Sports Related Concussions In Sports

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.

The seriousness of sports related concussions have been brought to the forefront in recent years. New concussion legislation along with new rules and regulations have been implemented around the country. In effort to reduce the amount of concussions greater awareness, action plans, and policies have been put in place for many sports--especially contact sports such as football. However, despite these actions the amount of sports related concussions have not seen a significant decrease. I propose a detailed analysis of current concussion policies and action plans implemented in recent years with an emphasis on football.

In recent years concern has been raised for the staggering concussion rate in soccer, particularly women’s soccer. Although most attention has been put on football, people should be just as concerned about soccer. Doctors are finding that soccer is the second leading cause of concussions. Following right behind the contact sport football. Although soccer is not normally perceived as a contact sport it is producing a high number of injuries and the most concerning injury taking place is concussions.

Professional football in one completed study pertained to be the highest concussions among individuals who had reported to have zero to five plus concussions. Football was compared to professional men’s ice hockey and professional men’s rugby. Rugby reported more concussions in players compared to players in hockey. The only number value to be higher than footballs was rugby ’s account of having approximately fifteen men suffering from six or more concussions (Gouttebarge, Aoki, Lambert, Stewart, & Kerkhoffs, 2017).

Contact sports involve touching, hitting, or banging other children, which is often why children get hurt in these sports. Among teens, concussions and death have happened. While these sports increase the strength of teenagers as they partake in a school activity, the risk of injury and death is great. The health benefits of contact sports do not outweigh the risks of playing them.   The leading causes of death and accidents in sports are caused by concussions.

Recently, researchers in a new study found that the effects of concussion could last for much longer than what scientists had previously guessed. After clinical recovery from concussions, we have seen a lot of athletes who still have reduced blood flow to the brain. Normally, sports-related concussions are judged based on the symptoms and through neurological tests. According to research from the Medical College of Wisconsin, athletes have decreased blood flow in the brain long after they appeared to recover from a brain injury. Despite these findings, the study did not reveal why blood flow will remain at lower levels after a person has experienced a concussion.

In todays’ sports society there are a lot of issues that tend to come up and become very popular. A huge one that caught my eye that has become a great issue in today’s society is concussions within the National Football League. The documentary that I found upon this subject was on PBS Frontline titled “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis”. In the documentary there were a multitude of problems and cases that were covered within the concussion aspect and the possibilities that have happened due to

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.

The topic I chose to present on is that of concussion in sports. Consequently, in this multi-genre project you will see many different types of genres presented throughout Each genres is something that allows the reader to see the more human and scientifically side of disorder. The human side will allow you as a reader to be able to connect with the people in the stories that are presented. The scientific part show how a Concussion can occur and the symptoms of one. Moreover this is something that needs to be know

Research Project: NFL Concussions The project that I decided to research was concussions in sports, focusing on the National Football League. Though the NFL is famously known for being hammered with controversy surrounding concussions, they are trying to improve the health and safety measures to prevent them from happening, and to protect players. These measures are usually tagged with a term called “Concussion protocol”. This term has been thrown around for years by announcers, coaches, players, and probably the most by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.