Boston University College of General Studies sophomore Anna Knox has sustained three concussions since she began playing for BU’s intramural soccer team, but she said it’s all part of the game.
“I’ve been injured a lot,” Knox said, “but it’s just a part that goes along with sports.”
However, BU researchers are warning against such attitudes about athletic injuries, which they say may contribute to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.
By studying the brain of National Hockey League player Rick Martin, Research coordinator Christine Baugh said that researchers at BU’s Center for Traumatic Encephalopathy found earlier this month that he may have developed the disease due to a series of minor blows to the head.
“We have found that it might not be only major head injuries, but smaller hits that occur more regularly,” she said.
Martin, who set a record for the Buffalo Sabers as the first player to score 50 goals, died in March of hypertensive heart disease at age 59. Martin’s family donated his brain for research shortly after his death.
“Any donation like that raises awareness for the disorder,” said Dave Riley, a research assistant at the center. “Any time that someone can hear about the effects of brain trauma, that changes the sport a little.”
These findings could affect the way athletes view injuries, Baugh said.
“A lot of athletes don’t report a lot of their blows to the head. They don’t think they are a big deal.”
While athletes in concussion-prone positions may be cautious of brain trauma, Riley said that others in less obvious head injury positions may not.
“I think that it was really important to get out there that it is not just the hard hitters that get this disease,” Riley said.
Prevention against smaller head injuries is not as simple as wearing a helmet in practice as well as games, Baugh said.
“To prevent CTE you need to reduce the overall brain trauma and hits to the head,” she said, “but helmets will never eliminate brain trauma. They will only reduce force.”
Some athletes are so used to the injuries that they hide them to stay in the game, Baugh said. The findings that have come from Martin’s donation could help raise awareness about how to prevent developing CTE.
“Martin was an important step,” Baugh said. “It was a step in the right direction. It was one of many that we hope to have.”
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