The sport of football has been evolving to help prevent head injuries. One way that football tries to prevent that is by giving all players a concussion limit. Meaning that you can only get so many head injuries. The limit to how many concussions is 5. Once a player has 5 concussions they are not able to play any more full contact sports for the rest of their life.
Imagine yourself running with a football amidst a game, trying to make your way to the endzone and then suddenly, Pow! You are hit by a defender and knocked back down to the ground. The world around you turns blurry as you approach the bench in your dizzy state, as you realize you have suffered a concussion. Football is one of the many popular sports which is officially played in high schools. Many of the young adults that play the game suffer from injuries such as concussions, making the sport a highly debated topic on whether it is safe for young athletes to play the game.
Some may say that football is a sport where injuries are expected and whoever decides to play the sport needs to take that into consideration.Physicality is all part of the game. I don't think you can take away all the contact and forcible head hits out of this game. Many players and former players accept that. While we all love safety, at some point football has got to be football. This explains how some of these rule changes take away the main aspect of football.
Many have heard about concussions especially in the NFL. As of today, the NFL, a professional football league, has become the number one spectator sport in the United States. Despite its popularity, one out of the biggest problems occur to players are concussions. A concussion is a brain injury involving a head-on Collision. The brain inside the head literally bounces back and forth when a head on collision occurs.
Head Injuries In American Football Since the beginning of American football, concussions have been a big problem with players in high school, college, and the National Football League. Concussions have led to the end of many players football careers and in some cases, their lives. People that are in college and the NFL continue, playing even though they are risking their lives just for a little fame. Today football players play the game to make money and just because of their love for the sport. Football concussions can lead to brain injuries or other serious health issues that can be fatal.
No amounts of training or the proper safety equipment can stop injuries to the head and neck area of these athletes(“Our”). New studies suggest that more than 90% of athletes get injured at some point in their career. Of those, 54% say that they have played through an injury. Additionally, 37% have sustained joint sprains and 12% have reported concussions, although many go unreported for the fear of resentment from coaches and other players. In 2012, 163,670 student-athletes ranging from middle through high school, were seen in emergency rooms for concussions.
However, these injuries tend to occur less in the field which implies they mainly occur later outside the field. The American Journal of sports of Medicine has in fact reported that in almost a thousand High School footballs, four of them have had brain injuries. The research done therefore indicates that in every 1,000 games around four players were injured. The public has come to learn that most of these injuries occur in High Schools hence it’s surprising and shocking. Young boys suffer from concussions while trying to lift their organizations.
If the problem that I picked can be solved, it will affect many football players. In this paper I’ll be focusing on their helmets, The helmets that they wear are a crucial part to their protection. On average football players receive about 1.6 million to 3.8 million concussions in a year. I believe that If we engineer new equipment, then these numbers will drop significantly. Concussions occur way to much in sports, A concussion is when the brain hits the sides of the skull and causes damage to the brain.
The danger of concussions are very high in football, but helmet safety has reduces the risks of concussion. Helmets is one of the big deal in the 50s. “Awareness of this sporting context in particular can be surmised from a 1958 paper on helmet design, and concussive blows to the head as causes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy” (Casper). In the 50s there wasn’t may changes until over time on head traumatic. A couple of years later helmets were starting to develop and safer and better.
An estimated 3.8 million recreational and athletic concussions occur annually in the United States, according to statistics in 2012 (Concussion and Sports). Concussions are high on the rise and make athletes very vulnerable and prone to them. Among male athletes, sports resulting in the most concussions include football, ice hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, and soccer. For female athletes, soccer, lacrosse, and basketball were recorded for the sports that resulted in the most concussions. Youth athletes who have suffered one concussion, onset greater chances of experiencing more.