...When looking at the professional game of football over the years, it is well known that the most dominant injury is a concussion. Research has provided information on MTBI’s that have been sustained by NFL players. The problem here is that there has not been a complete understanding from entire the league (including the players); of just how these concussions can have a major impact on the players’ behavior on and off the field from a cognitive and physical state of being. The concussions in the NFL can be looked at in many different angles: (1) what drives them to still play, (2) is there a lack of understanding of the possible long-term effects and (3) if a player sustains a CTE, what are their chances of regaining their full potential. This paper will examine all of these angles and also talk about just exactly what goes on during a CTE and what motivates the behaviors that come with this MTBI, that way more precautions can be made to keep the players safe on and off the field....
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...Concussions in Athletes Concussions in Athletes Introduction Athletes are faced with a number of health issues including injuries that could require surgery. It is also important to note that there are a number of athletes who have died while participating in sports. Sadly, most athletes do not report these problems in time albeit they are aware of the symptoms that accompany such sport-related health problems. Concussion is one such health problem that is affecting athletes, especially high school students. It has been reported that most of athletes tend to avoid reporting symptoms of concussion in order to avoid being sidelined from playing (Diagnosing and Treating Sports-Related Concussion, 2014). In the United States, it is estimated that up to 3.8 million athletes suffer from concussions linked to high impact sports (Diagnosing and Treating Sports-Related Concussion, 2014). There is, however, a feeling that the figure is under-estimated in the sense that most athletes as well as their coaches are not conversant with the symptoms of this particular health issue. Therefore, concussions in athletes are a serious health issue which should be addressed immediately. There is need to inform athletes and all stakeholders in the sport industry on the symptoms of concussions as well as their capability to be fatal in order to help athletes seek treatment to avoid repetitive concussions which would lead to deaths. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader, especially...
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...discussion regarding traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussions has been inflamed within the media. Prior to this time little research was conducted regarding various forms of TBI, concussions, and enduring consequences of experiencing a TBI. As a result of the many soldiers returning from the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI diagnosis, much research has been directed toward this field. A sizeable contributor in the media recognition of the significant impact of TBI and concussions is the popularity of the National Football League (NFL) and college football. Players in various professional and college football leagues have long been experiencing TBI as a result of the contact nature of the...
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...Chris Berryman Sport in Modern Society Concussions in Sport: An Analytical Discussion “I had no idea what a nickel was (Kevin Kolb, The Concussion Blog).” NFL quarterback Kevin Kolb has suffered three major concussions since 2010 (Galliford, Buffalorumblings). His most recent one just this past August effectively ended his football career. This is just one example of the many in which multiple or severe concussions have cut short careers in sports. The issue of player safety in sport has become a topic of controversy and debate in recent years. Many professional leagues such as the NFL and the NHL have adopted strict concussion test protocols and procedures for its players. Player safety has no doubt become a major concern in contact sports. The problem is, many of these regulations have yet to address what happens after playing careers are over. What happens to former players’ mental and physical health after they retire? How do players whom have suffered multiple concussions playing contact sports live their lives as opposed to players whom have played non-contact sports such as golf or baseball? What will be questioned in this analysis is do known players that have suffered multiple and/or severe concussions throughout their playing careers due to playing a contact sport develop abnormally high levels of mental and physical health problems at an early age? Previous history on the attempts to lower the frequency of severe injury...
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...Occupational Safety and Health Case Study Draft Introduction Concussions have casted a dark shadow over sports throughout the last decade. They are the most common head and brain injuries suffered by athletes. 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” ("Concussion - WebMD: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention"). The major problem regarding concussions is that they are not visible to the human eye. Concussions occur all the way from Pop Warner leagues as a child to the professional leagues. My friend has played football his whole life. Unfortunately, he has been plagued by concussions ever since he started to play the sport. He is a prime example of an ordinary kid who plays a sport he loves, but has altered his future forever. Commissioners are actively trying to reduce the number of head injuries that occur while playing. However, the main problem regarding head injuries in sports is that players tend to rush back to their respective sports, without proper testing and treatment. This results in athletes risking their playing careers, a life filled with long-term head complications, and eventually putting their lives in danger. As an injured athlete, there comes a point where you have to ask yourself, is rushing back to the game really worth a lifetime filled with head injuries and complications? So what do team doctors need...
