Whenever a football player struts in celebration after making another bone-crushing hit, it’s hard not to wonder what the jarring clash of heads did to their brain. Same when watching a soccer defender repeatedly thumping headers upfield or a hockey center skating gingerly away from a bruising body check.
After 15 years of research into the toll of repeated head traumas on the brain, especially among athletes, Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center has changed the conversation around contact sports—and shifted the viewing experience for many fans. The center is a national leader in the study of CTE, a progressive degenerative brain disease, and its work—particularly on diagnosing star players like 49er Greg Clark and Canadien Ralph Backstrom—has made news worldwide. CTE has been linked to multiple symptomatic concussions and asymptomatic subconcussive blows to the head; it’s been found in military veterans, as well as former sportspeople.
