APA Research Studies

Head injuries, including concussions, particularly in the game of American football, have become a subject of deep concern, much study and even Congressional hearings in the United States.

The treatment for a concussion used to be as simple as taking time to rest, or smelling bath salts before returning to play. In today’s world, concussions are more appropriately recognized as a serious head injury. In order to correctly diagnose and treat concussions, professional action needs to occur. Preventative measures, proper assessments and diagnosis, correct treatments, and increasing awareness are a few ways to reduce an issue down to a more manageable position. Concussions are a common threat in many aspects of life today. From contact sports to accidental falls, head injuries are an increasing issue that needs to be recognized as such. Two to four million concussion injuries occur from sports and recreation settings in the United States every year (The American Academy of Neurology). Most of these injuries result in a full recovery, but there are people who are left with dehabilitating injuries for the remainder of their lives. Thankfully it is becoming well known that these problems exist, and many people are starting to take action.

In the sports world today, there are many different injuries that athletes experience and one of the most devastating injury is a concussion. Concussions can happen to anyone, in any sport, but we tend to see most concussions in contact sports (Świerzewski 1). While having an informal conversation with my dad about football, he told me it was common for athletes to receive a head injury in a game and continue to play as if nothing was wrong. While watching SportsCenter, I found that some of the greatest retired athletes don’t remember the best moments of their careers due to the lack of treatment. The worst aspect of concussions is that the symptoms can be delayed; in some cases, it’s only a headache so athletes don’t seek medical treatment. Multiple concussions over time can lead to life-threatening complications due to the damage they cause to the brain. Concussions can happen to anybody at anytime, but there is more to concussions than meets the eye.

Think about this, “how many people have had a concussion this year?” Probably more than one can count on one hand. On average there is close to 2.5 million concussions in the US that are caused by sports or recreational activities. In high school sports alone, “High school athletes are three times more likely to sustain catastrophic injuries than those people in college” (Gorgens.) Getting a concussions does not only cause physical pain, it can cause mental problems. There needs to be more precautions taken in protecting the players.

Concussion injuries frequently occur in the United States affecting young children, teens, collegiate, and professional athletes. According to the Journal of School Health, “Concussions remain a serious public health concern as approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million sports-related concussions are estimated to occur each year” (Covassin, Elbin, and Sarmiento, 2012). Public health is bringing

A concussion is an mTBI that affects brain function and is caused by a single blow or violent shaking of the head or upper body (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). Most sport-related head injuries are minor and although the majority of athletes who suffer a concussion recover within a few days or weeks, a small number of individuals develop long-lasting or progressive symptoms. This is especially true in cases of repetitive concussion or mTBI in which at least 17% of individuals develop CTE (McKee et al., 2015). The incidence rates recorded thus far for concussions is highly likely to be a very conservative number and seriously under-estimates the true incidence. Reasons for this being that: a) reports by associations tend to only record athletes who experience a loss of consciousness (LOC) and b) players and coaches usually lack awareness of or minimize symptoms of

Over the past couple of years, there has been a growing concern for NFL player’s safety and the amount of concussions occurring over the past years. A concussion is a type of mild traumatic brain injury that may be caused by either a fall; a direct blow to the head, face, or neck; or a blow elsewhere on the body that transmits force to the head (JAAPA). There has been a high attention directed towards concussions in many sports, but mainly football. The purpose of the research I will be conducting is to educate the players, coaches, and future players of the NFL on ways to prevent concussions. Several topics I will touch upon my research topic are how concussions associate with musculoskeletal injuries, how long a player should be sidelined before returning to play, the amount of research that has been done to prevent concussions, how teammates can have an effect on whether a player continues playing through a concussion or if they take the safe route, how coaches who are educated annually on concussions can decrease how bad a concussion is and ways coaches have been educated in the past and how effective that method was. I will specifically be paying attention to what is known and what other ways can the members of the NFL be educated on concussions. I want to know what they know and what steps are they taking towards preventing concussions. I also want to know what damage does it cause to the brain over time.

