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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 can spring from practically anywhere; at home during cleaning, playing catch in the yard, or even slipping and falling. One …show more content…
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 sure to get an injury checked out and would stop to consider if they had gotten a concussion after a hard hit” (Mitchko 101). They also received a packet in which they they were given a tool kit containing several items such as another video, a pocket card detailing symptoms of a concussion to use during a …show more content…
Several senators have openly supported getting better equipment for high schools and even younger kids. Jay Rockefeller, a democrat from West Virginia, seeks to “protect youth athletes from the dangers of concussions by curbing false advertising claims and encouraging improvements to equipment safety standards” (Waldron). This is good news because this means that congress knows about all the head injuries and they are wanting to do something about it. West Virginia has also taken steps to prevent and help heal concussions. Every coach, no matter what sport they coach, has to go to a seminar or class detailing what to do in the event of a concussion, what the symptoms are, and how to keep them from happening. They have to do this before every season of their sport, even if they coach multiple sports. After this seminar, the coaches are required to bring a paper back to their athletes that tells them the same things. The athlete, even if they are over 18 years old, and their parents must sign off on the paper signifying that they had read and understood the paper. This is a great step towards cutting down concussion injuries because they have got it in writing that they understand everything about head
McCrea, M., Hammeke, T., Olsen, G., Leo, P., & Guskiewicz, K. (2004). Unreported concussion in high school football players: implications for prevention. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 14(1), 13-17.
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
From the year 2001 to 1005 children aged 5-18 accounted for 2.4 million emergency room visits due to sports related injuries. Of these visits around 6 percent involved a concussion(The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Every athlete that receives a concussion does not necessarily go to the emergency room. Athletic trainers, when available and certified, can oversee the recovery of an athlete without a trip to the emergency room. Some concussions go untreated altogether. While the percentage may seem low, looki...
Concussions may not have many long-term effects, but if one does not take it seriously they could suffer from serious brain injuries that could possibly have devastating outcomes. Concussions should not be taken as a joke and should always receive proper treatment and care. One should not play a sport before their concussions is fully healed, because they could end up sitting out of the sport for longer than they first had intended.
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.
To concur with the first point, high school athletes receive more concussions than college players do. The National Research Council has determined that “High school athletes suffer concussions at nearly twice the rate of college players.” Although high schools take more action in keeping their players safe it is still dangerous for high schoolers who are in these contact sports. Despite the fact that there are impact test for athletes to take, it still will not keep them safe from obtaining a concussion. Because high school athletes receive more head injuries than college players, it raises the question of should athletes only be able to have one concussion before they have to stop participating in contact sports?
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull. Injuries are common in most sports, but football and boxing have the deadliest injuries of them all, severe head trauma. In 2011, there were 120 cases of sport-related deaths of young athletes and over 65% of those cases were due to concussions, according to Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association. Concussions lead to many different problems: confusion, anxiety, suicide, heightened risk of violence, the list goes on and on. Football isn’t the only sport that suffers from traumatic brain injuries, boxing is also one of the highest casualty rates in all of the sports. Would football still be football if there wasn’t such a thing as a concussion? Everyone in America has different views on how this issue should be addressed or situated. “Who Killed Benny Paret?” (Patterns, 13th ed. 337), “What Price Football?” (Patterns, 13th ed. 605), and “Would Football without
Concussions could be life threatening, if not treated properly, and the first thing to do is pull the player off the field to prevent further injury and not allow them back to play until their symptoms are gone. Coaches, parents and players should expand their knowledge on concussions and coaching staff should have to take a class on how to spot a concussion before they are able to coach a team, no matter what sport or what level of play. Concussions today are very common, and as future athletic trainers, we should all expand our knowledge on concussions and work toward inventing a way to decrease the possibility for a player to sustain a concussion, and it all starts with common sense and strict rules enforcing the proper wear of
