Another sportsman has suffered from a disease of the brain that has been linked to repeated blows to the head. One of the best known 'fighters' on the National Hockey League (NHL) circuit, Derek Boogard died in May of this year.
His brain was examined at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy by Dr Ann Mckee, a neuropathologist and one of the co-directors of the Center. She coined the phrase "his brain was going bad" and suggested to the family that had he lived he would have would have rapidly plunged into middle-age dementia.
It is reported in widespread media across the US (e.g. NY Times Dec 5th 2011 ). Unlike some of the other cases highlighted in this SPACE blog earlier this year (ex-players sue NFL over concussion ) & ( More Concussion Controversy in top American Sport ) Derek Boogard died aged just 28, and although in mid-career, his brain exposed an advanced degree of the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (C.T.E.) which is recognised as a close relative of Alzheimer's Disease.
It can only be diagnosed posthumously, & has been found in almost two dozen American Footballers and a couple of ice hockey players.
A high-profile enforcer with the Minnesota Wild & the New York Rangers, he accrued almost 600 minutes in penalties. He was found by his brothers on May 13th this year, and had died of an overdose.Repeated blows to the head in sports such as boxing & Gridiron have been suggestive of being causative. Symptoms include memory loss, impulsiveness, mood swings, and can lead to addiction, despair and suicidal tendencies. Once the disease process commences, it continues to progress.
Dr McKee has reviewed over 80 cases of former athletes, and noted the brown spots near the outer surface of the brain which reveals C.T.E. The National Hockey League (NHL) has not accepted any link between the sport & CTE: this stance was also taken by the National Football League (NFL) initially, before ultimately accepting the peer-reviewed findings of the Center- the NFL now donates funds to underwrite further research.
The NFL formed a concussion-prevention programme in 1997, although it was not until very recently (2010) that blindside hits to the head were banned. Earlier this year any player suspected of having experienced a concussion were required to be examined in a "quiet" room away from the ice, a significant change in treatment protocol. The NHL's high profile Pittsburgh Penguins player, Sidney Crosby, spent most of 2011 out of the game having suffered two blows to the head at just four days apart.On-ice fighting is still permitted and seen by fans as an apparently quintessential aspect of the sport.
Read this from a web piece entitled 'Why Real Men Watch Hockey' by Alvin Chang (Why Real Men Watch Hockey)"This sport allows hard, physical contact, and confrontation is part of the culture. In football, you protect your quarterback with an offensive line, and sometimes your backs. In basketball, you protect your star player by... well, you don’t. But in hockey, you protect your stars with enforcers. You employ players to intimidate the opposing team from going after your skill guys. When the opponent gets too rough, you send in the muscle and you might see a fight. In fact, there is an entire website dedicated to recording hockey fights called, you guessed it, hockeyfights.com. Is it exciting? Yes. Should this continue to be a part of hockey culture? That’s up for debate, especially with the spate of concussions and the death of three enforcers this summer."
But another of the Center's co-directors, Chris Nowinski, has concerns as he watches the crowds standing & cheering enthusistically as players trade blows on the ice, musing
"does ice hockey trade money for brain cells"
and ultimately player health?
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