Brain Trauma In Sports

HEAD TRAUMA IN CONTACT SPORTS The popularity of contact sports in the United States exposes a large number of players (Ranging from kids to professionals) to potential brain injuries. 300,000 sports-related head injuries, most which are concussions, occur in the United States each year. Federal court documents show that one third of NFL retirees are expected to develop long-term cognitive problems, and conditions are more likely to emerge at younger ages that the general population. Recurring trauma to the brain can be serious or fatal and may not take to medical treatment. However, Brain injuries are preventable.

Claimed by NCAA, “Thus, based on the nonspecificity of symptoms, there is some controversy about the validity of a “post-concussion syndrome.” In general, when athletes continue to be significantly symptomatic beyond the three- to four-week recovery period, the symptoms could be more influenced by psychological factors than the original physiological factors associated with the injury.” (Putukian). Multiple tests are demanded to be completed by doctors before athletes can begin playing on the field again. Many athletes get disappointed and angered that they aren’t allowed to participate in sports, but concussions occur throughout the head causing athletes to take it out on themselves more mentally. While both injuries are unfavorable, ACL tends to focus on more physical effect more than mental. As indicated in a journal, “A 2006 American Journal of Sports Medicine study showed that 21% of NFL players never return to play after ACL injury.

Injuries Knee-d Attention Have you ever heard of “Silent Epidemic”? Or wondered why so many players are missing? Some coaches may deny it, but you know it 's true. Injuries are to common in Football. In 2010 alone, nearly 10.4 million visits to the doctor 's office were caused by knee injuries in football.

Over many years the anterior cruciate ligament or the ACL has become to have higher risk of being injured, because of sports becoming more popular over the years. Every year in the United States, over one-hundred thousand people tear their Anterior Cruciate Ligaments, mostly resulting from hardcore sports where you have to possibly cut, pivot or plant your foot, like football and basketball are sports in which a lot of athletes every year tear their ACL’s. Many serious athletes that tear their ACL usually opt to have immediate surgery on it. If they want to get back to the game as quickly as possible, they will have it reconstructed. After surgery, it may possibly take six to nine months to recover to full activity.

Even though it makes sense, it is not something we know for sure, accidents happen all the time and there is no way to know that the players will be a 100% safe. For this reason, high schoolers shouldn 't risk themselves so much, an accident could happen at any time and they could have injuries that could affect the rest of their lives. In the article, "How Dangerous Is High School Football?" by Nationwide Children 's Hospital, they agreed that high school players have more risks by quoting, "High school players have greater proportions of the more severe

There are some common injuries also like: injuries in the knee also concussions and injuries in the hip, arm and shoulder. (sports injuries A to Z) Did you know there are over 8.1 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures. 58% football players have concussions every two years!!! Also there

College athletes are not professional athletes; subsequently, the sport an athlete participates in is not all they do all day, every day. These athletes also have their college classes that they must attend and keep their grades high in if they wish to continue playing their sport of choice. Currently, the NCAA has restrictions on how long a student athlete can practice per week, which as of right now is twenty hours per week (Jacobs). Even with these restrictions in place, colleges constantly exceed this limit in many sports, not just the sports that are bringing in revenue. The charts below show how long on average student athletes spend time either practicing a sport or competing in a sport.

One physical trauma that a veteran can experience from combat are burn wounds. Burn injury is a universal threat for most military personal who have experienced combat. Burns and injuries from shrapnel fragments or small fire arms are very common wounds (Borden Institute. The Textbooks of Military Medicine). Even with the protective factors the military uses today, such as Kevlar vests, burn wound victims are usually left with serious mutilations and handicaps from burns over body areas not protected by the vest.

"Over 517,726 football related injuries occurred in 2005-2006 across high schools in the United States", claimed by source 2. However, sports injuries are rare and typically do not put the athlete sports put athletes in harm's way. Source 2 claims that, many schools in the nation have a highly advanced training staff and coaches or at least trying to replicate how the NCAA handles equipment and injuries. With proper training and coaching, athletes lower their chances of getting injured in sports. Overall then, despite the possible injuries, the benefits of sports simply outweigh the potential

Concussions in football are a huge problem. Seven point four percent of injuries are concussions(national center for catastrophic sports injury research) and these injuries can change someone’s life. Head face and neck injuries are also issues and can be fatal injuries. Do you really want to join a game where you can be injured this much? Imagine the damage that would have been done to your brain if you had ten concussions!