Hi Ryan,
I was strictly commenting on the original thread starting post. I did not see the Real Sports episode brought up so I cannot comment on it. I would find it highly unlikely that repeated head trauma have a direct causative effect for the development of ALS. There is no solid medical evidence that I am aware of to suggest otherwise, and it wouldn't explain why individuals without a history of head trauma develop it.
My interpretation of the article is that it is suggesting that there were many people--prior to the advent of medical technology--who were misdiagnosed with ALS, when in fact they had chronic concussive syndrome. This phenomena does occur quite frequently in medicine, especially when a high profile individual gets a little known or rare diagnosis--mainly because of the publicity the rare disease gets, so docs and the general public become more aware.
I'll look into viewing that Real Sports episode and post here after doing so.
Thanks
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