...Concussion Awareness Among Athletes The packed stadium all holds their breath. Everyone except the player who is about to catch the ball sees what is going to happen. Then just like that it happens, the loud collision of two bodies slamming into each other, helmet to helmet. The player who just tried to catch the ball drops it on impact and now lays motionless on the field. He gets up with help and walks slowly off to his sideline. This athlete has just suffered what professionals in the medical field call a concussion. This article will be taking a deeper look into what happens to a players brain during a concussion, signs of a concussion, and what rising athletes can do to prevent these concussions. Concussions have been an ongoing controversy as of late in the world of sports and it comes with good reason. Though concussions are most prevalent in football, they are common across the entire sports spectrum. A concussion occurs when the head is hit directly or indirectly, causing a chemical disturbance within the brain that can have immediate consequences. An estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur each year (CDC 2012). The numbers will always be very broad when it comes to concussions because so many athletes refuse to take themselves out of their games and a majority of the time they neglect to report any concussion symptoms to a trainer or coach. Lets take a look at some of the factors that contribute to athletes neglecting their concussions. A university study...
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...Concussions have been an increasingly controversial topic for many years with both reports on an increase of concussions to more awareness towards the issue, how both effects can happen at the same time is a puzzling mystery. The overall opinion of two medical professionals interviewed is that there is more awareness of concussions, causing more concussions to be diagnosed. From constant lawsuits and present and former athletes speaking out against sport associations, concussions are clearly having a large impact on society. According to Tria Physical Therapist Carly Mattson PT, DPT, OCS, a concussion is either caused by an injury or impact to the head or neck. Although once believed that concussions always caused unconsciousness, that is not always the case. “A...
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...On Concussions and High-School Football With risk comes reward. Concussions are a growing issue in sports, but especially football. Members on a school board in Las Vegas have proposed banning high-school football because of this increasing issue, and this is being considered in other places. Davis County is debating whether or not to ban high-school football, in my opinion there is more good that comes from football than bad. Football is a collision sport in which players tackle each other, which can lead to injuries and concussions. A concussion is the force from an impact that causes the brain to strike the inner surface of the skull. This can result in long-term brain damage, and can be fatal in some cases. While concussions are bad, there are good things that come from playing football. Ed Riley from the Portland Tribune said "My son and his teammates have learned more about hard work, sportsmanship and resilience on the football field than anywhere else". Some parents believe that the risks of injury outweigh the benefits of playing, but by playing sports in high-school, students can learn skills they’ll use throughout their lives. Another reason football is a good sport for students is that it’s a equal-opportunity sport. Any kind of athlete can join a football team, and the skill needed to play don’t require...
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...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 and concussions have shown advances...
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...Name:Nicholas Schiff Date:1-14-16 Period:Two, E.L.A Strasser NFL Pad Requirement The NFL needs to increase the padding worn by the players on their upper bodies and heads. More padding, will prevent injuries among players. Next more padding in helmets, will decrease the amount of concussions and brain damage. Thirdly more padding in the chest, ribs, and abdominal area, will allow team players with and without preexisting medical conditions to play contact sports more safely. Padding would increase the weight on a player-it could be 10-20 pounds more of material, and could make it more difficult to play, but if you’re hurt, you can’t play at all. Also, if all players are made to wear the same padding, no one would be at a disadvantage....
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...Concussion or brain concussion is an injury to the brain caused by a blow to the head or violent jarring or shaking. It is a form of head trauma that often involves loss of consciousness, which maybe momentary or may last for several hours. Brain concussion is a common injury that may sometimes have serious consequences. (Izenberg 232) Consciousness is the awareness of the self an ones surroundings. This awareness depends on a combination of sensations, memories, and experiences. Common symptoms immediately following a concussion include confusion, memory loss, dizziness, blurred vision, and vomiting. Paralysis and shock are also possible. The longer the period of unconsciousness, the more serious and dangers symptoms tend to be. (Harris 100) If the impact affects the consciousness center I the brain stem, then the person with concussion loses consciousness. This may happen if a boxer knockout punch makes the other boxers head accelerate sharply, or if someone’s head decelerates suddenly, as when it strikes the ground during a fall. (Izenberg 233) Like my topic sports are the most common causes of concussions and sports with the most physical contact. Like football, boxing, and hockey, are the most to produce head injuries that involve concussions. Concussions may also happen during falls in basketball, soccer, and baseball, or while riding motorcycles or bicycles. (Izenberg 233) Well I have also seen it with horses it happened to my cousin. One day we where...