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...Literature review A concussion is often referred to mild brain injury by medical professionals. The study of Gerberich published in 1983 was one of the first widely cited articles to deal with concussions in high school football and spanned the years 1978–1982. Emily A. Harrison, a doctoral candidate in the History of Science Department at Harvard University researched, sports concussion has become a prominent public health problem in the early 21st century, also referred to as “The Concussion Crisis.” Harrison found that Football-related concussion contributed to much of the epidemic burden and inspired a lot of public awareness. The crisis has been around for more than a century. In the first decades of the sport of football, concussions...
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...Pasch Effects of Sport Concussions Sport concussions are a major scare in all sports today and it’s a problem in youth leagues as well as professional sports. While an athlete plays a sport they will suffer multiple concussions throughout their career in sports. In the last 3 years in high school football 400,000 concussions occurred. Concussions are a problem, at times is hard to detect, because the symptoms are sometimes hard to spot and in many cases symptoms can last for day, weeks, years and even life time. Through study they found that adults can heal faster than young athletes, and they can heal in just two weeks. Sport concussions are becoming bigger problems in all sports and researchers are trying harder to find how concussions occur, how to prevent them to make all athletes safer while playing and how to make sure all athletes are safe to play after a concussion. One way to help preventing concussions is to understand how they occur. Fist a concussions is defined as a complex pathophysiological process that affects the brain, typically induced by trauma to the brain. A concussion happens when there is trauma to the brain. Trauma can happen when you take a blow to head region. It can also happen when you get something called the whiplash effect to the body. The whiplash effect is when the impact to your body accelerates your head causing the trauma to your brain. With contact sports there are many ways concussions can occur. In any tackling sport, without proper tackling...
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...Reflections of Concussions Doctor Omalu studied the lethal form of illness in the brains of former football players, and how they have already turned into a long and painful fight. Omalu was a black man and also an immigrant. NFL coaches were so in denial of the situations that were being discussed. This is a terrifying implication on concussions. Omalu work on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as CTE. This movie “ concussion” is spiritually and emotionally accurate all the way through. This is the best study that we have on NFL players and mortality, yet its findings never seem to enter public consciousness. The simple truth, that former players aren’t dying, that in lots of ways they’re much healthier than you or me , smacks against...
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...This essay will argue that sports teams from high school to the NFL need to focus more on the dangers of concussion sin football. In sports everyone who commits to playing for an organized team knows that there is a large risk involved by the time you are stepping onto the field, Court or Ice Rink. One of the most common sports that athletes are being injured in is the sport of football. Every one knows the dangers of the the full contact sport because it is so widely commercialized in for all ages. From High School all the way to the NFL football is a big deal but what about the injury's that come along with playing this violent game. Concussions are one of the most common injures that occur out of the football field and it has...
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...their body” (Jenkins)? There is a growing list of ex-NFL players who have developed physical and mental issues, and there have been many successful studies proving that there is a correlation to their time in the National Football League. One of the more disastrous injuries caused by the physically draining sport is CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Injuries like these bring up the question of whether the NFL is safe for players. Football can be a dangerous sport and there is already efforts to make it safer however there is very little effort to help the people who are still suffering from their career as a...
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...world of competitive sports is the effects of concussions, and traumatic brain injury to athletes. Concussions were once thought to be an individual type of occurrence, however, it is now learned that brain injury from impacts, can have long term cumulative impact on the brain and mental health. This disorder is now known as CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. In the early 20th century, this was initially called dementia pugilistica, after doctors began noticing that boxers were sustaining brain injuries after repeated impacts to the head. Mild Traumatic Brain injuries are commonly called concussions, which is an invisible injury. A concussion is caused by rapid acceleration or deceleration of the brain within the skull, .A mild traumatic brain injury or concussion is usually downplayed, due to the fact that a single occurrence usually does not lead to any long term serious health issues. A Traumatic Brain injury would be considered a serious concussion. Any type of concussion, mild or major can cause physical issues, such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, light sensitivity, and feelings of fatigue and lethargy. These injuries can also lead cognitive difficulties and affect the ability to concentrate and disrupt short term memory. This commonly resolves within hours or days for a mild event, and upwards of 6 months for a traumatic or more severe concussion....
