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A new study shows that hits to the head, not concussions, cause CTE

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Researchers examined the brains of four teenagers and found signs of CTE. (Image courtesy of Boston University)

A new study has found further evidence linking hits to the head rather than concussions to the onset of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the neurodegenerative disease traced back to the kind of head trauma experienced by football players, other athletes and combat veterans.

“The concussion is really irrelevant for triggering CTE,” Dr. Lee Goldstein, an associate professor at Boston University School of Medicine and College of Engineering, and a corresponding author of the study, told The Post. “It’s really the hit that counts.