Doctors reveal American footballer had brain injuryRSS Feed

Traumatic brain injury had caused degenerative neurological damage to an American footballer who died late last year, doctors have revealed.

According to the Associated Press, Dr Julian Bailes told ESPN that Chris Henry, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals, was found during an examination of his brain to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy in many areas of his brain.

Dr Bailes claimed that the underlying brain damage had been caused by repeated minor head traumas sustained while playing American football.

Henry died as a result of separate head injuries sustained after falling off the back of a pick-up truck late last year, aged 26.

The findings highlight the risks that players of heavy-contact sport face from repeated blows to the head, a topic that brought several brain injury specialists together for a conference in Washington DC recently.

At the event entitled Traumatic Brain Injury in Professional Football: An Evidence-Based Perspective, Constantine Lyketsos, a psychiatrist at John Hopkins University, told ScienceInsider that he was concerned that repeated minor injuries and concussions sustained over a long period of time could eventually lead to a severe brain injury.

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Posted by John Sherrington

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