41% of athletes sustained by concussion occurred while playing football. 22% occur in girl soccer. The other 15%. And 10% are made up by boys’ soccer and girls’ basketball. Twice as many high school students play football, that’s why they have the highest percentage. With football, they have the highest rate of concussions because of the number of players they have on the field at once. There are some effects in place to help prevent these concussions. These effects consist of modifications to their football helmets, change of rules, better strength and condition programs, and stricter rule enforcement on and off the field. Former football players who suffered from concussions in the past have fought to get these effects in place because they know what the long term effects are. Given football is Americas most watched sports it attracts a lot of attention. Football is the most frequently played sport in younger

Many private companies and researchers have taken the issue of concussions head on. Research has drastically increased throughout the 21st century. In the words of Mark Lovell PhD. founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program, “90% of what we know about concussions we’ve learned in the past five years.” These private researchers have taken different approaches to solving the issue but they are all working to achieve one goal: the reduction of concussions and the prevention of their long-term effects.

A recent study of college football players has shown that those who participate in high contact sports and have had a concussion before have a 300% higher chance of having another one in comparison to athletes that have never had a concussion before (Jolicoeur et al, 2007). The NFL and NCAA have enacted several rule changes in order to minimize the occurrence of concussions. These new rules, like many before them, have come under the scrutiny of the very athletes that they were meant to protect. The NHL and NHL Players Association in 1997 together created a program in order to get a better understanding of concussions and how to prevent them (Burke et al, 2011). According to Covassin (2008), athletes who have had more than one concussion take a longer time to recover with each concussion that they suffer from.

Most players, regardless of their level of play are ill informed of the frequency and the potential long term effects of concussions. The NFL recently paid “$765 million in restitution...to former players” (Banks 605) for concussion-related lawsuits. Schools often doing just as poorly as the NFL at informing players, using consent forms that do not fully explain potential injuries or worse, downplay their frequency and severity. Often times though even players who do know the risks play the game as “ college ball is dangled as one way out of

Another research question of this study wants to see if concussed athletes take themselves out of a game/practice if they are knowledgeable on how serious concussions are? In other words, is it effective to teach athletes enough that they will remove themselves when they realize they think they might be concussed. Knowing that they could put themselves at risk based on concussion facts and consequences, in hopes that being properly educated athletes will be more responsible for their brains? Another, issue subject being brought up would be, could education change an athlete's mind about hiding a sport related head injury if they only live to play sports? The third question that will be answered in this research is, would the rate of diagnoses of second impact syndrome decrease with proper education on concussions within athletic departments? What this is trying to find, is educating athletic departments effective in reducing the amount of second impact

Football, a game of big plays and big hits, is a big reason as to why it is so popular. From a spectator standpoint, looking for that “big hit” is something that we all look forward to. From a players’ standpoint however, it could be that same hit that can cause depression, brain damage, or even something far worse than that: death. A single blow to the head can be detrimental for a football player, regardless of age, playing ability, or skill level. Concussions are not something that should be taken lightly in the sport world, especially when it comes to football, where there is heavy hitting on every play of every game as well as impact suffered during practices. That is why I wanted to do the research, find the facts and studies done, and help create a standardized way to help put a stop to concussions or at least minimize the number of occurrences. If a concussion does occur however, I want to be able to decide what process that we as sports managers should go through to make sure they receive proper treatment and recovery time. I want to be able to discuss the seriousness of concussions in football and what sports managers should do to reduce the number of incidents and the overall severity of them.

Early identification of concussion is paramount in mitigating the serious consequences of concussion. The NCAA and California Community College Athletic Association

Concussions are all too common in contact sports not only at the professional level but at an amatuer level too. “The updated guideline recommends athletes with suspected concussion be immediately taken out of the game and not returned until assessed by a licensed health-care professional trained in concussion, return to play slowly and only after all acute symptoms are gone. Athletes of high school age and younger with a concussion should be managed more conservatively in regard to return to play, as evidence shows that they take longer to recover than college