Sports Injury Research Paper

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

As a result former football players are experiencing health issues. Sports news headlines have been abundant with stories concerning former NFL players currently suffering from headaches, loss of memory, dementia, and early Alzheimer’s (Ellenbogen, 2010;Neumann, 2011). Even though the devastation of concussions is just beginning to rise to the surface, they have always been around. There appear to be several recent cases involving former and current NFL players committing suicide that was influenced by some of the suffering due to medical maladies associated with playing football (Amen, 2011). Many skeptics of football related concussions have indicated such health issues are coincidental and people commit suicide for different reasons; or that early Alzheimer’s as well as dementia are known to develop with age (Casson, 2010). Recently attention has been given to the fact that there may be a link between various cases (Nowinski, 2006). Consequently, each of these players associated with these stories all sustained repeated concussions while playing football. Although several of these concussions were documented, players were forced to sit out for a few plays; however, others were not documented, and because the game was close, were asked to stay on the

If you do not play super cautiously, you can easily make one mistake and suffer concussions, brain damage, limb damage, and overall destruction to the body. Because of this, we see that football can completely ruin your life. In the first source, “Hard Knocks”, the article showcases a real life example of a boy who, when playing football, hit heads with another individual with a lot of strength. He sustained a concussion, and still to this day, he suffers headaches, memory problems, and so much more. In the video, “Concussion Hazards in Youth Football”, the video shows how the brain is affected when a concussion occurs. Also, it presents how the youth are more capable of sustaining permanent brain damage when hard hits on the head occur. In the last source, “How Many G’s?”, an infographic shows the real dangers of a football hit, when compared to a heavyweight boxers punch, and the force from a roller coaster on the body! Together, all three sources show that football is a highly competitive sport that can tarnish someone’s whole life plan in a couple of

Football is a rough sport so injuries are bound to happen. The magazine article “Hard Knocks” states “A typical high school football player receives about 650 hits to the head per season, according to research conducted by the University of Michigan’s NeuroTrauma Research Laboratory” (Text 1, line 45). Football players are constantly getting hit causing more and more injuries every year. Concussions are one of the most common injuries that are also one of the most dangerous. The article “Concussion Fact Sheet for Athletes” proclaims, “A concussion

The lack of knowledge that the majority of athletes enter the league with causes experts on the NFL’s policies to believe that the front office does not see the injury as a serious problem in the game today. “With the subsequent deaths of several relatively young retired NFL players, the autopsies of their brains, and the newly minted diagnosis chronic traumatic encephalopathy, we know the problem is real” (Carroll). This quotation intensifies the emphasis on the true problem the National Football League seems to be avoiding. Every injury, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant, needs to be addressed. “Even the only game that matters doesn't matter as much as your brain” (Flynn). There is nothing wrong with a person participating in the sport he loves, but when a blow to the head occurs, quick and efficient action must be taken to address the situation at hand. The National Football League and its policies do not suffice in relation to this area of concern. The fact of the matter is that no game, activity, or sport is worth a person’s

In February 2011 an NFL defensive player committed suicide and left a final note requesting his brain be donated to Boston University School of medical research where it was found that all his head injuries had caused long-term brain damage. Another NFL star that committed suicide, Junior Seau, was one of the toughest defenders to ever play the game. While playing Junior Seau was never sidelined for head injuries he sustained. According to his ex-wife Seau had multiple concussions throughout his career. (Velasco 2012) This is an example of the culture in the NFL of being “tough”, and not coming off the field no matter how severe the impact is. Research done at the University of Texas had results that showed individuals who have concussions in early adulthood have a higher chance to develop depression when they get older compared to people that haven’t had concussions. (Stong 2013)

Because athletes do not take the responsibility to manage their injuries it leads to long term health concerns over a period of time. “The NFL must go further and clarify the rules even more, Durando contends, especially when it comes to hits on defenseless players, and they should continue to focus on decreasing the number of concussions to players in order to protect a player's long-term health” (par. 1). Stu Durando, a sportswriter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, acknowledges the fact that the National Football League has more work to do in decreasing concussion injuries. He not only stresses the cases of concussions, but shows a motive to help protect players along with their future mental wellness. Given these points, brain injuries tend to display as athletes age. Post Concussion Syndrome is what typically disarrays a former football player in the long run. Post-concussion syndrome is a complex disorder in which a variable combination of post-concussion symptoms — such as headaches and dizziness — last for weeks and sometimes months after the injury that caused the concussion. Post-concussion syndrome can include psychological, physical and emotional problems including headaches, difficulty focusing on tasks, dizziness, or simply a state of mind that some would describe as “not feeling yourself”. “Sleepless nights were followed by partial amnesia. His grades plummeted. As his memory faltered, he grew embarrassed and anxious. Football had been the center of his life, but now he couldn't even exercise. Finally, he withdrew from college. Most players, like Reed, will recover completely after a period of headaches, sleepiness and difficulty focusing in class. Others--one in 10, some experts say--suffer long-term symptoms. They are more likely to develop post-concussion syndrome, where fogginess, headaches, poor

