the NFL and NFL players Association have agreed to update the League's concussion
protocol following a joint investigation into the League's procedures that's after Miami Dolphins
quarterback tuatagavailoa crumpled to the ground last week showing a Telltale sign of a traumatic
brain injury Tua started in that game despite being sacked four days earlier and suffering an
apparent head injury the severity of his injuries reignited debate around the effectiveness of the
NFL's concussion protocol I spoke with Dr Bennett omalu the neuropathologist who's credited with
discovering the brain disease known as CTE he says over the years the NFL instead of seeking
his Counsel on how to handle concussions never contacted him and instead tried to undermine
his work nobody has ever reached that to me in fact what they have done is that they've gone
on dates a smear campaign to delegitimize me um sometimes very racist every time they mention
my name they said in Nigerian born so that people in their subconscious will begin to
associate me with these calm emails you get from Nigeria so it's a shame in my opinion
um but again it doesn't bother me it doesn't really bother me I still have to speak my truth
and and help save lives Dr omalu also says that Tua should retire from the league with the two
documented concussions he must have suffered thousands of repetitive impacts to his head
I remember the bread is not like the liver delivered you damage it it regenerates
the point does interior the injury is permanent and there was a reasonable probability that at
some point the damage becomes Progressive and becomes a neurodegenerative disease my advice
would be hey this time to hang up your helmet sometimes the stronger person and the smarter
person is he who walks away for more on the League's new procedures we're joined
Now by Dr Anne McKee the director of Boston University's CTE Center thank you for being
with us in the league and the union agreed to change the League's concussion protocol
to include the term Ataxia what is that exactly and do these new rules go far enough so Ataxia
is imbalance or you know difficulty maintaining your position in space uh and it they added that
to the concussion protocol uh I'm not sure that that's a major Improvement they already had gross
motor in coordination which to me covers Ataxia so I I'm not sure the extra word uh really makes
a lot of difference what should the NFL be doing then when it comes to handling these concussions
well if concussion is different and they need to take everyone quite seriously they need to
identify players that have concussions and those include a lot of the signs that Tua
was showing uh during both games uh to me you know looking at from just at the replay it did
look very concerning that he'd had a major Blow To The Head And as far as return to play it's
a very individual process where the individual goes through steps uh gradually with increasing
exertion increasing activity uh until they're finally cleared to resume the game your work as
I understand it really studies the risks of playing football over a long period of time
and a lot of the effects don't show up while these players are still active is that right
that's right although it can show up while they're active much more often it shows up after they've
retired from the game and so how does CTE manifest how does it show up how does it display itself
well first let me just say that CTE is not just from concussion that seems to be a a a
miss miss understanding of the disease it actually is triggered by the hits to the Head many of which
are non-concussive and many non-concussive hits stir occur during the play of football it's uh the
accumulation of those hits over time uh that leads some individuals to develop CTE the manifestations
tend to be behavioral personality and mood changes early on but it can lead to dementia and severe
cognitive impairment in older individuals what would you say to people who might say you know
football is a violent sport it always has been always will be and that these players knew what
they signed up for I don't think it's true that the players knew what they signed up for because
there's been such a emphasis really on denial and uh just ignoring the evidence uh there's
overwhelming uh data from our work and many other researchers work that the risk for CTE
is dependent on the number of years of playing football there's a direct dose response between
number of years of playing football and your risk for C CTE and I don't think that that message is
getting across to younger athletes to families to parents and I don't think it's coming across to
professional players either I don't think they are educated in what their real risks are Dr
Ann McKee is the director of Boston University's CTE Center thanks again for your time thank you