WWE Medical Doctor Joseph Maroon, who doubles as a NFL medical consultant and neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, made some controversial remarks about CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy) during a recent appearance on “NFL Total Access.”
“I think the problem of CTE, although real, is it’s being over-exaggerated and being extrapolated to youth football and to high school football,” Maroon stated. “We came up with 63 total cases of CTE [and] in the last two years a few more, but there have been 30-40 million kids who have played football during that period of time. It’s a rare phenomena. We have no idea the incidence. There are more injuries to kids falling off bikes, scooters, falling in playgrounds than there are in youth football. I think again, it’s never been safer. Can we improve? Yes. We have to do better all the time to make it safer.”
The Sports Legacy Institute’s Christopher Nowinski has a different take.
“As to whether CTE is rare in the general population, that is true,” Nowinski said. “CTE has never been found in an individual who was not exposed to significant brain trauma. It has been found in the vast majority of NFL players and professional boxers who have been studied, but the true risk in that population is unknown because of the absence of a test for CTE in the living.”
For more, visit ESPN.com.
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