TAMPA — In his prime, Jordan Reed was a terror for defensive backs trying to stop the speedy 6-foot-2, 242-pound tight end.
He scored 28 touchdowns in his eight-year career with the Washington and San Francisco NFL teams and was selected to the 2016 Pro Bowl. He suffered 12 additional concussions and missed multiple games as a result.
He was scheduled to play 10 seasons, but as he neared the end of his career, he began to suffer from tinnitus, anxiety, depression, and mental fatigue. An MRI scan showed signs of brain damage, and doctors said it was a concussion. Following medical advice, he retired in April 2021.
Reed, speaking at a conference in downtown Tampa on Thursday, highlighted the long-term risks of repeated blows to the head for children who play contact sports such as football, wrestling, soccer and ice hockey. He was one of three former NFL players. The conference attracted participants from as far away as Australia, including researchers working on linking concussions and head injuries to neurodegenerative diseases, particularly chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Reid said he supports efforts to prevent or restrict kids from playing tackle football. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children under 14 play flag football or non-contact soccer. He declined to answer questions about whether the NFL should do more to protect its players.
Mr. Reed, a father of three daughters, said if he had had boys he would not have let them play soccer.
“It's too dangerous,” he said. “I don't think the risks and benefits are commensurate.”
The two-day conference, held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation on Franklin Street, was sponsored by the Mac Parkman Youth Concussion Trauma Foundation. This nonprofit organization was founded by Anna Maria Island's father, Bruce Parkman. He attributes his 17-year-old son's suicide to depression caused by repeated head injuries from football and wrestling.
A common theme that emerged from speakers was the need to educate more health care providers about the risk of repeated head injuries from sports and the skepticism of governing bodies to acknowledge the link between sports and brain injury. It was sex.
The keynote speaker on the first day was Ann McKee, distinguished professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University and director of the university's CTE Center.
McKee made national headlines when he published a study based on post-mortem examinations of the brains of former football players, finding CTE in 110 out of 111 former NFL players.
She said Thursday that the NFL has made some positive changes in recent years, including changes to kickoffs to reduce head-on collisions. But she said Secretary Roger Goodell remains skeptical about the link between concussions and CTE. The league will compensate retired players diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, and Alzheimer's disease, but not CTE.
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“What they really need to work on is the number of hits to the head in everyday play,” she says. “There is still a real lack of care for retired players.”
The NFL says on its website that it has made more than 50 rule changes since 2002 to make football safer for players. This includes rules against players using their helmets to “stab, ram, or spear” an opponent, or forcibly make contact with the head or neck area of an opponent. There is.
Nick Gates, whose father Bill Gates played professional soccer in England for 13 years, is campaigning for heading to be banned in children's soccer and for it to be removed from children's practice sessions. He spoke about the efforts of the British organization Head Safe Football. older players.
Some studies have shown that professional soccer players are at much higher risk of neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia.
As a central defender, Bill Gates repeatedly headed back soccer balls kicked from long range. In his later years, he was unable to walk or speak, was diagnosed with dementia in 2014, and died last year.
“There should be different rules for the brain,” he says. “We treat the hamstring better than we treat the brain.”
The summit also discussed the impact of bombings and other military activities on veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs' Defense and Veterans Affairs Brain Injury Center reported that approximately 414,000 service members have recorded traumatic brain injury incidents since 2000.
