Brain Injury In College Sports

These rates and numbers need to be addressed so that us as student athletes can have a safer and more enjoyable experience in the realm of college sports. The rate of brain injuries in sports have only increased with time, and our awareness on them and ways to avoid them should as well. I hope that these facts will allow the athletes in the room to become more aware of their decisions and they way that they think about the game they love.

Research shows that half of the admitted patients in emergency centers experience complications several months, even years, after the initial injury (“Psychological Sequelae: Postconcussion, Frontal and Temporal Lobe Syndromes”. 2012.). In some cases, patients complain of periodic headaches for up to a year, depression, and comprehension issues. Rather than allowing for athletes to return to physical activity after two to three weeks, they need in-depth evaluations of their brains and tests ran to ensure their brain is functioning

Concussions have a huge impact on athletics and student athletes in our generation today. They effect people's lives for the worse and cause setbacks in education and athletic opportunities. Many students who get concussions from athletic activities return to play their sport too soon after getting the concussion, which can cause even more serious issues. Considering 300,000 sports related concussions occur each year, they are very relevant to our everyday lives. Returning to play a sport too soon after suffering from a concussion can result in the risk for a further injury or worse concussion, severe symptoms and healing, and the very likely chance for another concussion to occur.

Concussions have become a major controversy in the United States. Because of uninformed students and negligent coaches, many student athletes are experiencing the severe complications that accompany the injury. High school athletes seem to be the most affected and for this reason are more vulnerable than other students to experience concussions. Not properly managing concussions in time could have significant and problematic injuries that could potentially effect the victims overall ability to live a healthy life. For this reason, athletes should have to stay out of any physical activity for the necessary time to allow their brain to properly heal.

If a student player were to be impacted on the field and have a concussion, they should sit out for a longer period of time to fully recover. This because if a student were to have a head injury, somewhat recover, and then get back on the field, they would have higher risks of permanent brain damage which can effect their daily activities. Findings show that a high school student are 3 times more likely to experience a second concussion if they have already had a concussion during that season. They also show that if they fail at properly healing their concussion, they might have long-term consequences and could effect jobs further in life.

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.

Concussions in sports have become a very popular issue in the past century. Athletes are becoming bigger, faster, stronger, and more aggressive. With this, though, comes more injuries as a whole and injuries that are more dangerous as well. Parents, coaches, fans, and athletes have become more aware of how dangerous concussions can be and what effect they can have on an individual throughout the rest of their life. Many advancements and changes have been made in an attempt to keep athletes and players safer and more protected. Some individuals believe parents, coaches, and trainers are becoming overly protective and are ruining the entertainment of the game and the competitiveness of the players. Any sort of traumatic brain injury can have many effects on the individual; there are short-term, medium-term, and long-term consequences of concussions that can continue affecting the individual for fourteen years after he or she has suffered the head injury. Although many advancements have been made and preventing concussions has become a priority in the ‘sports-world,’ authority figures and athletes still ignore the symptoms of concussions to allow the athlete to continue to participate. However, in order to continue the entertainment that sporting events bring fans and the enjoyment that they bring to the participants, more precautions should be made to keep the players on the field and in good health.

When participating in a sport, the players are aware of the risks. Physical damage is always a strong possibility, but what about the mental damage that a player can receive. Concussions have been known to occur frequently in contact sports, making the rules based on injuries in need of change. The current rule is that after an injury occurs, players have to have a medical professional sign off before they are allowed to play. This is great for injuries related to the physical form of a person, but when it comes to the mental aspects, these rules need to be re-written. Things such as the types of people affected by concussions, how vulnerable concussions can be on the mind, and how concussions can affect everyone around a person that has been inflicted by a concussion, should be brought into consideration while deciding a specific set of

In America, the sports industry is one of the largest and most powerful country; whether the sport is football, baseball, basketball, or any of the other sports the country has. Recently reports and documented cases have risen involving some of these sports’ greatest athletes, as well as current players, dealing with concussions (Famous sports concussions, 2012). Numerous athletes, some of them being the sport’s highest profile players, were found to have several mental illnesses and diseases, that have been attributed to head injuries sustained while they were playing their sports. The biggest and most predominant of these injuries is concussions. They can cause not only immediate issues, but also a lifetime of health problems (Smith, 2009). Sports related concussions lead to brain deterioration, which leads to long lasting effects throughout life.

