CTE is a degenerative and progressive brain disease.
What is CTE?
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, most commonly known as CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that can develop into Dementia. CTE is caused by repetitive head impacts (RHI) and repetitive sub concussions hits. which causes microscopic damage to the brain and Tau protein to build-up like other types of Dementia such as Alzheimer's. This damage and build-up of Tau results effects brain functions, resulting in the symptoms listed below. You are more likely to develop CTE if you have played a contact sport, served in the Military, or have been a victim of domestic violence, but anyone who has experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is at risk of developing CTE.
Symptoms Of CTE
There are many different known symptoms of CTE, not everyone who has CTE will have all these symptoms. Their symptoms will depend on what regions of their brain is affected and by what stage of CTE they have.
Behaviour and Mental Health: Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, mood swings, impulsive behaviour, agitation, aggressive behaviour, addiction problems, low self-esteem, paranoia, lack of empathy, inappropriate behaviour, quick to temper, poor judgement, reclusive, apathy, disinhibition.
Cognitive Problems: Short term memory problems, long term memory problems, difficulties with multitasking, decision making problems, confusion, brain fog, difficulties with word finding, confabulation, difficulties in keeping track of conversations, easily becoming lost, anosognosia, time loss, dysgraphia,
Other Symptoms: Headaches, migraines, communication problems, balance issues, dizziness, problems with coordination, tremors, insomnia, sleep disturbances, ringing in ears, sensory overload, neck pain/tension, sound sensitivity, light sensitivity, unexplained localised pain, muscle spasms, spaced out look, tapping fingers, bouncing legs.
How CTE is Diagnosed
At present CTE can only be definitively diagnosed with a postmortem after death as the damage to the brain can only be seen under a microscope. However, a probable diagnosis of CTE can be made by looking at the persons concussion/brain trauma history, neurological testing, cognitive testing, their symptoms and by ruling out any other cause for their symptoms. Many of the symptoms associated with CTE can be caused by many other health problems such as depression and other types of dementia, therefore it is important to speak to your doctor if you are worried that you may have CTE.
Treatment for CTE
There is no cure for CTE and no known treatment to slow the diseases progression. However, there are some treatments available which are helpful to some people in managing their symptoms. What is known for definite is that there are many lifestyle choices that are known to reduce your risk of developing another type of dementia and to improve your overall brain health:
- Smoking - It is well documented how smoking increases our chances of developing dementia and ages our brain as smoking damages our blood vessels and reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients supplied to the brain.
- Alcohol - Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage our nerves, increases our risk of suffering a stroke and can cause our brains to shrink. Alcohol is proven to be a depressant, therefore will impact our mental health and worsening depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
- Physical Exercise - Many scientific studies show that physical activity boosts our brains health, even gentle exercise like going for a walk has shown to improve cognitive function, reduce stress and improve mental health.
- Mental Exercise - Anything that is stimulating to your brain improves overall brain health and prevents cognitive decline. Reading, doing a puzzle, being creative, socialising, taking part in a conversation or learning a new skill are all great ways to exercise your brain.
- Diet - What we eat directly effects our brains health as nutrients from food is used by the brain in its structure and functions. Eating a poor diet such as ultra processed food will have a negative impact on your brain health by producing inflammation in the brain. Scientific studies show that the healthiest diet for our brains is the Mediterranean diet, click HERE for more information on diet and brain health
- Overall, Health - There are many different ways we can help our brain stay healthy for longer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease are shown to increase our risk of developing dementia.
CTE Myths & Facts
01
I can’t have CTE because I have never had a concussion.
You do not need to have been knocked out or have had a clinical concussion to develop CTE. The science shows that CTE is developed from the accumulation of repetitive head hits and sub concussive hits.
02
Its only professional athletes that get CTE.
A recent study published in Acta Neuropathologica found, that risk of CTE pathology was associated with length of a player’s rugby career, with each additional year of play adding 14% to risk of CTE. Player position or level of participation, either amateur or elite, did not appear to influence risk of CTE. This study can be viewed HERE.
03
Only Men can develop CTE
CTE does not discriminate, the disease can develop in men and women. More men than women play contact sports and men are more likely to be enlisted in the military, therefore there will be more cases of CTE in men than women but, CTE has been found in female athletes. Statistically more women are victims of domestic violence than men, therefore women will be at a higher risk of developing CTE from domestic violence than men.
04
CTE is a new disease
CTE has been headline news since 2005 when Pathologist Bennet Omalu published the first evidence of CTE in an American football player, but CTE has been well documented in scientific papers for nearly a century! In the 1920s Dr. Harrison Martland first described a condition in boxers who were experiencing cognitive decline and other neurological problems, he named the condition "punch-drunk syndrome".
05
I wear a helmet or scrum cap so my brain is protected
Although head protective gear such as a helmet does protect your skull from fractures there has been many scientific studies that have proven that protective head gear offers absolutely no protection for the brain. The human brain is effectively floating in our skull, any impact to the head of sub concussive trauma makes the brain impact the internal surface of the skull. More information can be read HERE.
06
What is a sub concussive impact?
A rugby player can experience thousands of sub concussive hits in their career. A sub concussive hit is easily explained by using Rugby as an example. 2 Rugby players weighing around 120kg each, run at each other and collide, this collision is estimated to be the equivalent of being involved in a car crash at 30mph. The collision isn't enough to cause a concussion, especially when the collision does not involve an impact to the head but the quick deacceleration to the body causes the brain to hit the interior of the skull at a high force, this can cause microscopic damage to the brain. Its these repeated deacceleration impacts that is thought to cause CTE.
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