NFL
Brett Favre announces he has Parkinson disease: Can head injuries increase the risk for football players?
The former NFL quarterback has recently said he is suffering from the disease.
Brett Favre has revealed he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he told congress today.
The NFL Hall of Famer played 20 seasons at the elite level of American football, and has spoken on previous occasions about the number of concussions he has suffered during his time on the field.
The 54-year-old said “Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others”.
“I’m sure you’ll understand, while it’s too late for me because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, this is also a cause dear to my heart”, he added.
His long career in the sport includes stints at the Atlanta Falcons, then the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.
The symptoms of Parkinsons typically include a tremor in the hands, arms, legs, jaw, or head of the sufferer. Muscle stiffness, slowness of movement and impaired balance and coordination, can also be experienced.
Can head injuries increase the risk for football players?
The National Institute for Health writes the following:
Repeated brain injuries can lead to a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE is a serious issue for American football players. It can lead to dementia later in life and even premature death.
As well as this, Alzheimers.org says that “contact sports such as football (soccer), American football and rugby have all been associated with dementia” and that “there is some evidence that head injuries from playing contact sports may increase the risk of dementia”.
Several famous faces in the world of soccer were diagnosed with dementia after retiring, including World Cup winner Nobby Stiles and former Leeds United and England player Gordon McQueen. This has been linked with heading the ball on repeated occasions; of course, with American football, the risks come with the increased level of player-to-player contact.