The purpose of the study is to bring awareness about the seriousness of concussion injuries. Examining the severity of high school athletes who suffered sport related concussions is critical to determine the short term/long term damaging effects. When athletes’ concussions go undiagnosed, the risk of further damages increases since they are not fully recovered. This means that athletes will return to participation unknowingly since the injury goes undetected. In addition, when parents, coaches, doctors, and athletes are aware about the dangers of concussions, they can have a conversation and discuss the best options to ensure the safety of athletes. This means that injured athletes will not be allowed to participate under any

Sports hold tremendous value in American society and all athletes have at least one thing in common: the risk of getting a concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that results from a direct/indirect action or force that causes the brain to shake rapidly within the skull (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). This injury can mildly or severely affect the brain’s function by damaging brain cells and producing chemical alterations (CDC, 2016). Throughout the years, concussions have been more prevalent not only in professional sports, but among youth, college, and recreational sports as well. Despite the remarkably high statistics on concussions in the U.S., many cases still go unreported (Groce & Urankar, 2016, p. 22). Sustaining this injury can significantly set a person back physically, mentally, and emotionally. Due to the risks and health issues associated with concussions doctors, athletic trainers, coaches, and lawmakers are getting involved to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions.

Professional and amateur sports in the United States are big money. It is big money for the teams and the companies manufacturing sports equipment and clothing. It is also a literal headache for many participants. Sports concussions that occur frequently have terrible outcomes. We live in a sports oriented culture, which promotes a hard-nose on field mentality. Athletes learn early on to not report injuries or to play through an injury, especially an injury causing problems with mental processes. This denial has dangerous consequences. The attitude begins with youth sports and is reinforced by parents and society. For the past twenty years, reevaluation of sports-related concussions has become a real and pressing need. This interest has

In recent years an abundance of brain injury research has provided evidence of the lifelong impairments affecting children who have sustained a sports related concussion. Although the information on and how to prevent sports related concussions have been distributed among both athletic coaches, faculty and parents alike, sports related concussions often go unreported. Lack of proper education has lead parents and coaches to believe sports related concussions as being “minor injuries” (Macdonald).

CTE is a problem arising among professional athletes dating back to the 1920’s. (Jay Barry Harris) Many of these athletes, mostly retired, have struggled in their later years with mental illnesses such as memory loss, depression, substance abuse, and suicide. (Saulle and Greenwald) Concussions are the most common occurrence in athletes with an estimated 1.6–3.8 million sport-related concussions reported annually in America (Daneshvar et el). Concussions are the main source of CTE, however this can be an underrepresentation of the true number because many athletes do not seek medical attention or vocalize their symptoms. Many athletes fail to report their symptoms because of their desire to continue playing. In a 2009 CTE review, it found that 46 out of 51 neuropathologically diagnosed cases of CTE occurred in athletes, which translates to 90% (Mckee et el).

Injuries play a big role in an athlete's career and his or her overall health, although minor injuries are often nothing to worry about they can lead to something serious especially if the injury is repeatedly being aggravated. scrapes, cuts, bruises, and broken bones are all things to worry about. When a player is injured he or she is losing play time and money and why risk this when there is small but giant steps that can be taken to prevent injuries. But brain injuries are something much more serious even if the player says not to worry because something worse than losing playtime is losing your life. Albert C. hergenroeder has written an article on preventing sports injuries, he says that there are 3 million sports injuries among kids around