Shane Tuck chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnosis rings alarm bells after no repeated head knocks

The fact Shane Tuck wasn’t repeatedly knocked out on the football field has alarm bells ringing about the serious long-term impact of apparently minor hits. The chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) diagnosis of Tuck, who died last July, shows the “real challenge” of head knocks in the AFL and world of sport, one of Australia’s top sports medicos says. Tuck has become the third top-level footballer to be diagnosed with the crippling neurological disease linked to repeated head knocks, following the diagnoses of WA legend Graham Farmer and Danny Frawley. The former Richmond player died aged 38, and after his death his family donated his brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank. The Brain Bank found that Tuck had the worst case of CTE it had seen. Tuck, pictured with wife Katherin at the 2009 Brownlow Medal count, did not have a playing history of major concussions, and Dr Peter Larkins said this latest case highlighted the worrying fact that CTE can be caused even when players aren’t repeatedly knocked out. “This is where the concept of subconcussion comes in,” Dr Larkins said. “A subconcussion is a concussion that isn’t apparent to the fans at home and may not be obvious to the medical staff, where a guy gets a heavy bump and his head shakes. “He doesn’t stagger, he doesn’t come off the ground. So what the medical research is saying is that if you get a lot of these subconcussions you can develop CTE. “So there is a real challenge to do something when you don’t even need to be fully concussed.” Dr Larkins said the AFL, which he said was conscious of head protection, should expect more confirmed CTE cases to emerge. “Our awareness of the risk of CTE has been growing over the past few years, so on one hand it is not surprising that these cases are emerging,” he said. “We have had Danny Frawley and Polly Farmer prior to this and I think we are going to have more unfortunately because this is going to be a part of the research world sport is doing, not just the AFL. “It is a huge concern, along with mental health. It is probably the biggest challenge facing world sport and the AFL and any other sport where head injury occurs.” Dr Larkins said the AFL had been proactive in rule changes to protect players with their head over the ball, but it may have to consider boosting funding for research into CTE. “Funding for research is key, as it is in the medical world generally, so I think the AFL may need to increase its funding and it is also needs external funding — it is not just up to the AFL to do this,” he said. “But how do we stop blokes running into each other, how are we going to stop blokes from JUtaking high marks and landing awkwardly,” he said. “We have already gotten rid of the sling tackle, we’ve taken out the behind-the-play hit, we have taken out the head over the ball front-on (contact).”