Informative Speech On Concussions

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Body #1 For those of you not familiar with concussions; concussions usually occur when you suffer a blow to the head. Events you can associate with concussions are typically head to head collusions in football, a header in soccer, or even strong whiplash. Typical symptoms of a concussion can vary in severity. Most people think that concussions usually occur when someone gets knocked out but that's not necessarily the case. One does not need to be knocked unconscious to sustain a concussion which is why it is important to know which symptoms to look out for. As I stated before concussion symptoms can vary so some of the symptoms to look out for include: difficulty concentrating, vomiting, headaches, nausea, and difficulty sleeping. Knowing …show more content…

The brain is a delicate instrument and an important one at that, which is why multiple concussions present a great danger. Body #2 Multiple concussions can lead to several degenerative brain diseases. As the research stands right now, it is hard to determine which diseases are related to repetitive brain trauma due to the limited sample of former players and due to selection bias, meaning that those that are tested for certain brain disease already believe they have them. Nevertheless, repetitive brain trauma has been shown to have some correlation with the following diseases: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, and of course most forms of memory loss. All brains do not react the same way to brain trauma so there really isn't a formula or number of concussions that researchers have pinpointed will give you any of the previously mentioned diseases. In fact, CTE as of now can only be diagnosed postmortem and degrees of severity have varied among …show more content…

His name is Zack Lystedt and if you haven't heard of him yet, you would be surprised how influential he has been to the state of Washington and the field of neurology. Zach was a 13-year-old boy back in 2006, full of life and promise. One day that changed, he was playing a game of football for his recreational team when he went for a tackle a few yards away from the end zone. When he came down from the tackle, he began to hold his head, you could tell something wasn't right. His coach took him out for a few plays, his coach deemed him well enough to play and he went back into the game to play the second half. After the game, his dad and him were walking off the field when he suddenly collapsed. Zack had suffered another concussion, two in one game. This is referred to as Second Impact Syndrome. Zack didn't regain consciousness for over a month. He didn't speak a word for another 9 months. It took him 3 years to be able to stand up and slightly walk. These are all task we take for granted, but Zack wishes he could go back to that day in 2006 to be able to do them. After his accident, Zack and his family pushed to pass a law that would keep any youth athlete suspected of having a concussion out of the game until a licensed medical professional clears that athlete. This law passed in Washington, and it didn't take long before it passed in all 50 states. This law is called the Zack Lystedt law. This story is an important one

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