Concussions In Sports

Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States and has brought the talk of concussions into the spotlight. A movie was recently created called Concussion to raise public awareness and educate its viewers on the seriousness and severity of head trauma that occurs in the NFL. In total, there are 1,696 players in the NFL, which reported 271 concussions in 2015 alone.1 Concussions have become an important issue because it leads to the condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is also known as CTE, and in recent years the National Football League settled a lawsuit that was brought on by 4,500 former players for concussion-related injuries.2 CTE has been diagnosed in

    Concussions are a very big health problem in sports in the modern era and is now being noticed all over the world. Concussions were previously known to not carry any serious impact later in life. Players who have played pro or college level sports for long periods of time

Every athlete is affected in some way of the risk of receiving a concussion during practice or in the game from the youth level up to the professional level of play. I will focus more on my topic about concussion in athletes on the football at all levels. How Center of Diseases Control of Prevention (CDC), has created a level of course training for coaches and administrators so they will be knowledgeable of what to do if a concussion occurs whether during practices or game day. How to use the return to play rules to keep the athletes from more injury. Because most sport start at the youth program, the focus has been placed heavily on prevention at the youth and high school levels. Educating youth athletes is the most

Concussions are currently one of the most debated, studied and controversial subjects among all levels of athletics. This dangerous brain condition has only been properly studied and monitored for a brief period of time, and until recently, the dangerous side effects of concussions were not among the public eye. Issues such as dementia, migraines and depression are among the issues that those who suffer concussions are at risk for. Looking into the culture of athletics, the mindset that is driven into young athletes from an early age all the way throughout their entire athletic career, no matter the level, to see if there is a correlation between the values that they are taught and their history of possible concussions and concussion

Many of these athletes, were at the pinnacle of their careers, the faces of their franchises and leagues. Troy Aikman, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, is one great example; he suffered eleven concussions, in his twelve seasons as a pro. Another famous quarterback from the same era as Aikman, Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers, also suffered several major concussions in his fifteen year career as an NFL quarterback. At his retirement speech, Steve Young had this to say, “ The fire still burns, but not enough for the stakes.” Young was speaking on the concussions and their potential side effects.

But recently we’ve also seen and heard more of a disease that is hurting players within the NFL. It’s causing present and former players to file lawsuits against the NFL and Riddell- NFL’s official partner and the largest football-helmet manufacturer. The real issue with concussions is that lives are at stake. This tragic fact become clear in 2006 when former Philadelphia Eagle star Andre Warner committed suicide by shooting himself. Studies on his brain later showed that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A form of brain damage from repeated blows to the head and results in demetria. This disease was first seen from pathologist Bennet Omalu who tried to spread the awareness throughout football players even though the NFL had tried to block his research and “deny the existence of the disease.”(NFl’s answer to concussions: Sports science) The NFL has now even estimated the one-third of its former players will develop dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or other types of debilitating neurological disorders such as Parkinson”s disease and ALS. But head injuries can be found in young children up to major league players. According to Game Changers Stefan Duma has recorded more than 150,000 head impacts that football players have endured from the age of seven to the Virginia Tech Hokies football team. In The Helmet That Can Save Football professional football players may receive up to 1,500 hits to

“Meh, what’s some brain damage gonna hurt”, was a quote that ultimately lead to the death of John McCrae athlete, Rowan Stringer. She was known to be a “leader” and an “amazing rugby player” on her school varsity rugby team according to various sources. The concept that shocks me the most is that she died from second impact syndrome, revealing her brave, yet poor decision that resulted in her unfortunate death. As you can see, concussions can be life threatening. In order to appropriately handle a concussion, one must be aware of the symptoms of a concussion, how to deal with concussions, and the consequences of concussions.

Psychology Professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Louis De Beaumont, Benoit Brisson, Maryse Lassonde and Pierre Jolicoeur wrote “Long-term electrophysiological changes in athletes with a history of concussions” to inform certain individuals about the long-term effects that are associated with one or multiple concussions. Although De Beaumont’s article is strictly addressed to people in the medical or psychology fields, Jonathan C. Edwards and Jeffery D. Bodle wrote “Causes and Consequences of Sport Concussions” to inform active and former players of contact sports, coaches, trainers, and physicians of the consequences and many different effects of concussions. “Long-term electrophysiological changes in athletes with a history

I believe that athletes should be able to stay out longer because it would get them extra time to heal. In the article it states once an athlete gets a concussion they are 3 times more likely to get another one. It is important for the athlete to have a good recovery.

According to SCI, a concussion is defined as a complex pathophysiological process that affects the brain (SCI, 2016). A concussion is commonly known as a mild traumatic brain injury, often sustained in sports, falls, motor vehicle accidents, assault, and other incidents (Cornell, 2015). A blow or jolt to the head that disrupts the normal function of the brain (Brainline, 2015).

Recently there has been a focus on concussions in contact sports, primarily football. Collaboration between athletic associations, safety councils, and the national football league has developed policies on how to provide a safe environment for athletes. The first goal is prevention of head injuries in contact sports, and the second goal is to identify and respond quickly to head injuries in order to diagnose in a timely manner.

It is a problem when athletes and coaches are hiding concussions from their athletic trainer, so that the athlete is able to keep playing in a game. Some coaches even get mad at athletic trainers for taking out their players for what they think is just a “headache”. Most do not know the dangers of keeping a concussed athlete in the game. Between high school football and women’s soccer athletes, that sixty-nine percent of concussed athletes reported playing with symptoms, of those athletes, forty percent reported that their coach was not aware of their concussion (Rivara et al., 2014). In a research study a cumulative concussion incidence of one fall season resulted in 11.1% concussed women’s soccer athletes and 10.4% football athletes.

In most contact sports, protective gear is worn to protect injury-prone areas. Helmets are important and required in several sports, and their structures have been modified over time to increase their effectiveness in prevention of head injury. The new helmet standards enforced in 1959 are attributed for the great decrease in intracranial hemorrhage and death noted by Heck et al. (2004) between 1959 and 1963. Interestingly, however, a concurrent increased in spinal cord injury was observed during this time, by 204%, with cervical quadriplegia increasing by 116%. The mechanism of this injury, as previously discussed, is spearing, which players must have felt more confident attempting due to the helmet modifications. This conjecture identifies

A concussion is traumatic injury to soft tissue, usually the brain, as a result of a violent

In recent years, the number of soccer injuries among players has increased. Soccer injuries can be extreme. Injuries cannot always be prevented, especially in contact sports. There are ways to help decrease the amount and make soccer safer, but it must be intentional. Soccer is dangerous in many ways. It causes concussions, fractures, torn muscles and other dangerous injuries to parts of your body.