In 1984 Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson disease, a degenerative neurological disorder that is characterized by the onset of tremor, muscle rigidity, slowness in movement (bradykinesia), and stooped posture (postural instability). Although there was public speculation that Ali’s condition had resulted from blows to the head, doctors who treated him stated that his symptoms were caused by Parkinson disease. His condition differed from chronic traumatic encephalopathy in that he did not suffer from injury-induced intellectual deficits. (CTE was originally was known as dementia pugilistica, a term introduced in the 1920s and ’30s to describe mental and motor deficits associated with repeated head injury in boxers.)
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