...Concussions in Athletes Concussions in Athletes Introduction Athletes are faced with a number of health issues including injuries that could require surgery. It is also important to note that there are a number of athletes who have died while participating in sports. Sadly, most athletes do not report these problems in time albeit they are aware of the symptoms that accompany such sport-related health problems. Concussion is one such health problem that is affecting athletes, especially high school students. It has been reported that most of athletes tend to avoid reporting symptoms of concussion in order to avoid being sidelined from playing (Diagnosing and Treating Sports-Related Concussion, 2014). In the United States, it is estimated that up to 3.8 million athletes suffer from concussions linked to high impact sports (Diagnosing and Treating Sports-Related Concussion, 2014). There is, however, a feeling that the figure is under-estimated in the sense that most athletes as well as their coaches are not conversant with the symptoms of this particular health issue. Therefore, concussions in athletes are a serious health issue which should be addressed immediately. There is need to inform athletes and all stakeholders in the sport industry on the symptoms of concussions as well as their capability to be fatal in order to help athletes seek treatment to avoid repetitive concussions which would lead to deaths. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader, especially...
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...Terri Allen Professor Roddy English 1302 17 October 2016 Annotated Bibliography Apps, Jennifer N, and Kevin D. Walter. Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes. New York, NY, Springer, http://0-link.springer.com.librus.hccs.edu/book/10.1007%2F978-0-387-89545-1. Jennifer Apps is a pediatric neuropsychologist and assistant director of research in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin. According to her book, with an increase in sports affiliated concussions among children, it has become necessary for practitioners to understand how to go about handling age appropriate assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the concussions. It is also critical...
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...Is Your Head in the Game? Sylvester Manning III Essentials of College Writing/COMM 215 June 11, 2012 Lyn Wolford Is Your Head in the Game? The rate of concussions in contact sports is at an all time high and steadily growing at an alarming rate. With no definitive solution to this problem in sight, provisions must be put in place in order to protect our youth and professional athletes alike. Precautionary safety measures have been lackluster, and research on the issue, all but forgotten. With the advancements in technologies it is up to the authorities and more importantly the people to implement more effective means of safety, education, unyielding policies and severe punishments in order to protect the youth and professional athletes. A concussion is defined as a traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function with a short period of altered or loss of consciousness, when a concussion occurs the brain is shaken in such a forceful way inside the skull that it causes injury. Concussion rates have doubled in this decade and account for 1 out of 10 of all contact sport injuries (Barton, 2008), the Center for Disease Control (C.D.C) has concluded that concussions in the United States have reached an “epidemic level” and there are between 1.6 and 3.8 million sport related concussions every year (Halstead, 2010) (Lincoln, 2011). Symptoms include but are not limited to confusion, headache, amnesia, nausea, sensitivity to light, double vision, sleep disturbances...
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...discussion regarding traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussions has been inflamed within the media. Prior to this time little research was conducted regarding various forms of TBI, concussions, and enduring consequences of experiencing a TBI. As a result of the many soldiers returning from the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI diagnosis, much research has been directed toward this field. A sizeable contributor in the media recognition of the significant impact of TBI and concussions is the popularity of the National Football League (NFL) and college football. Players in various professional and college football leagues have long been experiencing TBI as a result of the contact nature of the...
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...Chris Berryman Sport in Modern Society Concussions in Sport: An Analytical Discussion “I had no idea what a nickel was (Kevin Kolb, The Concussion Blog).” NFL quarterback Kevin Kolb has suffered three major concussions since 2010 (Galliford, Buffalorumblings). His most recent one just this past August effectively ended his football career. This is just one example of the many in which multiple or severe concussions have cut short careers in sports. The issue of player safety in sport has become a topic of controversy and debate in recent years. Many professional leagues such as the NFL and the NHL have adopted strict concussion test protocols and procedures for its players. Player safety has no doubt become a major concern in contact sports. The problem is, many of these regulations have yet to address what happens after playing careers are over. What happens to former players’ mental and physical health after they retire? How do players whom have suffered multiple concussions playing contact sports live their lives as opposed to players whom have played non-contact sports such as golf or baseball? What will be questioned in this analysis is do known players that have suffered multiple and/or severe concussions throughout their playing careers due to playing a contact sport develop abnormally high levels of mental and physical health problems at an early age? Previous history on the attempts to lower the frequency of severe injury...
