Ted Johnson and Chris Nowinski brain damage part of alarming trend

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New research shows concussions to be worse than we thought

Concussions are worse for the brain than we thought. Just ask Ted Johnson or Chris Nowinski. Ted Johnson had brain damage so bad after his NFL career that he struggled for years in day to day activities. After looking at the information on the brains of athletes who died young, the results coming back are staggering.

“I can definitely point to 2002 when I got back-to-back concussions. That’s where the problems started,” said Johnson, who retired after those two concussions. “The depression, the sleep disorders and the mental fatigue.”

The brains of the men who suffered these head injuries

“What’s been surprising is that it’s so extensive,” said Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, and co-director of the CSTE. “It’s throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it’s deep inside.”

The brain of a 45-year-old football player with chronic traumatic encephalopathy shows more brown tangles.

The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, along with other research institutions, identified traumatic encephalopathy in the brains of late NFL football players John Grimsley, Mike Webster, Andre Waters, Justin Strzelczyk and Terry Long.

“The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone,” said Nowinski. “We know we can’t do that anymore. This causes long-term damage.”

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