Concussions In High School

1,085,272 Students participated in high school football in the 2015-2016 school year. In high school football, a study shown that one in fourteen players will suffer from a head injury during their time playing (Burns). Another study shown that students are three times more likely to suffer from any type of injury than any other major sport. High school football is too dangerous of a sport for teenagers who are still growing mentally and physically. Football has and will continue being a very lethal sport for high school students. Not only is high school football lethal, but it takes away from time in the classroom, which means time away from learning. When reviewing the details of football and what it does to students on the field or in the classroom, you will never get a good outcome.

Thesis: Youth and High School football teams are not adequately protected from the danger of concussions and head trauma.

Recent studies in science have concluded that multiple concussion injuries puts the player not only at immediate risk for problems, but long term health effects including memory loss. Even the most experienced player and coach may not have the proper training or education on recognizing or treating concussions. Concussions in sports remain a large problem. According to CDC research, it is believed that as many as 3.8 million concussions occur in youth through college sports. Unfortunately, less than half of these concussions are properly diagnosed and treated. The reason why so many concussions are left undiagnosed is because of lack of education of officials and coaches, and understanding of the long term effects.

In sports, the best athletes are the individuals that give each team a chance to win every game. The bad news for the best athletes is that sometimes their health gets put second to their abilities. Roughly 1.8 to 3.6 million sports related concussions happen each year (Concussion Statistics). Stronger and faster athletes as well as more impact of the hits or falls have doubled the number of concussions in a decade (Concussion Statistics). Concussions can happen to every athlete, but when it happens to the star athletes, it is different. Schools have to follow direct concussion safety laws, but professional sports have more leniencies (Get). Wins are more important in the professional leagues compared to the high school and amateur levels.

Junior Seau, a former NFL linebacker, had a rich history of concussions throughout his career. According to his former teammate, Gary Plummer, Seau suffered around 1,500 concussions during his 20 years of playing. Three years after his retirement in 2009, Seau decided to commit suicide on May 2, 2012 due to the excruciating pain he felt as a result of the many concussions he suffered. Instead of shooting himself in the head, Seau shot himself in the chest so that his brain could be examined at Boston University in hopes of revealing information about head injuries to reduce the amount of sports-related concussions that occur each year. Seaus death could have been prevented if preventative measures would have been implemented beforehand.

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.

On the other hand, they have instituted very many rules to prevent injuries. The NFL has started having programs for the teams where specific trainers come in to teach them the safety they should be providing their players. The NFL believes that if more of the coaches and players know about concussions, they will be more likely to go to the doctor out of fear that the injury could lead to more long term problems. The NFL feels this is important because between 1970-1980 the players did not know much about concussions. They most likely did not think concussions were common and some people probably did not even know they existed(NFL,1). Due to the lack of knowledge, players did not think it was a big deal to have a concussion. The

Approximately 10% of athletes take longer than seven days to fully recover from a concussion (article 1), but they still go back to the playing field before reaching that point. This is very dangerous and is mostly due to the fact that athletes, especially males, do not report their symptoms in fear of being sat out for a long period of time (article 1). It is understood that often if a person isn't feeling like they are experiencing any major symptoms then they might not want to be held back from participating in their normal activities. A concussion starts out as an "invisible" injury and can become majorly serious as time goes on if not properly handled and treated. An intelligent decision would be to have the concussed athlete monitored by someone, such as their coach, before a physician can give the athlete permission to return to the playing field

“Meh, what’s some brain damage gonna hurt”, was a quote that ultimately lead to the death of John McCrae athlete, Rowan Stringer. She was known to be a “leader” and an “amazing rugby player” on her school varsity rugby team according to various sources. The concept that shocks me the most is that she died from second impact syndrome, revealing her brave, yet poor decision that resulted in her unfortunate death. As you can see, concussions can be life threatening. In order to appropriately handle a concussion, one must be aware of the symptoms of a concussion, how to deal with concussions, and the consequences of concussions.

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.

Early in my freshman year of high school, my books fell from my locker onto my head and gave me a severe concussion. The incident that occurred does not sound like it could cause such a severe injury, but it did for me. I assumed I would recover after a week or so, as I had with my other sports-related concussions. However, the doctor stated that it would take me longer to recover because I was not fully healed from my previous injuries. Ultimately, it took until the end of my sophomore year to be cleared.

Psychology Professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Louis De Beaumont, Benoit Brisson, Maryse Lassonde and Pierre Jolicoeur wrote “Long-term electrophysiological changes in athletes with a history of concussions” to inform certain individuals about the long-term effects that are associated with one or multiple concussions. Although De Beaumont’s article is strictly addressed to people in the medical or psychology fields, Jonathan C. Edwards and Jeffery D. Bodle wrote “Causes and Consequences of Sport Concussions” to inform active and former players of contact sports, coaches, trainers, and physicians of the consequences and many different effects of concussions. “Long-term electrophysiological changes in athletes with a history

In today’s day and age, baseball is no longer considered the past-time of America. Football has gradually become more and more popular and is nothing short of the most watched and anticipated season in America. In the nation today there are 3 million kids who participate in youth football, which consists of children age five to 16. Also, there are an estimated 1.1 million high school football athletes, and 100,000 players at the collegiate level. While the sport is arguably the nation’s most popular sport, it may come with consequences. Over the past few years, concerns have been raised about the risk that players may face from taking repeated hits to the head. Studies show that more than 50 former professional football players have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease caused by impact. The question is, how can these possibly life-ending risks be lessened or even ended.

After doing research many studies suggest that youth football should be canceled out or the rules should be changed, but in my opinion those results are impractical, lazily thought of. It also shows the disconnect between the research and actual people that have had concussions from football, or is playing football right now and has had a teammate or a friend that has had results from concussions while playing. I believe that to truly understand the dangers of a concussion youth football, there needs to be a little more than just research, there needs to be a connection with someone that has played football. There needs to be some form of understanding and relation to that person to understand why he would even play a sport that would treat

Parents and coaches, pay attention. Concussions do happen in the pool, and the information provided here today will help guide you through the risks, symptoms, and treatments for concussions. Be head smart in the pool with the complete guide to swimming concussions.