Summary Of The Article 'Concussions Knowledge In High School Football Players'

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.

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.

Athletes in the 21st century are pushing themselves and their teammates to their limit, to try and be the best they can. Whether that is in a game situation, weight room, or practicing on the field, pool, or gym, accidents happen and can happen anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you are a guy or a girl, this accident happens to many athletes in a variety of sports. This sports injury is a concussion and it truly does affect any kind of athlete in any kind of sport. Concussions aren’t acquired in every sport, but they can happen. In the last few years concussions have become a growing problem for athletes from high school to professional athletes. Are concussions as bad as doctors and the news are making them out to be?

Concussions in youth sports has recently became more popular in the news. Mukand and Serra recently discovered, “about 1.6- 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur every year, and a recent study found that 182,000 football players may sustain at least one concussion annually in youth (99,000), high school (76,640), and NCAA football programs (3,905), or about 1 in 30 players and 1 in 14 high school players” (16). The amount of concussions should be alarming to athletes and the parents. Hospitals have noticed a growing number of visits from children and young adults with concussions because of sports, but it is unclear if the rise is due to more concussions or more reports due to better awareness of concussions (Mitka 1775-1776). Concussions could be on the rise or more people are recognizing the symptoms of concussions and then reporting them. Either way, concussions in youth sports need to be reduced or completely eliminated. Sports related concussions in youth can be prevented with proper education and technique. Efficient and reliable equipment and better rules and regulations in youth sports can also prevent concussions and brain injuries in youth and adolescents.

In every sports season 5 to 20 percent of kids suffer a concussion(Jeremy Olson 1SH). A concussion is a type of brain injury that mostly occurs when playing in contact sports. Most people do not think concussions are a big deal but they are. In fact concussions can lead to suicide because they cause your brain to not function correctly, especially when having more than one. Not only can they lead to suicide but they also have many long term effects on the brain. I am sure on television, many viewers have seen big collisions where somebody gets a hard hit to the head. It is most likely that person suffered a concussion. Since concussions occur naturally in

Concussions are common in football players because, they take a large amount of hits to the head increasing the chance of a concussion or even CTE. According to Michael Craig Miller M.D. "The typical football player- over the course of high school, college, and pro career- will encounter thousands, if not tens of thousands of hits to the head. Many experts now believe this increases the risk of CTE."

Children and adolescents must rely on their parents for obtaining the proper treatment and if they don’t that child is continuing to play on top of an already injured brain. This places them at risk for more harm and future concussions. Populations of low socioeconomic status are also more at risk for concussions and post concussive effects because of the lack of education of the parents, sports coaches, and community resources.

Many parents encourage their children to find a hobby. When a parent hears that their child wants to start playing football, they might get excited, knowing that their child found something they are interested in and maybe even meet some new friends. Coaches and the NFL will tell you it's a great career choice but according to the new concussion guidelines, the short term effects, like second impact syndrome, and the long-term effects, like CTE, tell you something different. If you look into it, you see that the evidence is stating that you should not let your children play football.

Almost everyone who has played on a sports team at some point in their life can say they sustained an injury at one point or another. Sometimes these injuries are completely unpreventable and the only thing that can be done is being more aware of that certain injury. Concussions in high school sports is a prime example. This because the potential negative effects of a concussion can be life altering. The effects of sustaining a concussion during high school can be worse than sustaining one in college or in professional sport because that is most crucial time in the brains growth.

Research shows that concussions are likely the result of repetitive hits over time, not just one impact. In a February 2012 study, MRI scans of high school football players showed that the more hits a player sustained, the more the functional capacity of their brain decreased. Typically, professional football players start playing football at a young age, sometimes as early as 6 years old. From that time on, the player is subjected to a number of hits. In boys, brain development peaks at around age 12. A recently published study showed that players who started playing tackle football earlier than the age of 12 suffered from a greater impairment of brain function. The Boston University School of Medicine study tested 42 former NFL football players,

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).

In relation to concussions, the NFL players have to be knowledgeable of all the risks involved. Because they were not fully made aware of the risks of concussion, because of lack of information, assumption of risk does not apply. The athletes are however, partially to blame for contributing to their injuries. Of the 160 athletes surveyed, 30 admitted they had failed to report a concussion. Failure to report led players to return to action to soon (Hanna, 2010).

When I was in high school people started to get more serious about concussions and education. I done remember the traumatic stories much, but I remember the testing and education about concussions in sports toward coaches, teachers, students, and parents. Although some of the stories are very serious and sad, I think they were very eye opening to people and easily got people’s attention. Professional sports had strict rule for injuries and included concussion guidelines along with the “when in doubt, sit them out” attitude. This led legislators, parents, and schools to have similar practices in high school sports. I think it all would have happened over time, but some of the chronic injuries motivated people to implement rules and strategies