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Professional sports have been one of the most successful industries on earth. Not only does it provide entertainment for millions of people, it provides an escape that is critical to many people’s lives. However, there are many risks for professional athletes when they take part in their jobs. Injuries have always been a major concern in sports, especially concussions. Concussions have been this generation’s favorite injury to debate. These are very dangerous situations, and commissioners need to do everything they can to avoid this deadly injury. It is often said that concussions are not the most serious injury in sports. I say they can ruin athlete’s lives. Professional athletes should be mandated to take a leave of absence if they …show more content…
To get rid of a concussion, one must take his/her time coming back. I understand that players think that these tests are horrible. However, these injuries can ruin a person’s life. By focusing on playing through the concussion rather than getting it medically checked, Chris Kaman overlooks the deeper problem of how serious these concussions can be. I say if multiple concussions are sustained in a year, one must take a leave of absence. This debate relates directly to Denver Broncos’ wide receiver Wes Welker. Wes stands at 5 ft. 9 inches and weighs 185 pounds. The average position height and weight of a person that Wes faces every play is 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 200 pounds. Wes has sustained three concussions in the past year. He was planning on playing the first week of the season if he did not get suspended for performance and enhancing drugs. How can the NFL let a man in the last parts of his career go onto a field, surely of getting demolished, with the risk of getting a concussion for the fourth time in a year? Many people who believe that these players shouldn’t be mandated to take a leave of absence only worry about their fantasy football teams. They do not care about the person’s health; they just care about the points they bring to their team. McMaster University did a study on concussions and found shocking results. According to Carol DeMatteo, a professor at the university, “Children may be sent back to school or allowed to return to activity sooner, and maybe before they should. This puts them at greater risk for a second injury, poor school performance and wondering what is wrong with them” (http://tinyurl.com/myln6xh). This claim relates directly to professional sports. Sports teams are letting players go back into the game and put them at greater risk of a concussion. They say that players should risk their lives, but I say they need to take their time
Playing football comes with great costs, including physical and mental health deterioration, plus the amount of time spent prepping before game day. Which can pose several questions, “Why suffer for a game, is it worth the money? Is it worth the fame? How great is the cost?” I believe that football, should have stricter regulations for the treatment of injuries, along with informing players of just how devastating a concussion can be, along with the other major injuries that commonly occur while playing football.
Smith, Rodney(2013).. Thomas Jefferson Law Review, Vol.35(2), 127-191 Solving the Concussion Problem and Saving Professional Football
Johnson, L. M. (2012). Return to Play Guidelines Cannot Solve the Football-Related Concussion Problem. Journal of School Health, 82(4), 180-185.
If you have the brains when you start, you are aware that banging your head into people is not the best thing for your body,” stated Chris Cooley, tight end and a 2 time Pro Bowler with the Washington Redskins (Do No Harm, 2). Research over the years has gathered extensive data on the mental and physical illnesses of retired NFL football players. It has proved that players who accumulate numerous concussions are at a higher risk of health problems after their football career than players who’ve sustained fewer. This data is proven by various studies that have caused worry for many retired NFL football families. The examples of deaths resulting from past concussions are astonishing, and the stats that show high risks for the possible problems can prove why they possibly died. Countless retired players are now frightened by the potential hazard of destructive health problems.
The article titled “Concussions increasingly common on the football field,” was found on the Alabama News website. This article takes a look from the coaches perspective when he finds that four of his players have suffered from concussions on his high school football team. The coach from the Greenville high school football team Josh McLendon, raises concern about football and practicing the sport. He talks about his players injuries and how most of the concussions occur during practice. Even though the team works hard to change practice routines and rules, they are not able to prevent concussions from happening. The article talks about symptoms that players do not notice. Often times a player will feel dizzy and he will just assume he took a hard fall, but players start to get blurry vision, dizziness, and headaches. Before players would hide their injury and play through it, but with the heavy effects concussions have had on retired football players, McLendon urges his team to speak up when they start to feel ill. He hopes that other coaches will learn from him when they stress the seriousness of concussions “Wouldn’t tell the coach, wouldn’t tell a parent, it would just kind of go away. But know since we have made people more aware of it I think they’re coming to the forefront of it a little more,” athletes who do not hear about the severity of something will not stop to think
The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.
