Lou Gehrig's Diseases Affecting Athletes

Diseases Attacking Athletes

There has been many diseases that humans were able to overcome throughout the year and even now there are treatments for cancer, however; there are also diseases that has no cure and doctors do not even know what causes these diseases to appear in the first place. AlS and CTE are just a few diseases that have no explanation or reason to appear in the body or brain. ALS and CTE are so common that anyone in the world could be diagnosed at any time. So common, yet the doctors have no idea why it happens. Even though, there might not be a cure for ALS and CTE, there should be at least information about how to prevent this from happening.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, attacks the
nerve cell in the brain and the spinal cord, which stops the brain signal from getting into the body and muscle. The word Amyotrophic comes from the Greek word which means no muscle nourishment, Lateral means areas in the spinal cord and Sclerosis which means scarring or hardening. This disease only allows the brain to function and disables the rest of the body. Studies have shown, that many people around the ages of 40- 70 have been diagnosed with ALS and many of those only live up to 2-5 years. It is shown that injury and blows to the head as well as heavy labor can be one the factors that leads to ALS. This disease, weakness the muscles and allows cells to be forming in the pathway of the blood flow which then slowly paralyzes the body and keeps the brain alive. ALS is not the only disease that has no cure.

CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a disease that attacks the brain, but not the body. CTE is mostly found in athletes that play any sport with injuries to the head. It has been shown, that after repeated injuries to the head, CTE can appear within days, months, and even years. CTE appears later in a person's life, this is why many doctors don't concern a injury to the head as a factor to CTE. Within the brain there is a protein that helps support the structure in the brain cells call Tau, but when the brain receives blows, this can cause Tau to misfold. When this happens, Tau are release into the brain then clumps together and slowly kills the nerve cells. CTE do have symptoms that people can be able to notice.

ALS attacks the body and muscle and keeps the brain alive, while CTE harms the brain and allows the body to function. Some of the symptoms for ALS are difficulty walking , speaking and swallowing problems . Memory loss, confusion, control problems and depression are just a handful of symptoms for CTE. Many athletes get diagnosed with ALS round the ages of 25-38. ALS may be genetic mutation or chemical imbalance. Lou Gehrig, born June 19, 1903, played for the New York Yankees as a first baseman for 17 season was soon diagnosed with ALS on 1939. After two years of being diagnosed he passed away. Many doctors were unaware that ALS was lead cause of his death. Throughout his year playing for the New York Yankees, Lou Gehrig had received many blows to the head which later cause him to get diagnosed with ALS. Such as other athletes, Tyler Sash had brain injury cause by repeated trauma and suffer from confusion and memory loss. At the age of 27 he died on September 8, 2015 from overdose of painkillers. Soon after, researchers found that Tyler Sash was diagnosed with CTE. Repeated injuries to the head causes ALS and CTE to appear.

Concussion and head trauma may be one of the factors leading to ALS and CTE.
Concussion appears when the head receives a jolt to the head or body which then cause harm to the brain. While the brain is rapidly moving back and forth, from an injury, the brain stretches and tears the brain cells. The movement of the brain damages the nervous cells and creates chemical changes in the brain. After a concussion many people experience headache, vomiting, blurry vision, difficulty thinking and memory problems. Many athletes like VIctor, a soccer player, has experience these symptoms. During a soccer game, Victor slide for the ball and as he approach the ball the opposite player jumped to avoid contact. While in the air the opposite player’s cleats had made contact with Victor's eyebrow causing him to have confusion and memory
loss.

Many sports have taken an action towards ALS and CTE.
The world of NFL, started to including more pads and had ban the contact to the head. In the Soccer World, there has been a changes to the game for miners, which they are not allowed to header the ball. The rules of the game may have be change to prevent concussion and other diseases, but for players that have been diagnosed it hasn't. Many NFL players have been diagnosed with AlS or CTE did not get the support of the NFL organization. While making the sport safer, the game itself is being changed as well as the passion of the sport. Throughout the years NFL has avoided the question whether football was related to CTE because the lack of
evidence.

I believe that there should be a change of making the sport safer, but a way that doesn't change the sport itself. There has be studies show that receiving injuries at an early age can result to ALS or CTE when mature. Having this in mind, changing the sport should start with unprofessional players meaning high school athletes, Little Leagues, and other players that are not fully mature. The reason is because the brain isn't fully developed until that age of 25.

ALS and CTE are diseases that should be closely watch. Doctors and other organization should inform athletes the risk of having too many concussions and the symptoms of both ALS and CTE.