Former New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski said in a recent interview that he’s suffered “probably like 20 concussions” over the course of his career, five of which resulted in blackouts. But as Deadspin points out, Gronk doesn’t seem to concerned about lasting damage. On Friday (Sept. 13th), in a Twitter exchange with co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Chris Nowinski, the former tight end claimed that CTE is “fixable” and that he had “fixed” his own case of the disease.
It is fixable. I fixed mine. There are plenty of methods in this world that allow the brain to recover from severe damage. That is also why I would allow my kid to play football. https://t.co/9aI1olAdqP
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) September 13, 2019
Nowinski, who also wrote Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis and holds a PhD in behavioral neuroscience, pushed back, reminding the football player that there is no cure for CTE and that neurodegenerative diseases “eventually win.”
You are right about brain plasticity, and I am glad you are feeling great today, but neurodegenerative diseases (CTE, Alzheimer's, etc.) cannot be "fixed" or cured today. They eventually win. Please come on over to the BU brain bank next week and we can discuss the nuances. https://t.co/FxlzRi1BEU
— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 13, 2019
It’s also worth noting that despite all the blows to the head he’s suffered in his career, there’s currently no way to know for certain whether or not Gronkowski actually has CTE. As Yahoo points out, the only way to definitively diagnose CTE is after death in a postmortem neuropathological analysis.
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