Not many sports are as physically demanding on the human body as football. The physical toll that football players pay is almost impossible to comprehend unless one has actually played the sport for a significant amount of time. However, until recently any connection between the hits taken by football players and their health down the road was largely ignored. A common, yet difficult injury to detect in football is a concussion, the most common traumatic brain injury (Pearce). A concussion is defined as “a brain injury that is caused by a sudden blow to the head or the body. The blow shakes the brain inside the skull, which temporarily prevents the brain from working normally” (Heiner pa.5). Reports and studies have surfaced shedding light on just how much damage is inflicted upon the brain due to crippling hits. These studies suggest that NFL athletes who received concussions suffered lasting damage to the brain, which opens the gate to a multitude of other health issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and clinical depression (Pearce). This is an aspect of the game that not many are aware of and it is a serous issue that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. There have been too many heartbreaking stories such as that of Justin Strzelcyk who heard voices and died in a crash while fleeing police or that of Andre Waters who shot himself in the head after struggles with depression (Zarda pa.1). Many current and former players are suffering in silence; this shouldn’t be the case. The National Football League needs to extend a hand to former players debilitated by head injuries. The problem of concussions and other head injuries in the NFL is one that needs to be tackled head on.
Concussions can spring from practically anywhere; at home during cleaning, playing catch in the yard, or even slipping and falling. One of the most common reasons concussions happen is from sports, most often from football. It should be common knowledge on the symptoms of a concussion and what to do to help it heal, especially coaches. Because of the mindset that coaches give towards their players and the spirit of the game, athletes do not report their injuries to their coaches. One reports states, “The culture of sports negatively influences athletes’ self-reporting of concussion symptoms and their adherence to return-to-play guidance” (Waldron). This means that athletes could have any injury, not just a concussion, and they would be afraid to tell the coach because they are afraid of getting taken out of the game. More coaches, however, are starting to come around to educating the team and support staff about head injuries. Some coaches are actually sitting their teams down and making them watch a video on what happens during a concussion. In one report, the athletes said that after they watched the video, “they would be su...
Recreational athletes, competitive athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, and professional athletes all have one thing in common: the risk of a concussion. It's impossible to go a season without one athlete from a team receiving a concussion. The more that these concussions are studied, the more we learn about them, such as their detrimental effects on athletes. Because of the risk of health issues and death that come with concussions, doctors, coaches, athletic trainers, and lawmakers are stepping in to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is played in a lot of different ways, fashions, and other countries. It can be a very brutal sport with players hitting at the intent to hurt one another. With these intents come great consequences. In recent years the head injuries involved with this brutal game play have been getting uncomfortably high. Many rules have had to be enforced for player safety, because of the increase of head injuries resulting in tragic effects on players both old and new. One of the injuries that have had the most devastating effects is the concussion.
The world of sports is filled with great memories, grand moments and at times complete mayhem. There are moments like hitting a Home Run in game 7 of the World Series or memories of scoring an overtime goal during the Stanley Cup finals. However, there are also incredibly low moments when mayhem occurs such as an action or incident that results in a concussion. An injury such as a concussion can ruin your sports career or potentially your ability to function normally in the future. Concussions are caused by blunt force trauma to the head, a fall or an injury that shakes the brain inside the skull. Recovering from a concussion can take weeks, months or even years to heal. For some, it can impair your mental or mobility functions for life.
In the article “Should Kids Play Football” from the Scholastic Scope on February 2015, writer Jennifer Shotz discusses both issues of the benefits and dangers of playing American football. For example, Jennifer Shots mentioned that tens of thousands of young football players get concussions every year. She states that most players return to the game after they are healed but some never return because their concussion was too severe to their health. On the other hand, the writer also discusses how football isn't the only sport that encounters concussions. The rules of football are always changing and each new rule provides a safer way to play the game. For example, the writer notes that Pop Warner has reduced the amount of practice time dedicated
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.
Concussions remain a dangerous concern in the United States, and the government is instigating to inform others of concussions and the threat concussions hold (Key 444). Each year, many student athletes receive a concussion. Annually, around 300,000 sports-related concussions materialize in America (Lueke 485). When a sports-related concussion occurs in a young student athlete, both cognitive and physical rest should be required until all symptoms have disappeared because it will hasten the brain’s rehabilitation process.
The National Football League, since establishing it’s name in 1920, has become known for much more than just the sport. In more recent years, the news has reported on scandals involving the NFL and it’s players concerning domestic abuse, cheating scandals and most vividly the issue of concussion related deaths. From the beginning of its time, it has been no secret that football is considered a high-impact sport that comes with cause for injury, such as concussions. What was a secret was the link between concussions and brain disease. Drysdale (2013) noted a concussion occurs when “When the head is in motion and is stopped suddenly, “the skull stops, but the brain, swimming in spinal fluid, continues forward, sometimes striking the rough inner