By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

A team of medical researchers, led by former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski, will be publishing new research this week on the important issue of concussions and head trauma among professional athletes. The new research is focused on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a/k/a ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease).

The research suggests that many pro athletes have been diagnosed with ALS when, in fact, they have suffered the effects of repeated head trauma that is masked as ALS, which NFL players are eight times more likely to contract than the average person.

The New York Times currently has a frontpage story on their website detailing the new research. The study suggests that famed N.Y. Yankees player Lou Gehrig, who died in 1941, may have actually died of the effects from repeated head trauma during his baseball career rather than from ALS.

The Times reports that medical researchers said, "markings in the spinal cords of two players and one boxer who also received a diagnosis of ALS indicated that those men did not have ALS at all. They had a different fatal disease, doctors said, caused by concussion-like trauma, that erodes the central nervous system in similar ways."

Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the neuropathology laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers and the lead neuropathologist on the study, was quoted by the Times on her findings that ALS symptoms could be confused for repeated head trauma and concussions among pro athletes.

The key passage from the Times report: When Dr. McKee examined the spinal-cord tissue of those men (deceased NFL players diagnosed with ALS), as well as a former boxer diagnosed with ALS-like symptoms, she found dramatically high levels of tau and TDP-43, two proteins known to cause motor-neuron degeneration.

She said that they would appear in the cord as a result of blows to the brain, with the proteins probably traveling down the spinal cord, rather than direct injury to the spinal cord itself.

Dr. McKee said that because she has never seen that protein pattern in ALS victims without significant histories of brain trauma, she and her team were confident the three athletes did not have ALS, but a disorder that erodes its victims's nervous system in similar ways. McKee added that finding the distinctive pattern in all three men with ALS symptoms was more than enough pathological evidence to make her conclusion.

Caldwell's Analysis: As it relates to pro wrestling, the new study should draw more attention to the serious issue of concussions and head trauma that wrestlers can experience taking a routine bump in the ring or taking a direct blow to the skull.

WWE has implemented a concussion testing program, but does not publicly disclose the application of the program. It's also up to wrestlers to educate themselves on the latest research, such as this new study, to make more educated decisions in the ring that will affect their quality of life in the present and in the future. Thanks to Torch VIP members Linden Walker and PattersonandStevens for the story tip.

Video: The New York Times posted video of the paper's sports editor and Times reporter Alan Schwarz discussing the new research, its relevance to pro athletes, and more in the video below.



Video URL: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/17/multimedia/1247468643950/study-finds-trauma-may-mimic-a-l-s.html

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWNLIVE NEWS: NXT star Sami Zayn announced for EVOLVE Tour

NEWS: Daughter of Bill DeMott dies in weekend car crash

HAAS NEWS: Charlie Haas getting back in the ring - big reunion match at OVW, headliner for CWE year-end tour