10 Things We Learned From Tony Hawk On The Joe Rogan Experience
1. CTE Is A Concern For Skateboarders
In the combat sports world that Rogan is so embedded in, Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is becoming a hot-button issue amongst fans and athletes, as evidence continues to mount that fighters are doing irreparable damage to their brains during their careers.
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation comes when Joe asks whether CTE is becoming prevalent in skateboarding given how often skaters suffer head injuries from high-impact bails, particularly in vert and big air skating where the stakes are literally so much higher.
Hawk mentions that he has suffered at least seven or eight concussions during his career, and has woken up in the ambulance completely unaware of what got him there on more than one occasion. Tony also explained that the worry about what effects being knocked out so many times led him to be tested for a gene which researchers believe makes people more susceptible to developing the degenerative condition which, luckily, he does not have.