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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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...advances the ball using their forehead. The head takes the force of the ball. Recent evidence shows that it is possible that headers may cause player concussions or produce long-term brain damage. Many former and current professional soccer players as well as some National Soccer organizations have taken part in the fight against headers. Critics and researchers assert that heading the ball in soccer is more damaging to the brains of children and females. With these dangers, the laws and recommendations related to heading in soccer...
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...Literature review A concussion is often referred to mild brain injury by medical professionals. The study of Gerberich published in 1983 was one of the first widely cited articles to deal with concussions in high school football and spanned the years 1978–1982. Emily A. Harrison, a doctoral candidate in the History of Science Department at Harvard University researched, sports concussion has become a prominent public health problem in the early 21st century, also referred to as “The Concussion Crisis.” Harrison found that Football-related concussion contributed to much of the epidemic burden and inspired a lot of public awareness. The crisis has been around for more than a century. In the first decades of the sport of football, concussions...
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...Effects of Concussions in Sports: Disease, Depression, and Social Effects When discussing the very popular and controversial topic of concussions in sports, there are many questions raised from the public about the effects of these concussions on ones life. For the past few decades, the sporting world has been dealing with head injuries in sports and finding new and better ways to deal with and prevent them. With most people involved in sport now knowing the severity of head injuries and there long term effects, it is not uncommon to hear more and more long term effect stories and how these injuries have impacted athletes’ lives. Psychological changes, brain disease, social declination, and even suicide caused from depression have been documented in recent years and has the public growing more and more curious to what the long term effects of head injuries are and what the best way to deal with them is. For professional athletes, the “loss of identity is evident”(Caron 175) and some may even lose their whole livelihood due to head injuries. In this paper I will be examining the aforementioned long-term effects of psychological changes, brain disease, and deterioration of social abilities. Long term effects of head injuries are an epidemic and by identifying these effects and being aware of symptoms or signs may help us better understand them. In recent years, psychological problems have been identified as one of the most prevalent effects caused by concussions in the long...
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...focus more on the dangers of concussion sin football. In sports everyone who commits to playing for an organized team knows that there is a large risk involved by the time you are stepping onto the field, Court or Ice Rink. One of the most common sports that athletes are being injured in is the sport of football. Every one knows the dangers of the the full contact sport because it is so widely commercialized in for all ages. From High School all the way to the NFL football is a big deal but what about the injury's that come along with playing this violent game. Concussions are one of the most common injures that occur out of the football field and it has...
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...the other players helmet: which is harder and throws off other players balance). The biggest problem is younger children are developing a similar problems too. On a young brain, the affects are worse. New technologies or strategies must be created, or else football could be in danger. Football officials should provide the teams with newer helmets to lower the occasions of concussion, rule change and long-term effects. To comprehend the subject you must grasp difference of types helmets. The new helmets from Riddell are so far best in class by the University of Pittsburgh Neurology department. What makes the helmets different are wear they put the padding, the padding then absorbs more of the blunt force. This should be the standard football helmet from Midget (little league for football) to professional. This study is monumental for how we will build helmets. The study was taken over a three period, with more than two thousand football players from over one hundred schools. With Riddell Revolution helmets, players are thirty-one percent less likely even have a concussion. When the player did have a concussion the rate was two point three percent lower than the traditional design. Adam, a traditional helmet company was tested in a different study; the researcher gave it not recommended. Even thought these helmets are better for the brain it is harder on the player’s body. The number of neck and shoulder injuries did increased. After the death Kenneth Sheely (a fullback (player...
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...to Focus on Language Intervention 2 7 Memories of 9/11 28 The Role of Educational Audiologists 3 2 A Collaborative Approach to Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 3 8 Internet: Interactive Whiteboards 4 0 Limelight: Julie West 411 Classifieds 4 4 People on the Move 4 7 First Person on the Last Page: P. K. Harrison Laws Protect Young Athletes Growing Number of States Pass Concussion-Related Legislation by Bess Sirmon Fjordbak Mentoring Programs Open Check out information about online programs for new faculty (p. 35) and students (p. 46). return to play? There is no conports-related concussion among pre-participation baseline assessment of sensus on the best course of action school-aged athletes in the United (Duff, 2009). Physicians, coaches, ) States is an issue of increased cognitive-linguistic function. and trainers often use individualvisibility in the media, in clinical ized, graduated retum-to-play protocols based on neuropsycho• settings, and in legislative capitols across the country (Duff, 2009; logical testing and other factors. Salvatore & Sirmon Fjordbak, 2011). Estimates of concussion Some states have laws that mandate these protocols, while incidence range as high as 3.8 million other states have rejected or never introduced such legislation. A per year (CDC, 2007), translating into an...
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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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...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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