Concussion Problems

The documentary Head Games directed by Steve James follows former football player and ex-wrestler, Chris Nowinski, on his mission to uncover the truth about the consequences of playing sports related to concussions. A concussion is a brain injury that you cannot see and where the brain moves around in the skull. More than 3.8 million concussions occur a year due to a sport. The documentary raises the question of whether protective head-gear should be worn in all contact sports. I believe a head is more likely to sustain more damage to the brain without a helmet than a head with a helmet.

The severity of concussions are not taken seriously enough due to the fact of cheap equipment being used, and because of the lack of proper diagnosis and unclear recovery process that can be linked to long term affects from concussions. Cheap equipment has been proven to lead and cause concussions and other head injuries. The NFL and Riddell are in a lawsuit right now because of not providing the proper equipment for players. The family of Junior Seau is suing the NFL and Riddell because the death of Junior was linked to a disease caused by multiple concussions and head blows (Shyr). During football season I suffered a concussion due to a cheap helmet that didn’t have enough padding and air in it.

learning function. When thinking of how this test is administrated in multiple atmospheres, one may wonder how assessable it is for the clinician. However, those who designed the BVMT-R had this in mind and made them easy to be handled and transported to various environments such as clinics, fields, courts, hospitals rooms, etc. Trail Making Test Form B (TMT-B) assesses the participant 's visual scanning, attention, mental flexibility, and visual-motor speed. The TMT-B requires the participant to draw a continuous line connecting circles in ascending order, alternating between number (1 through 13) and letter (A through K).

One major problem that many doctors have recognized is that concussions not only affect players while they are playing the game of football but their lives long after their career ends. Articles written by (Nancy Didehbani) and (Marshall Kerr) discussions how player’s brains functions long after their careers end. Some of the issues they found with concussions are Short and long term memory loss, prescription drug abuse and depression and in some of the worst cases, suicide (Kerr). Studies of the brain after a NFL athlete’s careers show strong correlations linked to concussions. Which raises the question should the NFL require players who are diagnosed with concussions during their playing careers receive therapy and treatment in order

An NFL football player will endure somewhere between 900 to 1500 blows to their head over the course of a single season. With an immense amount of blows like this comes an immense amount of damage to a player’s brain. This extensive amount of brain damage has been decided, by Dr. Bennet Omalu, to result in chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Over the course of these discoveries and much controversy, the NFL has been targeted, denied all accusations, done very few things to lessen the risk of concussions in football, and the risks and number of concussions have steadily increased throughout the league’s

Due to not wearing helmets and performing with a forceful nature, rugby players accumulated more concussions than hockey players.

The NFL and the Concussions Crisis For the past two decades, the world of contact sports, particularly American football, became controversial because of the increasing attention focused on the long-term consequences of concussions. This issue would enter a tug-of-war battle between business politics and scientific evidence. The scientific evidence on the long-term detrimental effects of concussions implies that football may be too dangerous for any individual. It is only logical that the National Football League (NFL) would protect the integrity of football and everything it encompasses.

Studies have concluded that not just one concussion increase the risk for subsequent concussions but rather a frequent history of concussions may lead to slower recovery functions. The risk of permanent brain injury each time you receive a concussion increases. Article #1 said that high school students alone are three times more likely to receive a second concussion if they experienced one the first season. The point that is being made is that the more frequent the concussions without time to recoup nor assess the damage proves to mine highly detrimental to athletes. This issue raises awareness to the importance of needed time for the players to have after being diagnosed with a

"Unlike a broken ankle, or other injuries you can feel with your hands, or seen on an x-ray, a concussion is a disruption of how the brain works”- USA Football (Kuwana, Ellen). You can say concussions are part of human nature; it happens every time, both in sports and daily life. Concussions are fatal injuries with possible long-term effects; it must be taken seriously, should not be stereotyped, as minor injuries and equipment must be improved through science in order to deal with the seriousness of concussions. This paper will discuss the basics of a concussion, prevention and treatment of concussions in football and lastly the social impacts of a concussion.

Throughout the years there has been an increase in the number of players with concussions in professional sports. Safety procedures such as ensuring equipment and head gear fit properly along with whenever a player is injured from head-to-head contact, they are examined by a physician for concussion like symptoms and or a concussion. According to Weill Cornell 's Concussion and Brain injury clinic, concussions may possibly have long lasting effects such as headaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating or completing tasks, irritability, and the sense that you “just do not feel like yourself”. Overall, additional rules an regulations need to be added to professional sports to prevent the risk of traumatic brain damage also known as concussions.

The regulatory history of the NFL demonstrates that “under circumstances in which caution would ordinarily characterize medical advice, concussions in football players have been regarded and treated differently from concussions in other settings” (Robeson and King 338). Concussions are brain trauma. Concussions are medical. Medically speaking, the same rules for concussions in other contact sports should be applied to football. There should be no difference, and the variations indicate significant gaps in the regulations provided by the NFL.

Although there is a lot more work to be done, the NFL and other leagues have taken a stance on the egregious situation that befalls those with concussions. There has been a recent decrease in the concussion rate due to the latest concussion protocol that the NFL and many other leagues have implemented that allow for professional trainers to look over players that are suspected of being concussed. Those players are not allowed to go back into the game if they still seem like they have a concussion, increasing the safety of those players who are unwilling to report a concussion for the purpose of being able to continue play. The enhanced detection and examination protocols have led to an 11.3 percent decrease in concussion rate. However, as stated previously, there is much more to do to eradicate concussions once and for all.

However, it is also important to note that a concussion can also take place outside of sports, meaning it can happen to anybody. For instance, there have been incidents where a person tripped while running, fell, and the impact of their head’s contact with the ground caused a concussion. Or, in a car accident many front-seat passengers, or even the driver, have slammed their heads against the dashboard/steering wheel, also possibly resulting in a concussion. Concussions when treated can be healed in a timely manner. Unfortunately, throughout history, there has been a tendency for people to overlook a concussion as a serious injury, therefore, making it more problematic than it already is.

With the scientific advancements this world has made we are now able to discover things we weren’t previously able to discover, and one of those things happens to be concussions. Concussions didn’t used to be a huge deal because there wasn’t enough information known about them. Doctors are now able to more easily identify and concussion and know the severity of it. Concussions can happen in just about any sport,

This precaution has saved many players from going back into the game and becoming more injured. Also, the NFL has reduced concussions by fining players for hitting players in defenseless positions. Although the number is dropping, 154 is a considerable amount of concussions. Some minor rules have been changed by the NFL to make the game more safe, however concussions are still happening. The heads are these professional players need to be protected more so the brain does not get damaged.