On a typical Friday night in any town across the country you can hear the band playing the school fight song, cheerleaders cheering at the top of their lungs, parents proudly hoisting homemade posters in support of the team, and the student body feverishly rooting for their friends. Is there anything that can bring a community closer than a Friday night high school football game? As the team comes sprinting onto the field one has to wonder has anyone considered the fact that head injuries, specifically concussions, have become such a danger in this game that is loved so much across America. Given the volume of recent research that indicates head injuries can lead to long-term brain disease, should high schools continue to encourage their students to play tackle football? “Parents, coaches and school administrators have been made aware of the dangers of tackle football as currently played. Yet they encourage students to take part in a game that, increasingly, is known to be dangerous. The children are conditioned to accept violence and self-sacrifice as part of the game.” (Koller) In a Health Day News Survey Dotinga found that, “over half of the surveyed student ignored their symptoms for fear of not being allowed to play.” Many schools, parents, and students are making the decision not to play. “Since the onslaught of information on concussions and their effects hit the mainstream in roughly 2010-11, there are 21,814 fewer high school players, according to participation data compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).” Due to the high risk of head injuries attributed to tackle football, high schools across the United States should stop offering tackle football as an official sport. There are m... ... middle of paper ... ...Football Research” National High School Sports Federation. Copyright 2013 Powell, John W., and Kim D. Barber-Foss. "Traumatic brain injury in high school athletes." Journal of the American Medical Association 282.10 (1999): 958-963. Print. Reed, Ken. “It's time to ban high school football.” Chicago Tribune Aug.2012 Rowson,Steven. and Stefan. Duma. : Development of the STAR Evaluation System for Football Helmets: Integrating Player Head Impact Exposure and Risk of Concussion. Virginia Tech 2011. Shakir,Hakeem,M.D. and Elad. Levy, M.D. “We must protect our young athletes from brain injuries.” The Buffalo News Dec. 2013 Smith, Stephanie. “Study offers clues about how athletes' brain disease begins” CNN Aug.2013 Print. Woods, Mike. “Will head injuries be the death knell for football?” Post -Crescent Media Nov.2013
29 Oct 2013. League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis? Dir. Michael Kirk. Prod.
Are young children putting their health and even their lives at risk if they partake in the sport of football? Some claim that the American sport is far too dangerous and the risk of concussions and injuries far outway the pros of the physical sport, while others insist that technological improvements and new regulations have made the sport safer. Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history and education at New York University, argues in his paper, “We Must Stop Risking the Health of Young Football Players,” that football is a sport that is too dangerous for the youth. He states his belief that technological improvements in helmets and changes in the rules of the sport have had little effect on reducing injuries and that nothing has worked.
Thiel, Art. “NFL’s Plight on Brain Injuries Not Over.” Al Jazeera America. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Mihoces, Gary. “More padding the issue of concussions and better helmets.” USA Today Sports. 23 August 2013. Web. 29 November 2013.
Kremer, Andrea. "Health of the Game: Brain Injuries beyond Concussions 0." NFL.com. N.p., 7 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. (Online Video)
A. Background In recent years, there has been an increase in research investigating the long-term effects of repeated head trauma on the brain, especially in athletes. Following his discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Dr. Bennet Omalu inspired a movement of research aimed at establishing better safety standards and protocols in football. It was not until 2002 that the initial connection between repetitive head trauma, such as concussions, and brain injury was suspected (Ott, 2015). As common as concussions were during the late 1970s and 1980s, they were often swept under the rug, as they were seen as insignificant injuries.
Concussions have become arguably the #1 most prevalent issue in football today. The number of concussions throughout football has been rising for the past 20-30 years and there seems no way of stopping them. However, the NFL and many private researchers are set on finding a way to conquer this issue. They want to stop these concussions from happening and prevent the diseases resulting from them that have ruined so many football families’ lives. In order to solve this problem, I think that these researchers need to combine all of their knowledge to solve an issue that so many want solved. As soon as we conquer this “illness” we can return to enjoying the game that we love.
Did you know, that someone suffers from a brain injury every 21 seconds (Haas)? Children get concussions all the time, and most of the time they go unnoticed. The majority of concussions happen when one is playing a sport such as football, hockey, or lacrosse. Many famous athletes have had their careers, even their lives cut short due to concussions. Brain damage and death can result from serial concussions (Schafer). When one suffers from a concussion, one’s brain needs time to recover physically and mentally. Between 2002 and 2006, statistics showed that 52,000 people died from concussions and about 275,000 were hospitalized (Fundukian). Everyone’s recovery process is different (“Injury and Pain Care”). Although concussions seem minor, they are very serious brain injuries that may result in severe damage to one’s brain.
...Down and Inches: Concussions and Footballs Make or Break Moment. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Group, 2013. Print.
Adirim, Terry A. “Concussions in Sports and Recreation.” Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine 8.1 (2007): 2-6. Print.
Recent issues with the NFL not doing enough with head injuries has become a top news issue. the NFL has had several class action lawsuits against them. From several different head injuries that you can get, the post NFL injury is a very rough thing to deal with. Some say the ...
“Concussion rates for children under the age of 19 who play football have doubled in the last decade, even though the overall sports participation has declined” (Youth Football Concussion Statistics). Football is extremely popular in American culture. Children all across the world love watching and playing the sport. However, many studies have shown numerous possible long term effects of starting the beloved sport when young. Undeveloped brains have a harder time recovering from bumps and blows that occur during playing time. After examining the long term effects of children playing football, it is clear that the tradition of tackle football in youth should be held off until the brain is more fully developed,
In contrast to the positives, high school athletics can be seen in a negative light. “Concussions [from athletics] cause structural brain damage” (Solotaroff 7). Even though nobody is said to get a concussion in Friday Night Lights, they are very frequent in football and in other sports today. They occur all the time in football especially. In addition to that piece of nega...
Concussions and the effect they have on people ranging from the young to the old has become a very popular discussion in recent years. Generally people watch sports for entertainment and then there are those who engage in high impact sports from a very young age on. The people at home know how fun playing in a sport is, however they may not know the brutal consequences for some participating in that sport. Injuries to the brain are a main concern among those in the world of high impact sports. Football, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, and rugby are among sports that athletes receive injuries in. The injuries vary from sprains, to fractures, to torn MCL or ACL, and bruised organs. Concussions are a severe type of injury endured by athletes in the sports world and this life changing injury is one that people are becoming more aware of.
Even though the devastation of concussions is just rising to the surface, they have always been around. In 1994, the NFL started a committee called the MTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury). Dr. Elliot Pellman was appointed as chair, and he was quoted saying, “We think the issue of knees, of drugs and steroids and drinking is a far greater problem, according to the number of incidents” (Ezell). This quote shows how concussions did not hold much importance, even though it should have been the committee's main focus. This is ironic, because in today’s sport world concussions are a highly talked about topic. They hold such significance that some rules are even being changed to lower the risk for players.