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...of work is to inform his readers about the current issues in sports. The intended audience is the sports nation and everybody involved. This source educates the entire world on the seriousness of concussions. From children playing pee-wee football to adults playing in the NFL, concussions cause brain damage. They can cause a player to be inactive for a month, year, or a lifetime. In some very serious circumstances concussions may cause death. Zirin, Dave. "High Price of Concussions." Progressive Oct. 2010: 42. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results_single_ftPES.jhtml>. 2 NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell is taking serious steps to make his players more safe. Coaches are looking at what Goodell is doing and are following him by example. Goodell feels that if coaches and players see how serious the problem is, they will find more and more ways to protect the youth. "Heads up! NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell talks about the importance of protecting student athletes from traumatic head injuries." State Legislatures 37.2 (2011): 21. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/MagazinesDetailsPage>. 3 E:60 is a segment conducted by the ESPN network. This network covers every single sport and is a very credible source. The purpose was to inform its viewers on the seriousness of concussions. By introducing second impact to viewers, it encourages athletes...
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...and Consequences of Sports concussions. Jonathan C. Edwards M.D graduated from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and is a professor at the Medical University of Neurosciences. Jeffrey D Bodle MD graduated from the Indiana University School of medicine and is a neurologist in Charleston, North Carolina. The title Causes and Consequences of Sports concussions reflects the focus of the study because in the article the focus is on causes of sports related concussions and also the consequences. The research in this article is qualitative because the researchers focus on gathering verbal data rather than measurements. This report includes an abstract, discussion, results and references. It does not contain an introduction or methods. The abstract of this article contains the purpose of the study; it covers the common characteristics of concussions, certain symptoms and touches base on the impact of a concussions. Within the overview a concussion can also happen with impact to the...
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...Concussions in Athletes Patrick Austin DeVry University Concussions in Athletes Junior Seau, a favorite player of many professional football fans, committed suicide in 2012. Although Seau seemed to have everything going his way, he quietly suffered from depression, one of the many symptoms of repeated concussions Those close to Seau knew something was not right the man they all knew and loved. Some of them just chalked it up to him adjusting to life after football. Many players go through an adjustment period after stepping down from a glorious career in the limelight. However, this was not the case with Seau. He was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. What is unique about Seau’s suicide is he shot himself in the chest. The common belief is he did this to preserve his brain for scientist to study how it was affected by suffering many concussions during his 20 year football career. And, eight months after his death, the scientists who examined his brain announced they had found evidence of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a dire neurological disease linked to concussions, which has been a factor in the deaths of many other NFL players (Penn, 2013). The fact that a player would kill himself because he was suffering from symptoms of repeated concussions speaks to the importance of properly diagnosing and treating head injuries. Other players have suffered from the symptoms of brain trauma. Some, like Dave Dureson, have even taken their own lives. These...
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...Contact Sports Head/Body Injuries Research Paper November 19, 2013 Down, Set, Hut, Hut! The ball snaps, and everyone clashes into each other like warriors in battle. This is what we love about the game of football. While we are enjoying this rugged game, behind the scenes there are players in pain on and off of the field. From them having concussions to broken toes, or in other words from head to toe, every game possibly being there last one depending on the extremity of their next injury they still continue to play and entertain us. In this paper we are going to journey through some of those injuries and issues due to this sport we love and how we could help solve it, and help these athletes we love so much be able to stay in the game of football a little longer. To start off, although we’re just focusing on NFL, I have to let you know it’s not just affecting them, but the little ones we having playing this sport as well. In an article I read entitled, “Hits to the Head Don’t Differ in Age, Research Indicates”, it says that more 25,000 kids ranging from ages 8 to 19 are taken to the emergency room seeking treatment for concussions each year (Belson, 2013). This goes to say that although we enjoy when the adults are doing all this physical contact, but when it’s our own kids do we feel the same way? Well, in this case think of those NFL players as you do your children. What if they could never play again, on or off of the field? In reading another article by Sabrina Rogers...
