Football is a tough sport, as is soccer, hockey, and wrestling, in addition to the other 85 different programs the NCAA has to offer. Student athletes on average have higher grade point averages than their non-athlete counterparts, and being one is a general indicator for overall health and fitness. The added responsibilities of being a student athlete are great ways to prepare for the rigors of life after school. However, parents are starting to take their children out of youth sports, due to concern for one of the biggest health concerns of the past few years: traumatic brain injuries, better known as concussions. Research in traumatic brain injuries and their long term effects has recently shown the potentially life altering symptoms …show more content…
When there is direct contact with the head, the brain sloshes through the spinal fluid in the skull and eventually hits the side of the skull opposite the site of impact. This causes an indiscriminate amount of neurotransmitters to be released and vital ion balances to be disrupted. The intracellular pumps now to have to work overtime, which requires the cells to take in as much energy as they can. In the environment of a concussion, where blood and oxygen are more scarce, coupled with the spike in need of energy to restore ion balances, there is an imbalance of energy needed and energy supplied, leading to deficits. The brain is therefore now more vulnerable as it attempts to recover from the ion imbalance, which makes it increasingly dangerous to suffer from more head trauma. These ion imbalances and neurotransmitter spikes are likely the causes for the common short-term symptoms, such as headache, mood swings, nausea, and memory loss. The increased vulnerability of the brain is the generally accepted cause for perhaps the most serious short-term symptom, second impact syndrome (SIS), which, although rare, has a 90% mortality rate. Despite all of these changes in the brain biochemistry, CT and MRI scans are currently unable to detect concussions with current technology. (Journal of …show more content…
Efforts in educating coaches and players in the severity and long term effects of concussions has proven fruitless, so far. The Think First Prevention Foundation in addition to people from the National Hockey League Players Association, Hockey Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine all collaborated to create a video titled ‘Smart Hockey: More Safety, More Fun’ highlighting information on concussion disclosure and symptoms, directed towards youth hockey players. The video was instantly successful and knowledge of concussions increased dramatically for about a month. After two months, based on a questionnaire given to the group who received the video and a control group, there was no significant difference. (British Journal of Sports Medicine) Similarly, in a study measuring the effectiveness of providing collegiate ice hockey players with resources about concussions, they found that players were not more willing to disclose possible traumatic brain injuries. (British Journal of Sports
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).
That’s where the advancements in concussion detection and treatment comes into play. According to the article “Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment” the writer states “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 207,830 trips to an emergency room annually between 2001 and 2005 due to sports participation injuries” ( “Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment | The Sport Journal” ). The report from the CDC shows how many reported sports injuries occur in a short period. However, this does not include the vast number of injuries not reported every year. That is a lot of injuries that go unreported and not cared for. We can help make it to where all kids after a concussion report it and get treated by educating them on the dangers they face if they continue to play as they are and tell them they will be right back to playing after the testing has been completed and they are clear to play again. This is not hard to do it’s just the fact of telling the kids the truth of the matter and them knowing the tests aren’t hard and don’t take long to pass. But the kids need to know this is needed if they want to be able to play for years to come in school and even in
Through sports or through everyday life, concussions tend to happen. An estimated 300 000 sport-related traumatic brain injuries, predominantly concussions, occur annually in the United States. Sports are second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of traumatic brain injury among people aged 15 to 24 years. (U.S National Library of Medicine). Coaches and parents often do not go through the right procedures or protocols when dealing with a teenager who has received a blow to the head. The usual questions that are asked when there is a head injury are, “what day is it, what’s the score, and how many fingers am I holding up?” Now these are not poor questions, but these questions alone cannot determine if a person has suffered a concussion. The correct method, which they are now implementing in most professional sports leagues, is for anyone with a head injury to take a legitimate concussion test performed by the team doctor. (WebbMD) At present the symptoms can be hit or miss. After receiving a concussion, research shows that an “estimated 80 to 90% of concussions heal spontaneously in the first 7 to 10 days”. (Barton Straus) But, it is important to remember not to return until all symptoms are
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.
Herring, Stanley A., and Kathleen R. Bell. "Youth Sports Concussions, An Issue of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics." Google Books. Ed. George H. Kraft, MD,MS. Elsevier Health Sciences., Nov. 2011. Web. 08 May 2014. .
Vaughn, Christopher, Gerard Gioia and Maegan Sady. “School Problems following Sports Concussion. Which Children Are at Greatest Risk?” British Journal Of Sports Medicine. 47.5 (2012) : 47-51 Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
The number of children below the age of 19 are treated in American emergency rooms for concussions and other traumatic brain injuries increased from 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009. That’s not cumulative, that is actually per year. Everyone should know how and when to treat a concussion, no matter if it is for sports or in general. Concussions can come from anything. Concussions can be an easily preventable injury, however due to poor equipment, a competitive mindset, unrecognizable symptoms, and untrained sports physicians, they are becoming quite common and can lead to potentially fatal brain disorders.
