American Football Concussions

The National Football League, more commonly known as the NFL, has had growing cases of retired players that suffer from mental trauma or mental diseases from concussions. A concussion is a short loss of brain function following a direct or indirect force to the head. Concussions are extremely difficult to diagnose because the damage is seemingly invisible to the naked eye. Although the damages may not be present, the effects are long lasting. Concussions are plaguing retired NFL players and affecting the former athletes long term mental health.

The acronym CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which is a continuous disease that inflicts the brain of athletes who suffered ongoing concussions and traumatic brain injuries. This disease was known to affect boxers, however, recent reports published that CTE exists in retired football players and other athletes who have a history of repetitive brain trauma. CTE triggers degeneration of brain tissue and can begin in months, years, or even decades. The symptoms of this disease is usually memory loss, impaired judgement, depression, confusion and impulse control problems.

The NFL is watched all over the United States. There are many injuries during this game such as breaking a leg and arm. They can get their lungs collapsed if someone was to step on them with all force. Concussions though are the most dangerous you can get a concussion and not even know.”The Patriots tight end suffered a helmet-to-helmet blow from Jaguars safety Barry Church in the final minutes of the first half and was immediately taken to the locker room for medical evaluation.’’ Any of these injuries can happen to anyone so we gonna talk about how to try to avoid them and to treat the if they happen to you. So tune in and join us in reading this so you don't end up on the sidelines and are always playing the game that many people love,

It is important to analyze the NFL and concussions among its players as an interrelated issue rather than looking at individual instances. When a player sustains a concussion they then undergo physical repercussions from this traumatic brain injury. The case that really started all this concussion discussion was back in 2002 when Hall of Fame Center Mike Webster was found dead. Webster’s death spurred debate on the issue that still continues today. Meanwhile, the NFL’s role as a business has also played a significant role in limiting its ability to address the concussion problem and other brain injuries that result from playing professional football. Prior to his death, Webster had suffered from such severe pain that the only

For this research paper I will be exploring concussions in the NFL, and how it represents American ideologies. I am not only going to be analysing the long lasting effects concussions have on players, but also how the NFL was able to to ignore and deny allegations against them proving the fatality of the sport. The National Football League is a multibillion dollar business, and is the most watched sport in the United States, making this a very relevant topic in recent news. All you have to do is watch an afternoon of Sunday football games in order to witness the brutality of the sport, and the tolls players bodies take. My primary source for this topic is a 43 page scholarly article produced by Harvard University explaining the history and evolution of concussions in the NFL. This source goes into depth on nearly every aspect of the topic, which will help me answer my research questions as I go along. Although I will be looking into several different aspects of this topic, my main research questions are what is the truth behind concussions in the NFL, and how does it

Head injuries in football can lead to finished careers because of injuries such as; brain damage, concussions, and other major head traumas.Some retired players want to sue the NFL because they claim that coaches were aware of concussions that turned into dementia.Certain types of brain damage can cause mood swings, and some times permanent mental damage. Almost all football players end up with some type of brain damage.

The reason why the author wrote this documentary is that he wanted to reveal the truth about football players concussions. The scientist was figuring out why player life spans were not very long. They bought it to the league which they was denying it. Its basically over the league denying the subject and trying to cover up possible ties with the players concussions and their suffering on the football field and all the brain injuries. The league cover up things and are still running over the businesses. It is very important that somebody look into the concussions and the players health. It is important that the players get all the medical attention they need so they can have a long career. It will prevent most of the players concussions and

The NFL is big part of many Americans life during the fall and the off season. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that hosts the most watched 4 hours of television in America. As an athlete who played football for many years, I wanted to ask the question; is the NFL’s new rules and penalties preventing concussions? During the first two weeks of April, I have compiled six different resources relating to this topic. Some, such as Trevor Horn’s article "Tackling seminar teaches new methods, inspires faith in safer football” cover the aspects of how youth and high schoolers are effected by concussions and what role the NFL plays. Other articles talk about research being put towards helping diagnose brain trauma in athletes, and also whether or

Sports is a major part of mostly everyone’s life either you watch it or just participate in it. Though it has it benefits, everyone has the reason why they participate or enjoy watching sports. With the benefits comes with some consequence. When a football player puts on a helmet, he knows what he gets himself into. Although they have a helmet on, they are not guarantee not to get a concussion, according to Press Release “there was a new study that found out that football helmets currently used on the field does little to no protection against hits to side if the head” (AAN).

