The Dangers Of Concussions In Football

Every year, more than 3.5 million children under the age 14 need treatment for sports injuries, with nearly half of all sports injuries for middle and high school students caused by overuse(Inetwork, 2017). This means that kids are being worked out to hard and play too much. Kids should not have to practice their sports everyday. 1.35 million kids a year get a serious injury from playing sports that are too competitive. It is getting to a point where the kids are not even having fun when they are playing sports, they are just playing it to win.

This particular type of injury can slow brain development in a young child. Many more safety precautions in football are constantly implemented to ensure the safety of children across the nation. Youth football players sustain concussions in practice

This violence can lead to violence off of the football field. In recent years, football players have had the most domestic violence cases. Not only being around a violent atmosphere causes it. Concussions and other head injuries can lead to violent behavior. We do not need this in our world.

High school football holds many peoples’ fondest memories, and teaches those involved important life lessons and values, but at what cost? Just during the 2005-2006 season, high school football players received more than half a million injuries nationally (“How Dangerous”). One seemingly unexpected danger of high school football is something that falls completely on the decisions made by coaches and players. If a player comes off of the field injured, often times they don’t want to let their team and coaches down by having

The main reasons they should be changed are because the game is resulting in injuries and deaths, negative long-term health consequences for players, and children not being allowed by their parents to play due to the dangers of the game. Currently, in the United States, there are approximately 1.5 million young people participating in organized football leagues. These people are playing one of the most dangerous sports and have a high probability of becoming injured as a result of the game. To discover the chance of becoming injured directly from football a study occurred at 100 Texas high schools. This study tested only high school football players.

The era of Football in America is slowly coming to a close. Football has been known as America’s sport next to baseball for many years now. The general physicality of every play isn’t(B3) matched by any other sport on the planet, and that is why football causes more injuries than any other sport on the professional, and youth levels. Parents are pulling their kids from their teams, even in the middle of the season because of the information that has been released over the past decade illuminating a big problem for the game. This problem is called concussions.

The most common causes of concussions in sports is football, rugby, hockey, and basketball. Loss of consciousness is thought to occur in less than 10% of head injuries. Brain trauma affects one out of three people in the national football league.In 2012 the stats of diagnosed concussions were 261, in 2013 they went down to 229, in 2014 concussions decreased to 206, in 2015 there were 275 diagnosed concussions and 2016 is decreased to 244. More concussions occur later on in the year. Half of the concussions are caused by contact with another helmet.

Severe Injuries in High School Football Why are there more injuries in high school football than there are in higher levels football? Thousands, perhaps even millions, of high school football athletes have some sort of devastating injury every fall during football season. Injuries such as concussions and neck and back injuries are gruesome. Other ligamental injuries torn meniscus, torn MCL, LCL, or ACL leave players questionable and heart broken not knowing if they can play again. Broken necks, and other fractured bones including: Ankle, Clavicle, Femur, Fibula, Humerus, Pelvis, Radius, Spine, Tibia, etc.

When playing football, players experience big, powerful and painful hits. About 7,500 hits that youth players experience, 8% are high magnitude (Robach). Think about this, 40 G’s is the hardest amount of force someone can take from a car crash and still be able to walk away with no sort of injuries (Robach), yet parents allow their 7 and 8 year olds to receive hits of 80 G’s, that is the same force college players are dealt with when playing (Scott and Don). Little kids are getting hit the same way and same force grown men are when they play football, this is a huge problem. The hits kids experience or have faced should be taken into account when parents decide if their child should step on a football field.

“An estimated 1.6-3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur in the United States each year, although the true figure is unknown because most concussions are not recognized and reported. Players in collision sports such as American football may experience many more subconcussive impacts throughout a season and career” (Stern 460). The people at risk for concussions and CTE range from amature athletes to professional athletes and even highly trained military personnel. The cause and effects of concussions and CTE are becoming more prevalent in all levels of athletics, however athletes themselves are still slow to acknowledge them and take themselves out of the game in order to allow their brain to heal. There are millions of athletes participating in contact sports as well as military troops who are at risk for repetitive brain trauma.