The National Football League and the NFL Players Association agreed to update the league's concussion protocol on Saturday.
The decision follows the review of the incident on Sept. 25 in which Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered an apparent head injury and was later allowed to re-enter the game. The league and union jointly announced the findings of the review on Saturday.
Under the new protocols, players will be unable to compete if they are experiencing ataxia.
The joint announcement described the conclusion and findings of their review of Tagovailoa's injury as follows:
"While the investigation determined that the team medical staff and unaffiliated medical professionals followed the steps of the Protocol as written, the NFL and NFLPA agree that the outcome in this case is not what was intended when the Protocols were drafted."
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"As such, as has been done in previous cases, based on the advice of the parties' respective medical experts, the Protocol will be modified to enhance the safety of the players. Specifically, the term 'ataxia' has been added to the mandatory 'no-go' symptoms. 'Ataxia' is defined as abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue. In other words, if a player is diagnosed with 'ataxia' by any club or neutral physician involved in the application of the Concussion Protocol, he will be prohibited from returning to the game, and will receive the follow-up care required by the Protocol."
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10 athletes who have promised to donate their brains for research
10 athletes who have promised to donate their brains for research
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
Athletes have surely suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy since at least 688 B.C. when boxing was introduced at the Ancient Greek Olympics. Yet it didnβt receive widespread recognition until after the β00s when Pittsburgh forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu began investigating the link between repeated head trauma among NFL players and the degenerative brain disease. The 2015 film βConcussion,β in which Will Smith played Dr. Omalu as he fought the NFLβs attempts to dismiss his research, raised widespread awareness about the issue. The CTE-linked suicides of NFL stars Junior Seau, Aaron Hernandez, and Andre Waters drew further attention to these dangers.
The NFL finally acknowledged the link in 2016.
CTE is caused by repeated head trauma that often leads to mood and behavioral disorders and dementia. In 2017, researchers found CTE to be a root cause of death in 99% of former NFL players they examined . The leagueβs response has included new safety rules and improved helmets.
The growing awareness of the disease has led to rules and equipment changes in other contact sports while more than 3,000 athletes pledged to donate their brains for research upon their deaths. HealthMatch has compiled a list of 10 leading active and retired athletes who are among them.
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Reggie Williams
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Football
Success has followed Reggie Williams, 67, all his life. He attended Dartmouth on an academic scholarship, where he held a College Hall of Fame career as a linebacker. He went on to record 62 sacks during 14 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, played in two Super Bowls, and twice earned βNFL Man of the Yearβ honors. He later served on the Cincinnati City Council and was vice president of Disney Sports Attractions.
Severe mood swings convinced Williams he has CTE, and in 2020, he announced he would donate his brain to research. βI want to do anything I can to make football safer and help the next generation of athletes,β he said. βYou canβt give up because there are ways to manage [CTE] symptoms and live a healthy life.β
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Mark Henry
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Wrestling
Itβs hard to think of what Mark Henry hasnβt done to cement his reputation as a world-class strongman. Henry, 50, is best known as a longtime WWE wrestler with two world titles, but before that, he was a two-time Olympic weightlifter and a world-champion powerlifter who still holds world powerlifting records.
He took a lot of hits during a 25-year WWE career, though, even when he clocks in at 6-foot-4 and 360 pounds. Knowing that, he announced in 2019 he would donate his brain to research. βMaybe it will help with figuring out how things work [including] kids playing sports,β he said.
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Abby Wambach
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Soccer
Heading the ball in soccer is as routine as being tackled in footballβand maybe even more dangerous in the long term. Abby Wambach headed the ball more than most players.
Research revealing the dangers of repeated head injuries helped convince Wambach, the U.S. Womenβs National Team all-time leading scorer, to join teammates Brandi Chastain and Megan Rapinoe in announcing in 2016 that she would donate her brain. A violent collision with a teammate in 2013 resulted in her only diagnosed concussion , and after that, she began heading the ball less often due to CTE concerns. She figures she has suffered βhundredsβ of micro-concussions on the field. βI cringe [now] whenever players go up to head a soccer ball,β she said. βI cringe at my former, risk-taking self because we only have this one brain.β
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Auto racing
In 2016, the same year that the NFL belatedly acknowledged the football-CTE connection, a star from a very different sport agreed to donate his brain for research. Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew that while head impact isnβt as common in NASCAR racing as it is in contact sports, the crashes are far more dangerous to the brain. His father, after whom heβs named, died in a collision at the Daytona 500 in 2001.