In one article I researched it explains why concussions need to be taking serious in schools and with younger kids. The big problem is that educations at schools don’t focus enough on head injuries and what can come from them. They don’t understand concussions and how seriously they are. They should know at a young age kids getting into physical activities at younger ages and can still receive concussions and brain damage. Special programs need to be implemented into the schools educating on concussions and injuries. Concussions can not only affect sports and balance, it can also affect schooling and psychological wellbeing. More kids are in the hospitals for sports related injuries than anything else, the concussion clinic sees two to three
They can cause many long and short term effects on the brain. When looking for a concussion in may be hard to identify whether one has one or not, but one can determine if they have this by symptoms. Some symptoms include being dizzy, not feeling like themselves, and not being able to complete simple tasks. Also, when dealing with concussions, one does not want to receive more than one of these because it can lead to CTE which kills the brain even more. They usually only get CTE if they have had multiple concussions. Another thing to remember with concussions are, if someone has a concussion they should sit out of all activities so they can allow for their brain to heal. If they don’t do this and they risk themselves going out to play it could be fatal. This is because if the brain is not done healing and the concussed player receives another concussion during the time he could make the concussion irreversible. It 's also important to know that kids between the ages of eight and twelve should not be partaking in activities where they could seriously damage their head. If they do that, they could ruin the rest of their lives. Another reason why sports leagues need to do more to help prevent these concussions. Concussions do not just occur in football, in fact, they happen in baseball, hockey, at work, and sometimes just one wrong jolt to the head could make the brain hit the
One hit. One elbow. One brain. A part of me died on the field that day. September 6th, 2014 the dream I had since I was four years old was over. One elbow to my face changed my life forever in the matter of one second. Being diagnosed with my fourth concussion was a death sentence for my college soccer career. Today, in the United States alone, almost three hundred thousand athletes and over one million people suffer from concussions each year (CDC). This injury is extremely serious and can permanently end a player’s career. Concussions can result in long-term brain damage and may even prove fatal.
Thinking will usually bring out symptoms of concussions and make it easier for a doctor to diagnose an injury. For example, a doctor may ask, “Have you noticed a difference in your coordination? Have you felt mood changes? Are there any other symptoms you have” (Mayo Clinic Staff)? Preparing and understanding concussions is extremely necessary before seeing a doctor. Presenting one’s symptoms, such as coordination, hearing, and eyesight may make any diagnosis and test easier for a doctor and will lessen the patient’s time at a doctor’s office. It may also make the difference in his/her treatment. Understanding the concussions will also help the patient understand what he/she can do and expect out of the injury. Concussions do make a difference in the world today, and not just because of their importance in sports. Concussions are a daily issue that will get addressed and will be researched until the last concussion patient walks in a doctor’s
“Minnesota's high school athletes suffered about 3,000 sports-related concussions in the past school year, with nearly half of them involving football players and one in 20 resulting in severe symptoms that lingered for more than two weeks” (Olson). Concussions play a big role in contact sports at all levels even in high school. If you do not take concussions seriously at a young age it could cause serious problems when you get older. Serious stories of concussions or mass amounts of athletes who have suffered from concussions try to change the rules for sports to make them safer.
Also stated in, Childhood Concussions Linked to Lifelong Health and Social Problems, “To summarise, we found that even a single mild traumatic brain injury will predict poor adult functioning,”said Amir Sariaslan, first author of the research from the University of Oxford” (Davis). This quotation shows that a single head injury could cause a person to act differently. Along with this, adults with a concussion would have a very hard time at work dealing with this diagnosis. Overall, concussions affect the brain and how we act no matter what. In “Concussion Hazards must be Addressed” by Gregg Easterbrook states the problems with returning to a sport too early. “If a concussed player is returned to games or practice too soon, concussion harm can become much more severe -- and for long-term health, neurological damage is a greater concern than orthopedic damage.” This quote states that orthopedic damage is not as much of a concern as neurological damage. This means that an injury to the brain is much more dangerous than an injury to the musculoskeletal system. This is significant because if someone has a concussion but is unaware, it could cause this person to have a greater impact of the injury. Concussions are already dangerous to begin with, but if we recognize the symptoms soon enough, we may be able to stop them from causing to much of damage. Although concussion do not seem to have a great impact on us. They do indeed affect us in many different ways and effect our health much more than