The Importance Of ALS In Sports

There’s a hidden epidemic in the sports world that the public knows little to nothing about. This epidemic is not only found in athletes, but also in average individuals such as yourself. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, is one of the epidemics that is found among the elderly, but now is being found in young athletes. ALS is a disease which attacks the body, leaving only the brain intact. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is a similar disease; however, it only attacks the brain. ALS is a horrific disease that only affected older athletes, who were usually only males but is now being found in younger athletes. ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig 's disease, is an illness where the body is slowly deteriorating away and leaves …show more content…
In other words, it’s caused by taking multiple blows to the head. Repetitive head injury occurs in a wide variety of contact sports, including football, boxing, wrestling, rugby, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and skiing. Furthermore, in collision sports such as football and boxing, players may experience thousands of hits. The symptoms of CTE are cunning. They first become apparent in the failure of attention, concentration, and memory, as well as disorientation and confusion. Occasionally accompanied by dizziness and mild headache. With time, additional symptoms become more noticeable, such as lack of insight, poor judgment, and dementia.This progresses to slowing of muscular movements and impaired speech. Social instability, erratic behavior, memory loss, and initial symptoms of Parkinson disease appear during the second stage. The severity of the disorder appears to be linked with the length of time the individual was engaged in the sport and the number of traumatic injuries. You can’t really know if an individual has a CTE because the only way to know would be after death and have an autopsy. However, there are some symptoms that may help come to a presumption if a person has a …show more content…
Head trauma and concussions are like, but very different. Concussions occur when an individual takes a heavy blow to the head whether it would be once or twice, and receives a violent shaking of the head and body. Concussions are said to be linked with CTE’s. Concussions release a neurotoxins that affect the spinal cord and brain. The effects are usually temporary but can include headaches and problems with concentration, memory, balance and coordination. Head trauma is when you take mild blows to the head, they will eventually lead to serious diseases. Head trauma also takes a part in the development of