> funkymustafa. "A CTE Primer for Martial Artists and Fighters." R/Martialarts, 16 Nov. 2019, <www.reddit.com/r/martialarts/comments/dxa35i/a_cte_primer_for_martial_artists_and_fighters/>. # A CTE Primer for Martial Artists and Fighters ^f74de6 CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is a disease of progressive brain degeneration triggered by repetitive head impact over a prolonged period. Currently, the only definitive way to identify CTE is through postmortem brain autopsy. It is incurable and progressive: once it begins, it will continuously grow worse and spread through the brain over the course of years, even in the absence of further head impact. CTE generally presents with four symptom clusters, which may show up in any combination - Behavioral: anger, aggression, loss of inhibition, agitation, apathy. - Cognitive: memory and forgetfulness issues, loss of decision making and judgment, loss of planning and organizational skills. - Dementia: basically, a level of overall mental and cognitive deterioration that makes it impossible to function independently on your own. It looks very similar to Alzheimer's, though it is a completely separate condition. - Motor impairment: loss of balance and motor control, falling, and Parkinson-like symptoms. The current scientific consensus is that your **total lifetime exposure of repetitive head impact** (RHI for short) is the single greatest risk factor for CTE. It's not the only factor, but it is the single most important one. This is NOT the same as your number of concussions, or number of times you have been KO'd. All head impact, from KO hits to subconcussive impacts, is going into the same "bucket". Duration, frequency, and intensity are the three core variables of RHI. How often are you sparring, how hard, and for how long? Make an individual decision on how much you are willing to adjust those variables. This is *by far* the most important change you can make. If you do not compete, decide whether there is any need for you to spar hard other than rare occasions.