Concussions occur time after time throughout different sporting events and many are familiar with the word concussion, but what really is a concussion? A concussion is a head injury that can leave damaging effects on athletes of all sports and ages. Concussions are regularly caused by a hard hit to the head or body that causes the brain to shake inside of the skull. While there is fluid within the skull to protect the brain, when an athlete is hit hard enough, the brain moves to the point of hitting the skull, causing a head injury otherwise known as a concussion (“Concussions”). Terry Adirim, a medical doctor who writes articles for Clinical Pediatrician Emergency Magazine, says that an individual may have many different symptoms after receiving a concussion. Symptoms can include headache, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, and vomiting, but each of these symptoms do not necessarily happen with every concussion. While many athletes are fine after receiving one concussion, it is the second concussion that can be very unfavorable and even deadly. When an athlete receives a second concussion before the first concussion has fully healed, it ...
An anonymous person once said, "He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything." Ever since I was a young girl, I always knew I wanted to do something with helping people. But as I grew up, I also took an interest in sports, which leads me to where I am today. I would like to be able to help people in the sports ' world. In this essay, I plan to research concussions and how the long-term effects can impact people for the rest of their lives. Through research, I have learned exactly what a concussion is, the long-term effects and severity, and finally the treatments for a concussion. This relates to my senior project because for my final product, I will be presenting the lasting effects of concussions.
Concussions are an injury that falls under the Traumatic Brain Injury category. A concussion occurs when a force causes the brain to rock back and forth inside the skull, and hit the interior walls of the skull. When this happens it can result in bruising on two parts of the brain, the Coup and the Countercoup. This may result in Loss of consciousness, confusion, headaches, nausea or vomiting, blurred vision, and loss of short-term memory. I know from experience the nausea and blurred vision. I noticed that during what I thought was a concussion though after the initial hits my ears would ring and give me very painful headaches.
As a result of many deaths of professional athletes through suicide as well as general concern for health, concussion awareness and testing is as high as it’s ever been. Precautions and tests are currently being set up in almost sports in the attempt to diminish the long term effects. Although the symptoms and exact recovery time are still unknown, doctors and researchers are sure that concussions and other forms of head impacts can have long term effects that can present serious issues throughout the rest of these individual’s lives. The risk of potential damage to the brain increases as the number of concussions increase. In the athletics, players deliver and absorb many hits to the head which a primary reason why rules and regulations at a levels of football, for example, are changing to try and decrease the number of concussions received by players and to make the game safer to those who play it. However these head injuries are not just restricted to athletics, roughly three million Americans have brain injuries every year, half of which are considered serious (Dekosky 2010). Also, many of our nation’s brave men and women suffer traumatic head injuries that take months, even years to fully recover from. Though the exact number of concussions in soldiers can be completely accurate, many army officials believe it to be around eighteen percent (Charles 2008).
Dr. Robert Cantu, a leading expert on sports concussions, recommends that kids don’t play tackle football before the age of 14. He also says banning heading in soccer and body checking in hockey before 14 will help as well. When it comes to the vast knowledge of concussions and medical research we know today we can’t just forget about it we have to take action. For our kids sakes we can’t afford any more negligent behavior. We have to address the questions now. As of what we know now, do we want to place a kid in any sport in which they are hitting their head on a regular bases? (Ken Reed PG. 1 web)
The brain is the most important organ in the human body, therefore it needs to be treated with care. In high school sports concussions are a common injury. Even though current concussion protocol is effective, it isn’t always easy for coaches and athletes to identify concussions. Not only that, athletes pretend that nothing is wrong and stay in the game because they don’t understand the possible consequences of doing so. These young athletes and their coaches need to be better informed about concussions and the consequences of not following concussion protocol. If these athletes realize what the risks of ignoring concussions are and if coaches are better educated on identifying concussions, the amount of concussion related deaths in teens would
First, we observe that in order for a concussion to occur, a rapid change in the motion of the skull must also occur within a short amount of time. This results in the brain (which tends to remain in a constant state of motion) colliding with the inside of the skull as the skull begins to change its state of motion. This causes compressional force on the cerebrum resulting in brain injury.
A study done in 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics showed that about 69% of the 359 athletes that were studied from the ages of 5-18 who suffered from a concussion showed academic deficiencies and both their parents and their teachers showed concern in their academic performance. (Academic Effects of Concussion in Children and Adolescents, 1). This study is significant because it shows how a concussion can have such negative impacts on the academic futures of many children including the student’s ability to learn, participate and do well in everyday school activities. Another way concussions can be dangerous if for a student who is returning to school too soon after a concussion. In a handout created by the Department of health and human resources detailed the negative impacts that grueling school work has on a student who either has a concussions but more specifically those returning too fast from a head trauma. “ the experience of learning and engaging in academic activities that require concentration can actually cause a student’s concussion symptoms to appear or worsen” (Heads Up Schools, 2). Those students who return to quickly from a head