Sports Related Concussions

In the United States alone, athletes account for about 300,000 concussions each year (11 Facts). A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that causes swelling of the brain 's soft tissue and disrupts normal brain function (Concussion). A concussion has potential to impact memory and coordination for the rest of the athlete 's life along with lead to other, more serious, brain injuries. In order for athletes to reduce the effects from concussions, they need to be educated on the symptoms, ways to avoid the injury, and the possible lifelong effects.

The treatment for a concussion used to be as simple as taking time to rest, or smelling bath salts before returning to play. In today’s world, concussions are more appropriately recognized as a serious head injury. In order to correctly diagnose and treat concussions, professional action needs to occur. Preventative measures, proper assessments and diagnosis, correct treatments, and increasing awareness are a few ways to reduce an issue down to a more manageable position. Concussions are a common threat in many aspects of life today. From contact sports to accidental falls, head injuries are an increasing issue that needs to be recognized as such. Two to four million concussion injuries occur from sports and recreation settings in the United States every year (The American Academy of Neurology). Most of these injuries result in a full recovery, but there are people who are left with dehabilitating injuries for the remainder of their lives. Thankfully it is becoming well known that these problems exist, and many people are starting to take action.

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.

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between having a previous concussion and then experiencing concussive signs and symptoms following head impacts. It was hypothesized that previously concussed athletes would have more severe and frequent signs and symptoms of a concussion following a head impact compared to athletes with no previous concussion. To test this hypothesis, 201 college athletes participated in a questionnaire. They were asked about previous concussions and if they experience concussive signs and symptoms when they had head impacts. After the results were all collected, it showed that nearly 60% of athletes who had zero previous concussions reports experiences signs and symptoms following head impacts! compared to nearly 80% of athletes who have had a concussion. These results show a significant correspondence between previous history of concussion and the reoccurrence of concussive signs and symptoms following a head

Concussions in high school sports doubled from 2005 to 2012. High School’s put in a new rule called “Return to Play” this rule was put into place so players waited the right amount of time to come back after receiving a serious head injury. Coming back to quick with a concussion can get you hurt even more or possibly cause permanent brain damage. Studies show that a concussion from a high school athlete takes longer to recover from than for older athletes. Also, studies show that even teenagers are at risk for head trauma not just adults and older athletes. Between 2005 and 2012, four thousand twenty-four concussions were diagnosed in nine sports. This is a very high number for just high school sports alone. Concussions have went up in 5 sports mainly those sports are football, wrestling, baseball, basketball and softball. Therefore, concussions have not only effected football. Many people fail to realize how many athletes are truly affected by a

Some symptoms that lead to a diagnosed concussion, especially early on include: headaches, loss of consciousness, pressure in the head, dizziness, amnesia, confusion ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Other early signs of a concussion also include, nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delayed response to questions, slurred speech, appearing dazed and fatigue ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Symptoms for concussions, seen hours or days after the initial injury can include; irritability and other personality changes, concentration and memory complaints, sensitivity to light and noise, psychological adjustment problems, depression, sleep disturbances, and disorders of taste and smell ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Athletes displaying these symptoms, make a diagnose for a medical professional easier, which allows for better treatment opportunities ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). For medical professionals being able to recognize these symptoms not only helps to keep an athlete out of further harm, but also helps with that athlete’s treatment and ability to stay clear of any adverse effects for the rest of their life from sustaining a concussion ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015).

Concussions are a problem that nearly all athletes competing in a contact sport will go through. Whether it be boxers, hockey players, skateboarders, or football players, most can usually recognize a concussion. Some say they “See Lights,” or “Hear Ringing,” with over 3000,000 concussions happening in football yearly, concussions can also occur in sports such as gymnastics, cycling, and even martial arts. A concussion by definition is a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow to one’s head by either a fall, bump, or other injury that results in the shaking of the brain within the skull. It is important to understand what a concussion is, so you can prevent possible long term affects to one’s cognitive

Health professionals will often interchange between the two terms, concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), when discussing this health condition (Halstead, Walter, Council on Sports, & Fitness, 2010). A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury resulting from a traumatic event which causes the affected individual to experience temporary neurological deficits, these are a result of “biomechanical forces” that have reached the head taking effect on the brain (Jordan, 2013; Paul McCrory et al., 2009; Silver, McAllister, & Yudofsky, 2011). This type of injury usually presents with multiple post concussive symptoms, although in some cases these symptoms do not present themselves until later (Paul McCrory et al., 2009), in which can result in the concussion going unnoticed.

As said in http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/12/concussion-and-sports.html “In organized high school sports, concussions occur more often in competitive sports, with football accounting for more than 60% of concussions.” This shows us that the sport that causes the most concussions of any other, but the stats for genders are very different. For males, the sport that causes concussions more than any other is football. For females, soccer is the sport with most recorded female concussions. As stated in http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html, the chance for male concussions in football is 75%. For Females it’s 50% in soccer. Also stated in the article, “78% of concussions occur during games (as opposed to practice.)” The main cause of concussions in football is spearing (ramming with your head.) That is dangerous for the person ramming and the one being

Current United States statistics indicate approximately 7 million head injuries occur each year. Seven hundred thousand of these relate to sports and recreational activities, and three hundred thousand relate directly to sports. Eight deaths occur each year in professional football due to brain injury (Genuardi & King, 1995). These deaths most commonly result from subdural hematoma, when blood collects within the brain, and the associated brain injury. About 20% of participants in high school football suffer a concussion in a single season. Ongoing studies by the National Athletic Trainers Association showed, “a 17% increase in minor head injuries and an 85% increase in moderate head injuries in high school football comparing the 1980s to the 1990s” (Powell, 1998). A portion of these increases is because of better and more comprehensive reporting systems but the risk of concussion remains. Further, a football player who suffers one mild brain injury (MBI) has four times the risk to sustain a second MBI (Young, Jocobs,Clavette, Mark, & Guse, 1997).

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).

High school athletes are more prone to concussions than older athletes due to the body systems not being fully grown. The recovery of the high school athletes is longer than older students as well (article 1). Athletes with previous history of concussions were nine times more likely to demonstrate loss of consciousness and memory (article 1). Although athletes

This paper will talk about sports concussions and how they affect people. I will explain what a concussion is and how they occur. I will also make the comparison between boys and girls that will show how many boys and girls get, and in which sports concussions are the most common. Some of the questions some people might ask are, Do concussions have any long term after effects on people when they get one? This paper will answer that question and give some real life examples.

In medical terms, concussions are described as "a complex pathophysiologic process affecting the brain, induced by traumatic biomechanical forces" (Hunt, Paniccia, Reed, & Keightley, 2016, p. 749). Over the past couple of years, the number of concussions in athletics has increased drastically. According to the data released by the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, in the school year 2005-06 there were 133,000 concussions, which was much less than the recent data of the 2014-15 school year of 292,000 (Brzycki, 2016, p. 57). Not only are concussions becoming more prominent, but they accounted for 24.5% of all the injuries in 2014-15 (Brzycki, 2016, p. 57). Although many advances in concussion protocol have been

Concussions are very difficult to diagnose and many of the current tests used to diagnose concussions are based on subjective reporting from the patient (Levin & Diaz-Arrastia, 2015). As a result, this paper is designed as a look into