Studies show that retired professional football players showed a three-fold increase in depression in players with a history of three or more concussions (Cifu). Evidence has also been gleaned from other sports that involve head impact. Nonrandomized studies of soccer players who have had multiple minor concussions have demonstrated that these individuals performed worse on neuropsychological tests compared with a control group (Neuropsychological testing is the standard for monitoring cognitive recovery after a concussion) (Cifu).

Football today is not what it used to be 20 years ago. The athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger than anyone believed they could be. The game has changed drastically, but so have the injuries. In 1985 famous Redskins Joe Theismann suffered a comminuted fracture of his right leg, which would eventually be found to be a career ending injury. Back then this type of injury didn’t happen too often, but today is seen more often than it should. Along with more gruesome injuries came higher rates of concussions, a potentially life threatening injury. With the recent studies of concussions impacts on the brain it has been realized there is a link between brain trauma and aggressive or suicidal behavior some football players experience down the road.

When it comes to sports there is one injury that everyone reasonably fears as one of worst injury’s I’m talking about concussions, there is a lot relatively a lot new information out there on concussions some true and some not so true. Being an athlete my entire life, and playing sports such as football, basketball I have received concussions before, I know what they feel like and I also know the pressure that is placed on you to continue playing through the injury. whether it be a concussion or not That’s one of the big problems with the concussion epidemic players don’t want to be thought of as “week” or “baby’s” because they got hit and left the game, there whole team is counting on you, and you don’t want to let them down.

After many studies, researchers have found that a tremendous amount of football players will develop a brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This disease is found mostly in athletes who have encountered direct contact to the head. Most of the time, football players will be afflicted with CTE after receiving multiple hits on or near the helmet. Over time, these hits start to affect players in a negative way causing brain trauma, later resulting in CTE. Consequently, CTE has symptoms that are not pleasant and could change players and their families lives forever; some of the symptoms include mood swings and memory loss. CTE also leads to other health afflictions; from the article, Anne McDonnell states, “Brain injuries

If you play football you’re putting yourself at risk of the Mike Webster disease also Known as the “chronic traumatic” or also known as encephalopathy. Mike Webster was and still is a Steeler hall of famer who’s health outcome at mid-life was an active portrayed in the movie. There are some takeaway message from this significant film, after a career of repeated head brain damage, A person who becomes prone to an entirely experience induced “neurological” disease process that makes the human mind to a strengthen and scary of intense emotional volatility, severe decrease and a disturbing sort of malaise, marked by abandon of society and suicide. A football player must now learn to deal with the with the fact that healthy dose of anxiety and fear of this harsh reality to successfully get use to the sport and evolve his on field performance. How many important concussive and concussive events are needed to activate this horrible disease process? If we can figure out to a pinpoint whether an action has just happened seeing stars after the collision? flunking a mental screen the next day? Does a waiting period of healing help to negate the aftereffects? now presumed. The most

Physical and mental strength plays a major role in a football player’s life. Football is a twelve month process, which consists of off- season (six months), in -season (five months), and the Transition (one month). During off-season the football player’s main goal is gaining strength, size, and much power, in-season they continue to practice and work on maintaining the gains in strength during the off-season, and the transition is when they rest and recuperate their body from the physical exercise. Football players are constantly bumped and knocked down during practices

For one, the pressure to perform is ever present. Professional athletics is a business, not something that an athlete can simply do for fun on the side. Each player gets paid based on their performance, and helping the team towards the overall goal of winning a championship. If they are not getting the job done, the franchise can simply bring someone else in who they believe can. The pressure of the highest levels of competition take huge mental and physical tolls on all who participate. The mental stress of never being 100% secure in your job, coupled with the physically taxing sport itself not to mention the countless hours of preparation in the weight room or conditioning to ensure individual performance is at its peak. However, aside from these very serious effects on the body guaranteed by sports, there are risks that can be considered much more serious. In most contact sports, especially American Football, there is a high risk of concussion that goes along with competition. Recent years and research have brought to light the extremely serious condition referred to as Chronic Traumatic

Past research has seen the relationship between athletic injuries and psychological factors as essentially stress-related (1). In this sense, stress is predicted to produce increased state anxiety and consequently alterations in attentional focus and muscular tension. It is important to note that stress does not exist outside the individual “ not all people respond negatively to