Speech : Understanding Head Injuries Essay

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.

Concussions are injuries that can occur in day-to-day life but are more commonly found in sports and physical activities. They are injuries that can be avoided, but when they happen they can be very dangerous. Through my years of playing football I have been diagnosed with two separate concussions, but they were both caused by playing football. There are ways to avoid concussions and the techniques should be taken seriously or they can have serious consequences. In this speech I will discuss what concussions are, how concussions happen, and the danger they present when diagnosed with one.

Soccer, being the most popular sport across the nation, currently has millions of fans and approximately 25 million registered players in the United States alone (Niedfeldt). Since the early 2000’s and continually seventeen years later, concussions are among the highest sustained injury to soccer players. While the sport is increasing in popularity, fear of injuries is increasing as well. In response to the arising panic, several companies have come together in order to create, promote, and sell protective headgear to concerned soccer players and their parents. The creators of this gear claim that their products will reduce concussions and any negative neurocognitive effects in relation to heading balls in soccer. Although some believe that

experiencing a concussion, you would want to know things like what are concussions, how are

Concussions are a rising issue in the daily life of many athletes in the sports of hockey, soccer, football, and skateboarding. Every 21 seconds, someone in this country encounters a brain injury. Concussions are brain injuries caused by jolts or hard hits around the head. When the tissue of the brain slams against the strong, thick skull in your head, a concussion is very common. This leads to either swelling of the brain, “torn blood vessels, or injury to the nerves.” (Haas) Eventually, the result will be immediate, delayed, or even permanent loss of your own brain. In the next four paragraphs, I will describe to you how a concussion is important to you and others, what the world can do to stop this issue, and what you can do to prevent

Along with typical symptoms, athletes should be aware of ways that the injury can be avoided. In concussion education classes, athletes would be educated on how to wear the proper headgear for their sport, ways to avoid head to head collisions, and what conditions are safe to play in. For many sports, headgear is required and athletes cannot practice or compete without it. Sports involving a possibility for high impact such as football, wrestling, baseball, softball, hockey, horseback riding, skateboarding, skiing, and cycling all require some type of helmet or headgear to be worn while playing (Concussion). While not every sport that requires headgear is a contact sport, head injuries are still likely to occur in all of them. All athletes, even athletes playing non contact sports, should be

Concussions occur on a large scale in football. During a concussion, the head can experience a blow directly or can have whiplash. When the head is hit, the brain hits the inside of the skull, giving it a temporary bruise. This bruise or tearing of the brain can lead to mental impairments that can affect a person’s emotional state of being, physical problems like deteriorated mobility and sensitivity to light and sound. Doctors are quick to point out one of the major reasons that youth receive concussions, saying, “... children have big heads relative to the rest of their bodies and weak necks… that elevates the risk of concussions,” (P6). Along with a lack of education and care for the protection of athletes, youth are already at a huge risk. When children wear their football helmets, they are saving themselves from many injuries that could have occurred without them, most especially protecting the brain. But, in many cases, this is not enough.

4%-20% of all injuries in soccer are head injuries. Concussion and head injuries are a big part of soccer, many younger players should have to wear protective headgear while playing. Also, many of these head injuries that players sustained during soccer can affect them for the rest of their life with things such as CTE. Even though many people don’t want to change the game of soccer, at a certain age players should have to wear headgear if they want to head the ball because the brain damage kids can get from heading the ball can affect them for life, and it would decrease the amount of concussions the sport has per year.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have always been a problem in sports and especially in contact sports like football. Since the beginning of football there has been different styles of head protection, from no helmets at all in very early stages to the modern day helmets we have today. In order to know how the evolution of the football helmet has made head injuries less common than they originally were, we have to know what is a concussion and how someone gets one.

“In 2012 alone, there were more than 3.8 million reported concussions, twice as many as a decade earlier (Cleveland Medical).” According to the National Library of Medicine, even this seemingly large number of concussions under represents the full number of people who get concussed, because many people don’t seek medical care. In the same way I almost died in 2013. One second I jumped for a high pass and the next, I woke up in the hospital the following day. Many witnesses even profess to me dying on the field. This however, is just one lucky situation in the never ending battle with concussions. Concussions can be caused and worsened by hits to the head, cheap protective equipment, and misdiagnosed injuries.

3.6 million people are estimated to have concussions yearly. A concussion causes temporary loss of brain function leading to cognitive, physical and emotional symptoms, such as confusion, vomiting, headache, nausea, depression, disturbed sleep, moodiness, and amnesia. The worst result from a head concussion includes internal brain damage, and death. Athletes who play a contact sport must wear protective head gear. Athletes must wear headgear because it can lead to many types of injuries, and wearing head gear decreases the amount of injuries and concussions.

The sports communities that require concussion education include the players themselves; their parents, the coaches, trainers, therapists, and referees; sports organizations/leagues; the media; teachers; and health care professionals. Several gains in recognition and management that impact upon concussion prevention can only be made through widespread of knowledge about concussions. Concussions are a serious issue in many professional sports. Concussions affect multiple sports in many ways. Many sports today are affected by the medical condition of concussions. Today, multiple leagues and professionals are learning how to prepare and prevent these career shattering injuries. With hundreds of medical advancements and a better understanding of the knowledge that the science has, we are assisting athletes to recover from these injuries. In order to understand concussions that lead the role on the games, one must look at the symptoms, injuries, and side-effects of this

    Concussions in sports are a very serious subject, including it’s recovery and prevention. Concussions have affected many athletes and even normal people and too many concussions could end up having serious consequences later on in life. Sports leagues and doctors should be taking more precaution in making sure everyone stays safe and healthy.

Many people that play sports get into some type of injury, the majority of injuries sustained in sports are usually head related. Football has about 118,886 injuries, basketball with 119,589 injuries, and rugby with 1,214 injuries between the years of 2002-20014 and has continued to skyrocket. There are difference between head injuries in football than when playing other sports. These differences can be from minor, moderate, to sever. Football is more on the sever side because of the impact and number of hits they are taking. On the other hand sports like basketball, soccer, and tennis are not as of aggressive as football. And this is due to the lack of contact in the sports. These sports are very strict about the contact when playing in a game, they are charged with a penalty or flagged if a player makes the slightest contact with another player. Therefore you would rarely see a head injury let alone a sever head injury when playing those kind of sports. With football being more aggressive and more contact, the head injuries can lead to a player being hospitalized, and depending on the impact on the blow can lead to death.

There are many dilemmas that plague sports. Some of those can range from bribing, cheating, racism, and sports safety. In the past the NBA had to deal with the betting scandal involving Tim Donaghy and baseball has had to deal with the issue of performance enhancers. The sports industry generates around half a trillion dollars a year and it has to deal with multiple dilemmas at the youth, college, and professional level. A growing issue with sports has been the number of injuries that athletes have had to deal with. Typical sports injuries range from twisting ankles, blowing out knees, and dislocating shoulders. Surgery and rehabilitation have helped athletes to recover and get them back on the playing field faster