A lot of the country’s attention is focused on the NFL right now. Over the weekend, the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles emerged as the teams that will face off in next weekend’s Superbowl.
But part of the conversation surrounding football these days also has to do with concussions and the game’s long-term effects on player’s brains.
A new study, published in the journal Brain, shows concussions are not the major culprit when it comes to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. It’s actually all about hits — repetitive hits to the head that don’t necessarily lead to concussions.
Now, the NFL is also working to fund research on neurodegenerative diseases like CTE.
The NFL announced earlier this month that it's granting $16.3 million to three research projects focused on this. It’s part of the original $30 million investment to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health for similar research.
But in an industry as lucrative as the NFL, how far will $16.3 million really go?
Dr. Robert Cantu, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, is a leader in concussion research.
