researchers is Dr Ann McKee. She began her work by looking at the brains of former football players who'd been injured during the course of their career. When she found evidence of degenerative brain disease, or CTE, in former NFL players she was concerned, but not totally surprised. What she found next did shock her.In 2010 Dr McKee autopsied the brain of a young football player who had unexpectedly committed suicide. Looking at the young man's brain she found she didn't need to use a microscope to see it had been damaged. But the frightening part for her was discovering this player had never been concussed.Dr McKee was deeply concerned: "I have to say that I went home and I almost couldn't speak. It totally changed what I thought about this game."She isn't the only doctor to be concerned. What tonight's Four Corners shows is that researchers in different institutions across the globe are coming to the same conclusions. While players are almost certainly getting brain damage from concussion, it's also quite possible that others who've shown no outward sign of head injury are also getting brain damage. In other words CTE can stem from hits below the level of concussion and the damage can accumulate from repeated hits over time."It's starting to look like... daily wear and tear in football on the brain might be looking a little bit more akin to daily wear and tear of someone who pitches a baseball, not a single blow-out event." (US Sports Writer)If this proves correct it has profound implications for all of the football codes, not just in the US but in Australia. Already it's clear to officials in rugby league and Australian football that more care has to be taken with concussed players. But what can the codes do if the research is right and apparently innocent hits are causing damage?To reflect on the Frontline documentary Kerry O'Brien talks to one of Australia's top medical researchers about the implications of the latest findings for the people who play and run the different football codes in Australia |
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Broadcast 2011-05-23 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
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Brain damage -- Complications.
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Dementia.
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Football players.
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Neurosurgeons.
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Sports injuries.
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Americas.
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Streaming video
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Beach, Robin, contributor
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Cole, Connor, contributor
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Croley, Jamie, contributor
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Dibble, Jason, contributor
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Easterbrook, Gregg, contributor
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Edwards, Randy, contributor
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Epstein, David, contributor
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Floyd, Josh, contributor
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Floyd, Ronnie, contributor
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Frazier, Kiehl, contributor
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Harper, Craig, contributor
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Harper, Garrett, contributor
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Harris, Jimmy, contributor
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Harvill, Samuel, contributor
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Jackson, Dallas, contributor
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Lineweaver, Steve, contributor
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McKee, Ann, contributor
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Mosely, Travis, contributor
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Nowinski, Chris, contributor
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O'Brien, Kerry, host
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O'Neal, Kyle, reporter
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Parkinson, Richard, contributor
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Talavage, Tom, contributor
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Williams, Kelvin, contributor
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Williams, Walt, contributor
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