Earnhardt admitted that he raced several times in 2002 with concussions symptoms, which led to NASCAR tightening its policies about clearing concussion-diagnosed drivers for racing. Then 10 years later, Earnhardt suffered apparent concussions in crashes just six weeks apart; he drove off after the second one without getting a diagnosis. Now 47 and semi-retired, Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 twice, in 2004 and 2014.
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Steve Thompson
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Rugby
Rugby players have always prided themselves on their toughness. After all, the tackling is similar to football, but rugby players donβt wear helmets (though some wear soft headgear).
British star Steve Thompson, 43, decided to donate his brain for CTE research in September 2021, soon after he was diagnosed with dementia. βItβs up to my generation to pledge our brains so researchers can develop better treatments and ways to make the game safer,β he said.
Last year, World Rugby instituted new guidelines that limit full-contact training to 15 minutes a week and offered brain health care for ex-players. But that didnβt stop Thompson from joining a class-action suit against the organization. Thompson said he doesnβt even remember leading England to the World Cup Rugby title in 2003, the only time a Northern Hemisphere team has won the Cup and the pinnacle of his career. He also claims to have forgotten the name of his wife on more than one occasion.
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Matt Birk
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Football
Football players in the center position absorb many impacts as they are hit almost immediately after hiking the ball. Knowing this, center Matt Birk promised to have his brain donated for research .
The timing of the announcement came just days before the high point of his career when he helped the Baltimore Ravens win the 2013 Super Bowl. He retired three weeks later. βIf something happens like you canβt find your car keys,β he said, βyou think, βIs this from football?ββ
The following season, independent neurological consultants were hired by the NFL to oversee sideline concussion evaluations.
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Brandi Chastain
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Soccer
One of the most memorable photos in sports history shows an elated Brandi Chastain triumphantly clutching her jersey just after her winning penalty kick for the U.S. Womenβs Soccer team in their 1999 World Cup thriller over China. The game was held at the Rose Bowl in front of 90,000 fans, including then-president Bill Clinton, and 40 million U.S. TV viewers.
βI loved heading the ball,β she said 21 years later, βand there wasnβt anybody around saying, βHey, you might not want to do that.ββ There are now, which is why she joined teammates in announcing in 2016 that she would posthumously donate her brain to science.
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Don Schumacher and his team
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Auto racing
Don Schumacher became concerned about the health of the NHRA drag racing team he led: In 2018, he convinced all seven of his drivers to join him in pledging to posthumously donate their brains . It was the biggest group in any sport to simultaneously make such a pledge to the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
In keeping with his reputation as a pioneer in promoting safety measures in the sport, Schumacher said he and his Schumacher Racing teammatesβone of the most winningest teams in NHRA historyβdid so in the hope that it might help drivers, soldiers, and anyone else whose vocations or avocations put the health of their brains at risk. Schumacher and his son Tony are two of the most accomplished drag racers in history.
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Jonathan Martin
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Football
The recent attention on the mental health struggles of tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnast Simone Biles was preceded a decade ago by the case of Jonathan Martin. In a scandal that broke in 2014, the Miami Dolphins tackle revealed his teammates bullied him so viciously he contemplated suicide, had to be hospitalized for emotional distress, and ultimately left the NFL after just three seasons.
Martin, who was also a standout lineman at Stanford, later told The New York Times : βWhen I was playing, no one talked about mental health.β
He has struggled with anxiety, depression, and mood swings since retiring from football, which he partially attributes to CTE damage caused by 13 years of absorbing hits in football. He announced in October 2021 that he would donate his brain for research.
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Elana Meyers Taylor
Updated
Jan 30, 2024
- Sport: Bobsled
By winning silver in the monobob and bronze in the two-woman bobsled at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Elana Meyers Taylor became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history. Competing at age 37 in Beijing, it was the fourth straight Games where she won at least one medal.
But the intense G-forces and risk of crashing on the bobsled make it a hazardous sport, which prompted Meyers Taylor to announce at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics βalong with four-time U.S. ice hockey medalist Angela Ruggiero and five-time Canadian ice hockey medalist Hayley Wickenheiserβto donate her brain for CTE research.
βA concussion nearly ended my career in 2015,β said Meyers Taylor. βAnd I wish I had known more about the risks of returning [to competition] too quickly. The long-term consequences of brain trauma are a major concern in sports, and Iβm doing this for every athlete who will follow in my footsteps.β
This story originally appeared on HealthMatch and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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