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...Jackson Essay 2 Teens and concussions Concussion and children, not a good combination, but it happens. This page talks about avoiding the boredom that comes with the rest while in concussion recovery, your continued good health may depend upon it stay away from blows to the head in sports. The United States of America concussion rates are high in sports; statistics show that there was a 62 percent increase over the last decade in children under the age of 19 suffering serious head injuries while playing sports and engaging in other physical activities. Teenagers are suffering more from concussions and brain disease then an adult or child. To start off, as most people know concussion talk in the sports media is very high. High school-age athletes are more likely than younger kids to have sports-related concussions, but the rate of such injuries in both groups is on the rise, a new U.S. study suggests. From 1997 to 2007, emergency department visits for concussion in kids aged eight to 13 playing organized sports doubled, and the number of visits increased by more than 200 percent in older teens. (American Academy of Pediatrics). According toThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that teens have higher risk of getting a concussion. Currently, the only way we can lower these rates is if teens don’t start football at a young age. In addition, American sports have shown that head injuries such as concussions are common for teens to get. Teenagers...
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..."High school football accounts for 47% of all sport related concussions" ("Sports," 2013). High school athletes still have developing brains. Any injury to their brain can cause severe changes in development and cognitive ability. When thinking about sports, there are many that require more impacts than football. Take ice hockey for example. The athletes get pounded into the walls and fall down easier, but football players still acquire almost half of all concussion, and the majority of those concussions happen in practice. Football is one of the most watched sports in America, but is also causes a lot of injuries. Many people think this has to do with the football helmet, made in order to protect the head and brain of a player. However, stricter...
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...Can We Tackle the Concussion Battle? Can We Tackle the Concussion Battle Within Football? Introduction The National Football League (NFL) or as some people may say, “Not for long” is responsible for some of the greatest athletes. Excellence appears to be their one goal, which is to win Super Bowl championships. Some players perform at a high level for a while, whereas others don’t have a chance at experiencing actual playing time on the field at all. NFL players are less and less likely to have a definitive long-term career in the NFL. On average their career may span for about 3 ½ years (Stradley, 2011). (Workman Pub Co, 2002) The NFL has added several new teams, provided innovative equipment, additional rules, distinctive playing styles, but most importantly there has been a revolutionary change of the NFL culture. The game of football is being played at a faster pace and players are becoming larger, and intelligent (Wharton, 2011). While the sport of football can be stressful, competitive, entertaining and enjoyable, it also poses a dangerous threat of injury. One of the more common injuries within playing or watching football are concussions. Over the past few years concussions have become a more serious endangerment to those who play, from new evidence we have seen on the effects on the brain and how it can affect a player’s future. The purpose of this project is to investigate the current status of football and concussions in finding a solution to reducing head...
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...year, tens of thousands of concussions happen due to high school sports. 2.5 million students play sports and could get hurt. Isaiah, a 13 year old boy, had a dream to play football in high school. At football camp, a year before his dream was going to come true, he was running with a ball and was tackled. He smacked his head hard on the turf. He was rushed to the hospital where he was told he had a concussion. Isaiah had to sit in a dark room for two weeks so his brain could heal. After he healed, Isaiah decided to quit football. Injuries in sports are causing players to give up on their dreams (Belson). Unsurprisingly, football is the number one injury causing sport in high school. Two dozen high school football players died in recent...
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...result in a catastrophic injury. About 21% of traumatic injuries to the brain are the result of sports injuries. There are more than 775,000 children/teens treated for sports related injuries. In 2011, there was 36,925 hospital visits just from cheerleading injuries, 5.5% of these were from concussions. Cheerleading is eighth most dangerous sport in America, which is above football! From 1982-20All star cheerleading is when cheer teams compete against each other. A typical cheer routine is a two minute and thirty second routine that consists of stunts, jumps, tumbling, and dance. Cheerleading has been called the world’s most dangerous sport. Most injuries that occur in sports are from cheerleading. Head injuries account...
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...Today, concussions are a serious factor in most sports and have moved to the center of attention in public awareness. According to the Sports Concussion Institute, a concussion is “a complex pathophysiological process that affects the brain, typically induced by trauma to the brain” (2016). Most concussions occur without the individual losing consciousness yet these impairments can lead to dementia, aggression, confusion, impaired judgment, and depression and may not be treatable. In fact, per Marcos Abreu, “the American Academy of Neurology discovered that athletes are at greatest risk of repeat injury in the first 10 days’ post-concussion and suggested that the more head injuries a person suffers; the more likely they are to face complications...
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