The Dangers Of Concussions In Sports

In the sports world today, there are many different injuries that athletes experience and one of the most devastating injury is a concussion. Concussions can happen to anyone, in any sport, but we tend to see most concussions in contact sports (Świerzewski 1). While having an informal conversation with my dad about football, he told me it was common for athletes to receive a head injury in a game and continue to play as if nothing was wrong. While watching SportsCenter, I found that some of the greatest retired athletes don’t remember the best moments of their careers due to the lack of treatment. The worst aspect of concussions is that the symptoms can be delayed; in some cases, it’s only a headache so athletes don’t seek medical treatment. Multiple concussions over time can lead to life-threatening complications due to the damage they cause to the brain. Concussions can happen to anybody at anytime, but there is more to concussions than meets the eye.

In the article “Concussions Knowledge in High School Football Players” from the Journal of Athletic training on October 2014, writers Janie Cournoyer and Brady Tripp discuss that high school athletes fail to report symptoms of concussions due to their lack of knowledge on concussion education. For example, after a recent survey, Janie and Brady stated that 54% of participants receive knowledge of concussions from their parents, 60% from an academic source and 25% had no knowledge on what concussions is. The authors also included that most high students who don't report their concussion will likely suffer from post-concussion syndrome and second impact syndrome. It’s dreadful to hear that young athletes can suffer so much just because they lack information on how to evaluate a concussion. Not just the student athlete but the writer explains how parents and coaches have minimal knowledge on evaluating a concussion and choosing whether to put the athlete back to play. In addition, Janie and Brady mention that common symptom presented in a concussion were headaches, dizziness, and confusion. These all can be very harmful to a young athlete because it puts their health at risk. As stated in the article, about 60 - 70% of athletes who suffer a concussion will experience a coma or

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?

A concussion is an mTBI that affects brain function and is caused by a single blow or violent shaking of the head or upper body (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). Most sport-related head injuries are minor and although the majority of athletes who suffer a concussion recover within a few days or weeks, a small number of individuals develop long-lasting or progressive symptoms. This is especially true in cases of repetitive concussion or mTBI in which at least 17% of individuals develop CTE (McKee et al., 2015). The incidence rates recorded thus far for concussions is highly likely to be a very conservative number and seriously under-estimates the true incidence. Reasons for this being that: a) reports by associations tend to only record athletes who experience a loss of consciousness (LOC) and b) players and coaches usually lack awareness of or minimize symptoms of

According to SCI, a concussion is defined as a complex pathophysiological process that affects the brain (SCI, 2016). A concussion is commonly known as a mild traumatic brain injury, often sustained in sports, falls, motor vehicle accidents, assault, and other incidents (Cornell, 2015). A blow or jolt to the head that disrupts the normal function of the brain (Brainline, 2015).

Head trauma from concussions can be extremely detrimental to a person’s body so that such things as death can occur. Everyone knows that concussions are not a good thing but not everyone knows how severe they actually are. Concussions are becoming an epidemic in sports and a solution should be drawn up to help the players in sporting activities.

Throughout the history of sports concussions have been a problem, however it has only been recently that the dangers of concussions have been brought to light. Concussions have a serious effect on the brain both short term and long term.

Concussions can happen anytime. It is becoming a public health concern. Concussion is defined as a mild form of brain injury that can be caused by some type of blow to the head. Effects are usually temporary. Symptoms can include headaches, problems with concentration, memory, balance and coordination. You can also experience vomiting, nausea, fatigue, slurred speech. Not all symptoms happen right away. A person can experience symptoms such as sleep disturbances, disorders of taste and smell, personality changes, memory loss hours or days later. Concussions can happen in all types of people, all ages. People can get a brain injury from car accidents, sports, fight, falling and so on. About 2.5 million people present to the emergency department with some form of traumatic brain injury each year (Groce 2016). Some concussions are not as severe as others, it is even possible to have a concussion and not know it. These days people are more cautious when it comes to getting hit in the head. For example, when you suffer a concussion in sports, you are supposed to take a test, and cannot return to play until cleared by a doctor. Most people can fully recover after a concussion with no long-term problems. Concussions start to become serious when you suffer from a serious or even multiple mild concussions.

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).

Head injuries are on the rise for athletes at all levels of play. Reports show that the number of children seeking emergency medical care for sports concussions incurred while playing competitive athletics has more than doubled. In 2015, 11 high school football players died from head related injuries. According to “The game’s tragic toll” written by Kalyn Kahler and Dan Greene eight deaths happened in game during regular play and 3 deaths happened outside of game time. Eleven  deaths may not seem like a lot in a year but numbers start to add up though years. This is enough information to definitely prove that it is a bad idea to still play these sports. Is it really worth it to risk your life over something that otherwise would only take up about fifteen percent of your life otherwise? Unlikely, yet these sports are still played every single day. The medical effects have recently caught media attention appearing on fox news and has spread rapidly. Nobody is saying anything good about them which is what needs to happen in order to protect people from being hurt. Many athletes receive concussions then still return to the sport again!  A “second impact syndrome” is a situation in which an individual sustains a second concussion previous to full recovery according to “concussion / mild tbi”. A second brain injury, or cumulative concussions can be more dangerous than the original. A concussion victim, Anne Frank says

In "Concussion recovery is slower in girls, mounting evidence suggests" by Diana Kwon, the passage states that concussions occur in female athletes more than twice the time as male athletes. Occuring in the sport of hockey, soccer, and football, where heads are continually clashing. I honestly do not believe that girl or boy impact sports should be banned; i do believe that the athletes should wear helmets. Helmets should be necessary when playing high-risk sports. Female sports do not have as many rules as males do which is why concussions occur more within the female population.

Even though a player who sustained a concussion was given clearance by a medical professional which allowed them to continue playing, the brain may not be completely healed, and could cause further damage to it if the player acquires

Underreporting concussions is a growing issue among young athletes for several different reasons including jeopardizing spot on the field or letting teammates down, do not want to seem weak to their coaches, parents or teammates, want their peers to think they are tough and can “take the hit”, or they do not want to be pulled out of the game or practice. Some athletes believe that if they can get up and walk away from it, they can keep playing but this is not the case. In most cases they do not feel the symptoms until a few hours after the actual impact occurs. In a study conducted by Chrisman (2013), he gave high school varsity athletes 4 hypothetical scenarios of collisions. When giving these scenarios, the “investigators” refrained from

The movie Concussion demonstrated increased awareness of the risks associated with contact sports. It was not uncommon to hear that a player got their “bell rung” in the early days. Known as the ‘silent injury’ and with mounting pressure to win, whether from the coaching staff, parents, or one’s own self, players often continued to play without regard to their health, and still do today. Athletes who fail to report symptoms of a suspected concussion and continue to play can have detrimental consequences to their health. The timing of repeated injuries has been shown to have significant consequences on not only the severity of post-concussion pathophysiology, but on the cognitive disturbances that follow.9 These consequences are more pronounced in youth, as their immature brains may be more susceptible to repeat concussion particularly before complete recovery.14 The findings support the current clinical guideline of excising a

A concussion is any type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a hit or even a fall and it affects your head. It is estimated that there are 1.6-3.8 million concussions reported a year due to sports or recreational activities alone, and most concussions are not reported at all. Concussions in older people are very dangerous because they are often times missed because people say “it's just old age” which is very life threatening. Concussions are very dangerous for kids and young adults as well, especially athletes. Football is one of the biggest sports in America and is also one of the dangerous due to the fact you use your head on almost every play. Concussions are very scary and should be taken with absolute care. Concussions in young athletes change adult behavior and aggression.