In 2015, a movie starring Will Smith as a doctor named Bennett Omalu who is researching how a former football player died when he discovered a brain disorder that is related to Alzheimer’s disease and attempted to warn people about the head-related dangers of football. This nonfiction movie is about just the beginning of the football concussion problems, but the problems still exist today. All players are at risk, not only professionals, but kids as well. Countless concussions by football players have lead to trauma and even death. Officials in charge of these games need to make the game safer for all players and better equipment is required or football may go extinct in the future.

Concussions in football have become more and more common even though the equipment has apparently gotten safer. In retrospect it seems the equipment has made concussions more prominent. Does this mean the sport of football altogether is unsafe or that the players are simply just not playing the game correctly? Is this the person running the ball fault or the defensive players fault or both?

U.S. Football reported a 6.7% decrease in youth participation (ages: 6–14) for the 2011 season. Further, Pop Warner, the United States largest youth football organization saw a decline in participation during this time, off 9.5% between 2010 and 2012 (Fainaru & Fainaru-Wada). In other sports, a study done by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association recorded more kids than ever are not playing at all. Inactivity among children approached 20% in 2014, continuing a six-year upward trend. In the same age bracket, the average number of team sports played per participant has fallen 5.9% over the last five years and now sits at 2.01 (Murphy). This downward trend shows parents are worried of the effects concussions can have on kids. Key players in the sports industry have come forward and discussed the long-term difficulties they are experiencing from head trauma. Former NFL Minnesota Vikings player Fred McNeill, star of the 1977 Super Bowl, can hardly remember his glory days or even what events happened yesterday. With the NFL recently being under the spotlight for occurrences of concussions and former players coming forward with their experiences, it’s no wonder parents are being cautious with what sports their kids are

The effects of harsh concussions are being made aware of in the NFL and steps are being made to prevent them (Block, 4). By teaching better tackling techniques, the risk of concussions has declined and defenders have learned to keep their heads up while tackling to prevent hard hits to the helmet (Emmert, 4). Five years ago in the NFL, players could return to the field after a concussion. The league is trying to protect the players from causing extensive head trauma now and keeping the players out of the game with a concussion (Sullivan, 2). Medical experts agree that all the steps being taken to prevent concussions are great, like handling out harsher penalties for hits to the head, teaching better tackling techniques, and creating high-tech helmets, but there’s no way of knowing if they’ll stop all concussions (Emmert, 7). The NFL is spending $45 million to support youth football and protect kids from concussions, where they will also teach the young players the proper way to tackle (Pulley and Glor, 1). The NFL agreed to pay $765 million with 4,800 former players, although a US District Court judge in Philadelphia declined it, stating that it wasn’t enough money to cover all the future claims that could be reported (Emmert, 1). Surveys show that 39% of players say that the NFL rule changes on hits to the head made the game safer, but 53% said it didn’t make a difference and 8% said it was less safe (Barzilai and Brady, 2). The “League of Denial”

This article portrays how playing football can cause negative long term effects on your body. Frontline reported on numbers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University, where researchers studied the brains of 165 people who played football at the high school, college, or professional level. They found evidence of CTE in 131 of them—79 percent. Of the brains studied, 91 of them belonged to former NFL players, and 87 of those 91 (96 percent) had signs of CTE. In an attempt to further reduce concussions some teams are considering adopting a tackling style similar to that of rugby, where players

In a study of 92 former NFL players, it was found that a total of 88 (96%) of them were afflicted with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE (Tyler). With such a high percentage of former NFL players suffering from this disease, one would think solid efforts would be being put forward towards a cure, or that a cure may even have already been found. But this is not the case. Very little is known about this disease, and there is no known cure for it yet. As the leading influence in the game of football, the NFL has the moral responsibility to fund research and put forth an effort towards reducing the risk of and eventually eliminating head trauma in the game of football.