NFL Gives $30 Million to Study Traumatic Brain Injuries

The National Institute of Health announced on Monday its strategy to use the NFL’s $30 million grant to research and answer many questions surrounding traumatic brain injuries in sports.

According to The New York Times, NIH plans to use the first $12 million to study chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease found in people with a history of multiple concussions. The research will focus on living patients, as previous CTE studies are mostly from autopsies, reports The Times.

Some $2 million will also be allocated to several institutions focused on concussions in young athletes. The rest of the grant is allocated for future studies.

“Everywhere I go now, what people want to know is, ‘Should my kid play football or hockey?’ ” Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told The Times. “What we don’t know is what the scope of the problem is… We don’t know if we’re seeing the tip of the iceberg, or the whole iceberg.”

For more on TBIs, see “After the Crash: A Closer Look at the Rising Incidence of Brain Injury,” in Outside’s December Issue.