The National Institute of Health announced on Monday its strategy to use the NFL鈥檚 $30 million grant to research and answer many questions surrounding traumatic brain injuries in sports.
According to聽, 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 .
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.
鈥淓verywhere I go now, what people want to know is, 鈥楽hould my kid play football or hockey?鈥櫬犫 Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told . 鈥淲hat we don鈥檛 know is what the scope of the problem is鈥 We don鈥檛 know if we鈥檙e seeing the tip of the iceberg, or the whole iceberg.鈥
For more on TBIs, see 鈥After the Crash: A Closer Look at the Rising Incidence of Brain Injury,鈥 in 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 December Issue.