...the future of professional sports and the potential for long-term injury. This is especially true when looking at traumatic brain injuries in professional athletes. Health care professionals are facing conflicting obligations in working for professional organizations and athletes. They have the ethical dilemma of whether to try to get the athlete back onto the field as quickly as possible, as long as they are healthy. That being said, with concussions and the recent findings on CTE, the long-term effects of such injuries could be damaging. Thus, it creates a complex dilemma for leagues and health care professionals on how to avoid this issue. This is especially rampant in the NFL. Although there have been some changes in concussion protocol, helmet-to-helmet hits, the moving of kick-offs by five yards to reduce concussions in the league, protection of defenseless receivers, and others, players still constantly are affected by unavoidable injuries. There is a huge dilemma at play as the NFL and players are making tons of money every year. It is very difficult for athletes to retire to avoid such injuries, as the game that they play may be the only thing that they know. It may well very be their only stable source of income as...
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...properly treat concussions is by using modern technology and science. Because coaches and players cannot be trusted to report concussions the NFL can now “employ technology to get around the problem altogether through widespread real-time monitoring of head impact exposure” (Lench). Honesty is compromised in professional sports on reporting injuries because the teams want to perform the best they can and players want to make the most money by playing the maximum minutes on the field as possible. Technology has least chance of error in locating concussions and can be standardized all throughout the league and in other parts of the world for all different types of contact sports. Technology can be trusted...
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...It's often that playing sports results in an injury, concussions specifically, or multiple injuries that might end up with serious and possible fatal effects. It's not worth risking an athlete's mental state just to win a game due to the fact that a concussion causes both short and long term side affects that can lead to permanent brain damage if a second incident occurs after a short period of time. An obvious fix to the situation would be keeping players out for longer periods of time in order to keep up the players health status. However, some people's understanding is to add the player back into the game as soon as a medical professional checks off the athlete. Although, making sure the player receives a full recovery can also prevent the athletes susceptibility to the effects of concussions, all because the player was given more time on the sidelines. Notably, a player might report to their coach that they've had a head injury, and the coach is likely to overlook this and say something like "he suffered a ding" in order to relieve the player so he/she may return to the field. Even though this one concussion wasn't so bad, it may as well be treated as any normal blow to the head. According to the article, there were 43 athletes in a study who suffered multiple "dings" to the head and were not returned to...
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...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 Pro Sports Concussions are quite prevalent among the professional sports players. Many of the players will or have suffered from a concussion at some point in their sport carer. With having a concussion comes other complications. Therefo all players should be educated on the long term effects of having a concussion. Profesional sports players need to be educated on the risk of having a concussion. Players need to know what the effects are of having a concussion. According to Andrew Walters in the article Professional Sports Associations Should Protect Athletes from Concussions, “Concussions don’t only last hours and days after they are suffered but also potentially for years afterward.”(Walters). Not all concussions are cured in a few days some can take up to a few years to be completely over it. Even then there’s still the long term effects of brain damage. The players need to know that with a concusion comes a long recovery time....
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...During each National Football League (NFL) season, hundreds of concussions are recorded, and potentially a significant amount are not even reported. Increased concussions have short-term and long-term effects on players, and these effects are damaging to their health. Right now, little is being done to solve the problem, and the NFL is trying to pretend that concussions are not a big problem since injuries are common in football. However, the fact is that increased football head injuries over the years have created a big problem that the NFL cannot avoid. They should consider the proposed solution which will help reduce head injuries in the league. The solution will help them save lawsuit money and show the public that the league is dedicated to their players’ well-being. Problem The problem with the NFL is that the league is taking minimal steps in...
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...Everybody has seen or played sports once in your life, you could have even gotten injured from high impact sports. Maybe even a serious injury like a concussion. From reading the article “Hard Knocks” it really helps you understand about how sports are very dangerous, especially football. High impact sports have caused many long term health effects like concussions and CTE. First of all is how high impact sports has caused concussions. “Concern over concussions has filtered down from the NFL to colleges, high schools, and youth leagues…”(pg.15). This quote shows that now all ages are getting concussions which is not good because it could affect the in the long run. “A typical high school football player receives about 650 hits to the head...
