Leading neuroscientists have accused the National Hockey League of “blatantly denying” the game’s alleged deadly effects – after two players died due to suspected brain damage in just one week.
Ancient It was revealed that NHL star Chris Simon committed suicide earlier this week following a fight with a fatal brain injury. The reports were released just days after suicide of former Pittsburgh Penguins player Konstantin Koltsov.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Dr Chris Nowinski, neuroscientist and founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, described hockey players as “boxers on ice”, referring to the impact the sport would have on the risk of degenerative brain damage.
Studies suggest that each additional year spent playing hockey can increase the risk of developing brain injuries. about 23 percent.
At least ten hockey players have died in as many years. Although Koltsov (top right) has not been confirmed to have CTE, it is possible given his career and could have played a role in his suicide.
Dr. Nowinski told this website that the science on whether gambling is responsible for fatal injuries is “black and white.”
“It is embarrassing that the NHL does not accept this very clear fact.”
At least 10 NHL players have died from brain injuries in the past decade – and activists say all the cases are linked to damage suffered on the ice.
NHL executives have stuck to their stance despite a growing number of former sports stars “victims” of a particular disease that can lead to dementia, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
CTE is caused by repeated concussions and head trauma. Impact to the skull is thought to cause a protein called tau to gradually build up in nerve cells in the brain.
Over time, this affects the ability of cells to communicate with each other, leading to a range of problems including memory problems, confusion, personality changes and erratic behavior, including depressive or suicidal nature.
The disease can only be diagnosed when the patient has died during an autopsy. But he has been confirmed to have contributed to the deaths of 15 former NHL players.
One example is Hall of Famer and 11-time Stanley Cup winner Henri Richard, who died in 2020 at the age of 84 and was posthumously diagnosed with degenerative brain disease.
The NHL has resisted pressure from doctors to overhaul its concussion protocols as evidence mounts that ice hockey players are just as prone to CTE as professional football players.
For its part, the league has not recognized that CTE among its players constitutes a real problem. Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, said Wednesday, “I think the science is still inaccurate.”
Chris Simon, who died by suicide, likely suffered from CTE, known to cause mood and behavioral disorders.
Former Pittsburgh Penguins player Konstantin Kolstov committed suicide this week. It’s unclear if he had CTE, something that can only be diagnosed after an autopsy.
The NHL lags considerably behind the National Football League (NFL), which in 2016 finally recognized an existing association between football and CTE and updated its concussion protocol in an effort to make the game more on.
Dr. Nowinski said, “It is sad to see how their denial slows down the conversation about helping these former players and preventing CTE in current players. The opportunity is right in front of us (to make the game safer), and yet people continue to die.
“And they don’t get the respect and recognition for what they experienced that was caused by the game they played.”
He added: “No one questions the fact that boxing causes CTE. And the NHL is the only hockey league in the world that allows people to become boxers on skates.
Chris Simon was what we call in hockey an enforcer; a player who is ready at the drop of a hat to step onto the ice and fight, literally, for his teammates. These include bare-knuckle fights and blows to the head.
A statement following his suicide, provided by Simon’s former agent Paul Theofanous, on behalf of the family, read: “The family strongly believes and has witnessed first-hand that Chris suffered immensely from CTE, which caused unfortunately led to his death.”
CTE can appear gradually after years of concussion and initially presents with changes in behavior, including aggression and violent outbursts, as well as difficulty thinking and remembering things clearly.
It presents with a range of other manifestations, including impaired motor coordination, Parkinson’s-like tremors, difficulty walking, depression, apathy and substance abuse.
It is also possible, however, that CTE was not the cause of the behavioral and personality changes Mr. Simon experienced, but rather another type of head trauma.
A thirteen-year league veteran and enforcer nicknamed Knuckles since childhood, Chris Nilan, 66, struggled with substance abuse and addiction issues as well as anger issues for years after leaving the sport in 1992 This disease is now the subject of research by scientists at Boston University (BU).
Because CTE can only be diagnosed after a person dies, researchers perform extensive testing while they are alive. Once Mr. Nilan dies, his brain will be donated to medical research.
The BU center released findings last year contradicting NHL orthodoxy that the sport it runs causes CTE.
Researchers have found that each additional year spent playing hockey can increase the risk of developing CTE. about 23 percent.
Dr. Jesse Mez, MD, study author and BU CTE Center researcher, said, “Previous research has shown a relationship between increased years spent playing soccer and increased risks of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy later, and our results suggest that the same is true for ice. hockey.’
A brain with advanced CTE (pictured right) appears shriveled. As tau proteins build up and brain cells die, the brain volume decreases and it shrinks.
The study looked at the brains of 74 amateur and professional hockey players. Of the 74 donors – 19 of whom were professionals – 40 of them, or 54 percent, were diagnosed with CTE at autopsy.
At the same time, the NHL is not convinced. League Commissioner Gary Bettman said NPR: “We listen to medical advice on CTE, and I don’t believe there have been any documented studies suggesting that elements of our game cause CTE. There have been isolated cases of players who played the game (who) had CTE. But that doesn’t mean it necessarily comes from playing in the NHL.
Scientists have long suspected that years of mild head injuries like concussions significantly increase the risk of developing CTE.
Dr. Nowinski said: “We don’t know how long it takes to develop CTE. We’ve seen in studies of football that the longer you play, the greater your risk, and we’ve shown in studies, trying to understand the number and strength of hits, that it appears that the risk of ‘ETC is most closely related to the number and strength of hits. force of blows to the head.
“It is possible to obtain it in a short time, but it is rare. We just don’t know how short this period is.
A 2012 study published in the journal Brain almost confirmed this, when researchers found that of 85 people with a history of mild, repeated head trauma, 68 of them – almost all of whom played sports – had signs of ETC.
CTE diagnoses are divided into three categories: stage one, stage two, stage three, and stage four. People in the first stage usually experience short-term memory loss, mild aggression, and/or depression.
People in stage two are likely to experience severe depression, violent outbursts, and mood swings. In stage three, a person is likely to experience aggression, apathy, memory loss, impaired executive functions, and problem-solving skills.
The fourth stage is a more serious stage from the previous one, including paranoia, language difficulties and irregular muscle movements.
Henri Richard was at stage three CTE when he died last year. Other hockey players who have suffered CTE in the past 10 years include Dan Maloney, who died in 2018 at the age of 68, Zarley Zlapsk, who died in 2017 at age 49, Steve Motnador, who died in 2015 at age 35. , Marke Svatos, who died in 2016 at age 34, Ralph Backstrom, who died in 2021 at age 83, and Stan Mikita, who died in 2018 at age 78.
“These are cases that are known to the public,” Dr. Nowinski said.
“The difference between the hockey data and the NFL data is that more than 400 NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE… But one study showed that at least 10% of NFL players had CTE. And it’s probably much higher.
He added: “We don’t have the same data on NHL players who don’t have the same vision…It might be more prevalent in that population than we would like.”