Persuasive Essay: Concussions In Football

Professional football presents dangers of concussions, needs to convey awareness regarding these dangers, and to bring the long term effects to light.

As technology continues to advance and scientists begin to understand more about the long term effects of sports injuries, one increasingly frightening topic for athletes at all levels--high school, collegiate, and professional--is the concussion. Nearly every contact sport yields the possibility of trauma to the head. What does a rough body check from an opposing hockey team, a stray 95 mph pitch to the side of the head, a soccer header, and a dangerous tackle in football all have in common? Yes, you guessed it: the possibility for a concussion. But before we explore the possible effects of repeated concussions over a sports career, let’s first define a concussion. ConcussionTreatment.com defines a concussion as “a complex pathophysiological

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. The limit was once higher but with the new technology they found out how dangerous concussions actually

Head to head contact is a very serious matter. Kids, adults, and everyone in between are getting hurt in football due to the hard hits they take either in practice or games. The goal is to make football safer but people are still getting hurt and even killed. There are new helmets coming out every year but still not eliminating the problem.

Should football rules ban tackling? Tackling football should not be banned because concussions can stop a player from playing, but it’s a personal choice to play football. Just a couple months ago there was football player ruled out name Brandin Cooks remained out for the remaining of the super bowl on February 4, 2018. Tackling should not be banned because it’s a person chooses to play the sport also the person who chooses to make helmet to helmet that person has to pay the hospital fee.Tackling football should not be banned because concussions can stop a player from playing, but it’s a personal choice to play football in bad conditions.

In case you weren't already aware, though you might've been, football is one of, if not the, leading causes of head/sports-related injuries. Like what's said in the above paragraph, in 2005 to 2006, over 500,000 head injuries were recorded nationally, "nationally" being in the U.S. Researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Policy conducted a study to compare injuries (that word's getting redundant, isn't it?) among high

In the past few years, the number of concussions per year has only spiked. The NFL calls it a “cultural change” in that the staff are more willing to report head injuries instead of neglecting them. However, to many like Christopher Nowinski- one of the founders of the Concussion Legacy foundation- this increase just shows that the NFL does not care to prevent head injuries, only treat them when they are developed. The number of concussions between the 2013 and 2014 season actually increased by 58

Concussions are becoming a very common injury in sports. 244 People got a concussion in the NFL in the 2016 season. That number is down compared to 275 in 2015 but up from 206 in 2014 and 229 in 2013. I still believe we could get those numbers down even more. If we have the best helmets possible and teach everybody how to tackle right from the beginning we will have very few concussions. People not having concussions will benefit our whole community. People with diseases caused by concussion could have to have somebody care for them. Having to care for them can take up their time to do something amazing in the world.

High school athletes that partake in a sport that requires intense physical activity are the most vulnerable to concussion and need more time to recover. According to the Head Case “High school football accounts for 47 percent of all reported sports concussions, with 33 percent of concussions occurring during practice.” This alarming percentage shows the more attention is required to keeping young athletes safe during game and in practice. By understanding the role of concussions can play in high school sports, the coaches and the athletes can take the right the steps to help prevent these problems from happening.

After researching this topic extensively as well as talking to Dr. Peter Deluca who now acts as the head team physician for the Philadelphia Eagles I have come to the conclusion that concussions are a problem that are not controllable by the NFL. Dr. Deluca explained that these athletes are using the most up to date technology in the world as far as their padding and helmets go and unless hitting is completely eliminated from the NFL concussions is a problem that you will see not only within the NFL but also with every contact sport. Major traumatic brain injuries are something that needs to be taken more seriously especially in youth sports as well as in highs school. I strongly believe that there is more that the NFL can do to help protect these athletes and these athletes should be compensated for the injures that they sustain over the course of a given career. Some other things that I believe that NFL should consider to make the game safer include, Eliminating kickoffs, having a mandatory sit out period after sustaining a major traumatic brain injury, having more support programs for athletes who suffer from concussion issues such as short and long term memory loss and PTSD and lastly, Larger fines for helmet to helmet hits. I think that the team physicians do everything in their power possible to help protect their players but integrity and honesty should be something that they should really demand from these players. Not lying about injuries and allowing the doctors to do their jobs can help reduce the number of concussions by a great deal in hopes that one day we see a game that both the fans and athletes can enjoy equally still while playing at the highest level.

You finally get a day off from work. You decide to go watch your sons’ football game, since he has been begging you to come to one for months. Everything is going great at the game, your son plays amazingly. All of a sudden your son is tackled, and is now lying on the ground screaming in pain. You run to him as he is surrounded by people trying to help. Over 147,000 youth football players suffered from concussions in the 2013-2014 school year. Although, the article “Should kids Play Football?” states that “Young athletes learn discipline, focus, teamwork—skills that will help them be successful later in life.” Football is too dangerous of a sport. Football players are at a high risk for concussions,

Mostly because there is no definitive answer to what causes the amount of reported concussions to rise or fall over the years. Regardless there is more research needed, and the NFL is conducting further research to better address the issue of

The price tag for NFL is a couple hundred million dollars(Zimmerman). Over 40% of NFL that is not playing anymore have characteristics of having a severe injury to the brain. The NFL found that it was 271 concussions in 2015 (Burdick). Eighteen people have died while playing football in 1905 but there was a gathering that made changes to guaranteed players safety. This is why people need to have the proper gear. "By the time they get to high school, kids have a 5% chance of sustaining a concussion for each season they play" (Zimmerman). If they choose to keep playing football then they will eventually end up with a brain concussion or brain damage. Over the years 65-80% of head injuries go unnoticed ("Stopping the..."58).  Football player ignore the fact that it is just a headache. Hospitals took 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009 dramatically increased because of concussions ("Injuries in...").    People participating in sports any sports besides football has about 50% of all concussions; players that do not participate in football also have a risk. However, people could fall or get hit you still can get concussion. People who have concussion or had more than one concussion

Concussions have always been a problem in contact sports. Unfortunately, high school football is no exception. In fact, high school football is the worst of all contact sports when dealing with concussions. According to “Sports Concussion Statistics,” 47% of all reported sports concussions occur during high school football. This is an alarming statistic that has caused companies like Riddell to search for a solution. According to an article titled “Riddell Unveils Overhauled New Football Helmet SpeedFlex,” the solution may be closer than ever. Just recently, Riddell came out with a new football helmet called the SpeedFlex. Like the Revolution Speed and Riddell 360 helmet, this helmet was designed to reduce the impact of head-to-head concussions.

Today, concussions have become perhaps the most complicated issue facing the NFL. The NFL is trying to find ways to help prevent players from receiving a concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions. Since football involves a heavy amount of contact, players can easily be put in a position where they could receive a concussion. The NFL is trying to prevent concussions because multiple concussions can really damage a player’s brain, which in the long run can give players some serious emotional and physical issues. Too many hits to the head can cause brain disease, as we have seen in some former NFL players, like Dave Duerson.