"Now that I 'm getting older, I start thinking about it more. In 10 years, am I going to be one of those guys that 's suffering?" Denver Broncos defensive end Vonnie Holliday. Concussions, in the NFL, should be taken more seriously. It may cause depression, may lead to serious health issues, and it may cause domestic violence. Concussions in the NFL may lead to depression. Concussions are detrimental to the life of a football player. Studies conclude that risk for depression is greater for the players who have been through trauma to the head. For instance, “According to the data, players who’d had three to four concussions had twice the risk of clinical depression as players who had no history of concussions. Players who had five or more …show more content…
In the first study, the researchers compared depression scores of 34 retired NFL players with those of 29 similar people with no history of concussion. “On average, the former football players reported having experienced four concussions, and they were more likely than the people without concussions to show depressive symptoms, not just in their mood and thinking skills but in physical ways as well” (Blue, …show more content…
Concussions in the NFL may lead to serious long-term health issues. A concussion does not simply vanish. It will be embedded in its victim’s brain and will change a person’s life forever. For example, “A recent breakthrough in the detection of brain pathology related with these injuries was developed by researchers from UCLA, who were successfully able to identify abnormal tau proteins in retired NFL players using a brain-imaging tool - a protein also associated with Alzheimer 's” (Nordqvist, 3). This study done at UCLA is a powerful resource to the harsh effects of repeated head trauma. There is proof that these tau proteins are anomalous and should not be in the professional football player’s brain. It is no coincidence that these proteins are found in the NFL players. According to Boston University, “However, recent reports have been published of neuropathologically confirmed CTE in retired professional football players and other athletes who have a history of repetitive brain trauma. This trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the build-up of an abnormal protein called tau.” This quote may substantiate that tau proteins are found during a football game where there are periodic impacts to the brain. Alzheimer 's, a very serious and detrimental disease, is associated with these tau proteins. This puts NFL players at a great risk to get this disease. Alzheimer’s is not the only disease or health issue resulting from concussions. The
This paper will go into detail about the mental and physical health effects of CTE and address what the NFL is doing to reduce concussions. CTE affects players not just mentally but also physically. One out of every three NFL players are affected by CTE and it is becoming a bigger issue everyday. CTE used to not be as common in football payers, but more in boxers, it was very common due to various amounts of headshots taken by the
This looks inside the brains of player’s which allows for scientists to detect black spots which are broken down tau protein (“Aaron Hernandez’s”). The images of Hernandez’s brain showed black spots. This happens due to the players head being smashed continuously (“Aaron Hernandez’s”). Despite the fact that Dr. Ann McKee could not confidently say that the CTE caused these violent behaviors, due to the rising number of cases of NFL it is clear that CTE is linked to these kinds of issues. Since the 2017-2018 NFL season started, there have been more than 280 concussions in the NFL.
Only 50 of all of these concussions were self-reported be players (Jones). This emphasizes that there are many concussions in the NFL and it doesn’t seem to be decreasing. Also, it points out that only 50 out of the 281 cases were self-reported and implies that most players would play through the concussion or don’t even know they have one. These concussions can accumulate and cause many neurological diseases to form like Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy, more commonly known as CTE. It is even debatable that even one concussion can give you neurological diseases or disabilities.
Concussions are a serious problem in football, for future athletes, and we need to solve it now. Problem with Concussions The dangers of life in the National Football League made headlines in 2009, when a study by the NFL found that retired players were 20 times more likely than other males to get memory problems. The obvious reason for this: concussions. Concussions
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.
When the hit occurred everyone watching the game knew Cam Newton had suffered a concussion. We all watched in awe as he continued to play, wobbly from the dramatic trauma that had occurred from the previous hit to his head. Collisions like these are the reason that many think the National Football League is nearing an end in the immediate future, as people become more aware of the trauma caused by concussions. This is why the National Football League needs to more strictly enforce their concussion protocol to preserve player’s future health. Not until recently has the National Football League really started cracking down on how players and teams should deal with players who are assumed to have suffered a concussion.
With the movie "Concussion" appearing in theatre 's last December, I took it upon myself to dive deeper into the subject. This time with the same concept, but with a different group of football players. More specifically, the young football players in which the injuries received, being both minor and major injuries, contributes to the development of their brain structures. Within each hit these young players take, the still growing brain comes to a halt every time the team makes a tackle that damages the brain further than most humans do throughout their lifetime. Many different scientists have been conducting experiments to provide proof of how concussions can cause a decline in lifespan of young football players.
Concussions are an increasingly hot topic in sports. No sport is immune to concussion. Though certain sports have higher risks of head trauma, all athletes are put at a risk. Although sports can be enjoyable, stress relieving, competitive, and a way of staying physically fit, awareness for the injury has soared over the years. Being the MVP of an all star sports team is a breathtaking title that only all players of adroitness can dream of.
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.
The constant concussions leaves a players mind in a state of depression. According to the research, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, National Football League (NFL) players surveyed who had sustained three or more concussions were three times as likely to develop clinical depression as players who had not suffered concussions. Having suffer depression can also lead to having thoughts of death and committing suicide. Former Eagles defensive back, Andre Waters committed suicide in 2006 with a gunshot to the head. He suffered form depression
Firstly Minnpost states “ football has the highest injury rate of any teamsport aged nine through twelve who has played football experiences an average of 240 head impacts during a single season. Parents and new televisions has spoken and has notice since events happening in football has caught them that football is a rough-housing sport. Since children ages nine through twelve are more likely to get hit in the head, show teens are manufacturing that this could be a rough sport for them to play may lead to a problem. In addition, Boston University School of Medicine states “ the study lead by Boston University involved forty-two retired NFL players, aged forty through sixty-nine who had experienced memory and thinking problems since playing football in the NFL for some point of their life. Colleges and Medicine research are trying to see what causes these concussions and deaths from football that shows that this could lead to more further research.
Athletes who have had a concussion have a higher chance of developing Parkinson's and could suffer attention deficits
An online survey of 1,000 people conducted by ESPN in Northern California of early August did find that 57 percent of parents said the concussion problem made them less likely to let their sons play in youth leagues (Emmons, 2012). Over 3,200 retired NFL players have sued the NFL over the long-term effects of their head trauma days. Through suing the NFL they seek compensation for the information that was withheld from them about their protection. Studies show that concussions represent almost 9 percent of injuries in nine major high school sports. Although football is a rather violent sport it can still be while relatively safe when coached and monitored properly.
Athletes who have a prior concussion face greater risks of developing critical symptoms of concussions and that can lead to slow recovery (Agel and Harvey 319–323). On some instances, concussion can lead to permanent damage and can even become
Extreme. Exciting. Dangerous. As seen in the article “Hard Knocks” by Gabriel Charles Tyler and in the video “Concussion Hazards in Youth Football”, football along with other physical contact programs are causing concussions. These concussions lead to long lasting negative effects such as thinking and memory problems.