Does getting hit and tackled week after week affect your future life? Yes says a recent study commissioned by the National Football League.
Former players get Alzheimer's or other memory-related disease at a rate 19 times more than the normal rate for men 30-49.
Dementia Risk Seen in Players in N.F.L. Study
The findings could ring loud at the youth and college levels, which often take cues from the N.F.L. on safety policies and whose players emulate the pros. Hundreds of on-field concussions are sustained at every level each week, with many going undiagnosed and untreated.
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“This is a game-changer — the whole debate, the ball’s now in the N.F.L.’s court,” said Dr. Julian Bailes, the chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine