Brain injury in sports: Leagues must do more to protect players

A prominent doctor says sports leagues ought to do more to protect players from conditions that can lead to CTE, the brain disorder caused by repeated head injuries.

Dr. Carmela Tartaglia is a clinician scientist at Toronto’s University Health Network. She’s spent part of her career studying the donated brains of deceased athletes. Her most recent work looked at the brains of hockey and football players.

“The last 12 people who came through our program, 11 of the 12 had CTE in the brain,” says Tartaglia.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known widely as CTE, has been increasingly discovered in the brains of athletes who play contact sports. 

On Monday night, retired NHL player Chris Simon, who was known for his physical play on the ice was pronounced dead in his hometown of Wawa, Ontario. 

“The family of Chris Simon regretfully announces that Chris died by suicide at the age of 52,” reads a statement released through his former agent. “The family strongly believes and witnessed firsthand that Chris struggled immensely from CTE which unfortunately resulted in his death.”

Simon’s name has now been added to a growing list of players from both hockey, football, and other sports that take their own lives. In many, after their death, it’s been discovered they suffered from CTE.

“How many people have to die before somebody thinks it’s important enough for to you know – stop it?” asked Tartaglia.

CTE symptoms can manifest in different ways for everyone. From memory loss, to changes in behaviour which can lead to violent outbursts, frustration, and significant mood swings.  

Tartaglia adds that “you have to think about things like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, so of course symptoms like that do increase your risk of suicide.”

However, one of the main challenges facing doctors today is that currently CTE can only be diagnosed once a person has died.

Tartaglia and others are working to change that. “In my mind, that’s our number one challenge,” said Tartaglia. “Unfortunately for CTE, we don’t have good diagnostic tools right now, so we can’t tell for sure that this is what’s going on in the brain. And we can’t intervene.”

“If you take for example, Alzheimer’s disease, we can give that diagnosis in vivo and now we have drugs that will hopefully intervene and slow down the disease. So, we need that first step in CTE,” she said.   

Years of research has uncovered that repeated head injuries can lead to CTE, nearly every professional sports league now acknowledges that relationship as a medical fact, except the National Hockey League.

Speaking to reporters following this week’s general managers meetings, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about the CTE claim made by the Simon family. 

In his reply, Bettman was careful not to make any connection to CTE, saying in part, “We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends. On all these matters, we wait and see what the medical experts tell us.”

The answer is a frustrating one for Tartaglia, who told CTV National News, “To not acknowledge that there is a relationship (between head injuries and CTE) seems irresponsible.”

Some former NHL players say it’s time for the league to “man up” and speak openly about the link to CTE and hockey.

Former NHL player Daniel Carcillo posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, directed at the league and other players currently working for the NHL. 

“Once a guy dies, they’ll say how tragic this is, yet they won’t advocate.” Carcillo says in the video. “The NHL is the last living league to say ‘No, there isn’t a plausible cause (with CTE).’ They’re taking a page right out of big tobacco with smoking and lung cancer.”

CTV National News asked the NHL in an email, if they believe there’s a direct link between repeated head trauma and CTE. They declined to answer the question.

For Chris Simon’s family, the 52-year-old was more than just a Stanley Cup winning hockey player, he was a son, a brother, and a father of four.