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...Concussions in Athletes Patrick Austin DeVry University Concussions in Athletes Junior Seau, a favorite player of many professional football fans, committed suicide in 2012. Although Seau seemed to have everything going his way, he quietly suffered from depression, one of the many symptoms of repeated concussions Those close to Seau knew something was not right the man they all knew and loved. Some of them just chalked it up to him adjusting to life after football. Many players go through an adjustment period after stepping down from a glorious career in the limelight. However, this was not the case with Seau. He was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. What is unique about Seau’s suicide is he shot himself in the chest. The common belief is he did this to preserve his brain for scientist to study how it was affected by suffering many concussions during his 20 year football career. And, eight months after his death, the scientists who examined his brain announced they had found evidence of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a dire neurological disease linked to concussions, which has been a factor in the deaths of many other NFL players (Penn, 2013). The fact that a player would kill himself because he was suffering from symptoms of repeated concussions speaks to the importance of properly diagnosing and treating head injuries. Other players have suffered from the symptoms of brain trauma. Some, like Dave Dureson, have even taken their own lives. These...
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...Every year, roughly 1.6 to 3.8 million athletes in the United States alone suffer from a concussion (“13 Things You”). But, almost half of these concussions are not reported and therefore not treated (“13 Things You”). Of all sports contributing to the concussion total, football is by far the main contributor. “High school football accounts for 47% of all reported sports concussions, while 33% of these concussions occur during practice,” (“Head Case - Complete”). The main reason for this could be improper technique and teaching, neglect, and other factors. But for these players, high school is followed by college and possibly the National Football League (NFL), where concussions get much more attention and criticism. Concussions in the NFL...
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...High School Concussions Have you had a concussion before? You get all confused and disoriented and have trouble remembering things. Students in High School athletics get concussions all the time. “47% of all reported concussions are in football alone. 33% of which occur during practices. There were 3,800,000 concussions reported in 2012, double what was reported in 2002.” High School athletes are vulnerable to concussions every day in practice and in games. The number of students getting concussions is growing every year, but how do we bring that number down? The statistics of concussions High School sports is important along with the dangers of concussions, and what a concussion is. These are the kind of things that schools should be aware of for the students sake. (Head Case). Concussions are very dangerous but every day there is a student at a school that gets hit or falls and ends up with a concussion/concussions. “In every 100,000 athletic...
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...,“League of Denial” The NFL Concussion Crisis ave you ever taken the time to consider the consequence? Not the immediate consequence, maybe not even the short term, but the long term consequence of how we as society treat our bodies. For the NFL, its players and “Iron Mike” Webster, the consequence’s became reality on September 24th 2002 when “Iron Mike” meet Dr. Bennnet Omalu as he lay lifeless on a cold autopsy table at the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office. Concussion: a condition resulting from the stunning, damaging, or shattering effects of a hard blow; especially: a jarring injury of the brain resulting in disturbance of cerebral function and sometimes marked by permanent damage (http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/concussion). Concussions have become more prevalent in the National Football League as awareness has risen. There are numerous cases of CTE that have resulted in permanent damage or death over the course of the last 15 years. The reality behind concussions is that there will never be a total solution to the issue, in contact sports the danger will always be there. We must continue to raise awareness and develop protective equipment to minimize the risk. Concussions are one of the leading causes of CTE among all professional athletes toady. Mike Webster retired in 1991 from the NFL and the Pittsburg Steelers after 17 years in the “pit” and made an attempt at a normal life, a short time into this journey it became apparent that “Iron Mike”...
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