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...Concussions have been an increasingly controversial topic for many years with both reports on an increase of concussions to more awareness towards the issue, how both effects can happen at the same time is a puzzling mystery. The overall opinion of two medical professionals interviewed is that there is more awareness of concussions, causing more concussions to be diagnosed. From constant lawsuits and present and former athletes speaking out against sport associations, concussions are clearly having a large impact on society. According to Tria Physical Therapist Carly Mattson PT, DPT, OCS, a concussion is either caused by an injury or impact to the head or neck. Although once believed that concussions always caused unconsciousness, that is not always the case. “A...
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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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...Saunders 1 Deja Saunders Ms. Overby ENG 111 MJT04 December 3, 2014 Concussion Management Process Over the years, there have been many increases in sports concussions. This article on Sport Concussion, 2010 states that on average 3-5% of all sports and recreational injures are head injuries. They also say that patients younger than 20 are more likely to suffer a sport relate head injury. Concussions are becoming better recognized in sports injuries. Successful management of concussions in sports is essential to reduce long-term harmful outcomes (Aubry 6-11, Giola 14). This paper will focus on effective steps in a concussion management system and organizational commitment for youth sports. There are three goals that are considered in concussion management. The first goal is to safeguard the student athlete; brain injuries are the highest attention level. The second goal is to expedite recovery to sports and normal activities and the third goal is to decrease the athletic program’s risk and accountability. To address the need to establish operative concussion management in sports, ten systematic steps and commitments will be discussed (Lovell, Giola 14). Saunders 2 The first step relates to pre-injury knowledge and preparation. This is a basic understanding of the injury, its evaluation and treatment. The second step addresses...
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...Is Your Head in the Game? Sylvester Manning III Essentials of College Writing/COMM 215 June 11, 2012 Lyn Wolford Is Your Head in the Game? The rate of concussions in contact sports is at an all time high and steadily growing at an alarming rate. With no definitive solution to this problem in sight, provisions must be put in place in order to protect our youth and professional athletes alike. Precautionary safety measures have been lackluster, and research on the issue, all but forgotten. With the advancements in technologies it is up to the authorities and more importantly the people to implement more effective means of safety, education, unyielding policies and severe punishments in order to protect the youth and professional athletes. A concussion is defined as a traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function with a short period of altered or loss of consciousness, when a concussion occurs the brain is shaken in such a forceful way inside the skull that it causes injury. Concussion rates have doubled in this decade and account for 1 out of 10 of all contact sport injuries (Barton, 2008), the Center for Disease Control (C.D.C) has concluded that concussions in the United States have reached an “epidemic level” and there are between 1.6 and 3.8 million sport related concussions every year (Halstead, 2010) (Lincoln, 2011). Symptoms include but are not limited to confusion, headache, amnesia, nausea, sensitivity to light, double vision, sleep disturbances...
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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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...Concussions have the capability to destroy a brain. Multiple concussions, if left untreated can result in serious life threatening damage. The issue of concussions is very close to home and important to me. A few years ago, I suffered from a concussion while playing soccer and for months afterwards, I was affected by symptoms of the concussion such as headaches and dizziness which kept me out of playing the beautiful game. I feel very strongly that something must be done to keep athletes safe from this deadly injury. I believe that an independent oversight organization must oversee concussion protocol, which is to identify, treat, and clear any athlete with a concussion. Concussions have always occurred but have not always been identified as such. During battle, concussions occurred to soldiers but they were not classified as concussions. It...
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...10/2/14 Concussions in Sports “As Larry got checked out by doctors’ moments ago, he re-enters the game on offense as the Cardinals attempt to win the game.” Concussions are becoming a huge topic in all four major sports leagues, The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Most of the concussions do tend to happen in football or in hockey, but even boxers, professional wrestlers, Mixed Martial Artists (MMA), and soccer players have been diagnosed with concussions. “Over 250 current or retired athletes - including 50 NFL players and 12 hockey players - have pledged to donate their brains, including Keith Primeau, who retired from the NHL in 2006 due to post-concussion syndrome” (McIlroy and Mick). That itself is a pretty crazy number and that is just in the past five years. That kind of shows how committed to fixing and understanding the concussion crisis is upon us. Concussion protocols in all sports needs to be redefined. There have been concussion protocols for the NFL and NHL that have been put into place since the frequency of concussions started happening. Teams across the nation and even world have started to employ neurologists for when a player gets a concussion so that the proper steps are taken. Usually a player has to sit out if he has failed a part of the concussion test. Recently an Arizona Cardinals player named John Abraham had his first serious concussion. He had...
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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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