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 to
Brian’s Song Essay (Football Concussions) Imagine you just hit the turf really hard in a football game. This is one way of getting a severe concussion which could lead to 2 weeks with no light. Concussions are a major problem in football and it needs to be fixed.
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
Concussions in sports are extremely common, especially in high contact sports like football and lacrosse where helmet to helmet contact is very high. Although helmet technology has drastically improved as there has been more concussion awareness the past decade, concussions are still one of the top injuries. A smart helmet that contains an electromagnetic field to repel helmet to helmet contact would significantly decrease the amount of head and neck trauma. The helmets will utilize opposite magnetic fields to ensure that when the helmets do get close together they will be repelled from each other. These smart helmets will contain the technology to determine the acceleration of the two people and determine the right amount of repel to expel
Since concussions still happen, physical therapists and athletic trainers still must find a way to help athletes deal with the injury. A plan must be developed to cope and manage a head injury. Concussions have had a tendency to cause lasting effects and this led the NFL to change the rules of the game as well as helped to develop plans to help manage the injury. The effects of a concussion when it happens are bad enough right? Well in this case, even players that have already retired are still having problems from their head injury.
Some of the tests revealed damage to the amygdala which controls mood. Additionally the NFL players scored much lower on memory tests, and had worse verbal skills (Hedin, 2015) 5. Due to the recent number of suicides & violent crimes committed by former players, there is more of a need to research the correlation between the head injuries in the NFL and brain disease even more C. Thesis Point 3: What steps the National Football league has taken to protect players long term health and safety 1. With the scrutiny the NFL has come under, they have developed a new protocol for the diagnoses and treatment of players with concussions 2. Under the new protocol, any player who exhibits sings of a concussion, even the most remote sign, must come out of the game and be checked out by the medical staff, they may not return to the same game if they undergo tests for concussion.
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
It 's the day after the super bowl, and kids across the nation will be waking up to a newfound interest in football. For many parents, that may be a scary thought. Football can often be a dangerous sport, and has caused many concussions in the NFL. "Certaintly, is a sport where we do see kids with concussions but there are many sports in which kids suffer concussions. Soccer is a sport, in which, kids on average suffer just as many concussions if not more concussions than football," said Dr. James Coleman.
As a result to raise awareness about concussions, the National College Player Association was developed in 2001 as nonprofit organization, to minimize the risks of college athletes receiving brain trauma and keep them in good standing until they are finished playing their respective sports. The program allows for college athletes to voice their concerns and opinions in accordance with NCAA rules. It was launched by a group of UCLA football players to serve as a support system for all college athletes across the nation and is the only organization that serves an independent voice for them. More importantly, the NCPA Players Council developed the Concussion Awareness and Reduction Emergency (CARE) Plan for college athletes. The CARE Plan includes
Dr. Frank Conidi analyzed the brains of 40 former NFL football players who averaged seven years in the league, and had been retired from the league for less than five years. All had brain images using sophisticated MRI, and 43% showed that the white matter of the brain had damage, which is responsible for attaching the nerve cells among separate regions. The length of the damage has been just enough to be classified as traumatic brain injury. Thirty percent showed derangement that neurons used to interact with each other- compromised connections is one of the leading causes of many brain disorders and is the first sign of bad brain health (Alice Park). Conidi has found out that the more years a player plays in the NFL, the more likely he was to show symptoms of the disease TBI.
It is not new news learning that concussions are a common occurrence throughout the sport of football. It just so happens that throughout the last two decades, former NFL players have or have threatened the NFL with lawsuits regarding their personal health, specifically brain injuries. Many experts and players also question if the latest technology used to prevent concussions from occurring are effective. Modern day CT scans can rule out bleeding in the brain, they however do not diagnose concussions. This causes many concussions to go unseen due to the lack of advancements in the use of CT equipment.
Concussions which is a blow to the head causing brain trauma that can last several weeks and other injuries that has just as high risks like a concussion. September 26, 1928, a football league was created for professional football players called the NFL. The start of the league has always been at high probability for its injuries. In order to continue to play the game that countless people fell in love with, the NFL has to take serious safety precautions such as helmets and pads. NFL's necessity rules, such as unnecessary kids being penalized, are being utilized to reduce life alternate injuries and provide a better experience for the players and the fans.
Injuries in sports are inevitable, and can range in complexity. We would never know how bad an injury is unless we get checked out by a license medical professional. But in some cases the injury might not be able to be seen by the naked eye. An injury that might not be able to be noticed is a concussion. A concussion can range from mild to severe and was never a major problem in football until the last decade.
Over 2 million children suffer concussions in sports every year. Many of these concussions go untreated and without proper treatment, these concussions can lead to serious health problems. Concussions are important because if they aren’t identified and treated it can lead to complications in an athlete’s life down the road, things like CTE can affect their mood and decisions later in life, possibly leading them to make choices they wouldn’t normally make like blowing their money, doing drugs, alcoholism and even committing suicide. People should be doing more to prevent and treat concussions in sports, specifically in football. Although people say that concussions are too hard to track and that the science is too new to rely on, symptoms of a concussion can be
The long-term side effects of these traumatic injuries have led spectators and doctors to speculate the dangers of head on collision in sports. Furthermore, concussions lead to TBI which leads to depression and problems with their functioning. Brain injuries have led to famous NFL players committing suicide and losing their families and
Football is a very popular sport. There can be many advantages and disadvantages. Most likely in every sport one can always get injured easily. In football there is more of a rough disadvantage that can be solved. The past years it has become a sport that makes people start becoming concerned but as well as making doctors be part of the issue and trying to transform it with better rules and limitations.