The Effect Of Head Trauma On Athletes

Boxers sometimes face the challenge of defeating their opponent for many reasons. Those reasons could be to prove they can win, to earn money and to not disappoint or lead down fans and beaters. Many boxers choose boxing because they are good at it and it’s a way of earning money, just like Benny Paret. Boxing is a dangerous sport since every boxer become badly hurt and ill at the end of every match. Most boxers suffer from brain damages as a result of many hits in the head. Cousins explains that Benny Paret was killed because of a massive hemorrhage in the brain, caused by an impact directed against the head (par. 7) Cousins also wrote “Not every blow to the head will kill a man but there is always the risk of concussion and damage to the brain” (par. 7). Fighters that survive repeated concussions still go and fight, but the problem here is that the damage in the brain may be permanent. Sometimes boxers should consider their health problems before fighting again.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or better known as CTE has gained momentum in areas of public awareness and scientific involvement in recent years due to the popularized sport on American Football. During recent years, the media has been swaying and educating the public on the adverse outcomes that CTE can initiate. However, the first discovery of this disease was diagnosed by pathologist Harrison Martland and can be related back to the late 1920’s; the first true cases were identified in the physical sport of boxing. During that time, CTE was commonly known as dementia pugilistica meaning “punch drunk” from the wobbly nature of boxers during repetitive hits to the head.1,2 It was determined that dementia pugilistica (also known as boxer’s

According to the Centre for Disease Control New Jersey, roughly 1.4 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries in the United States from the result of contact sports. Out of those 1.4 million people, 50,000 die due to the severity of their brain injury.“But brain injury is preventable. Surely given what we already know about the brain and getting at least a glimpse of it’s awesome complexities, we should not be making sport or deliberately trying to do it damage,” says Joan Beck in her article, “Stop Pretending Boxing is a Sport”. Violence in sports should be removed because, it is treacherous to the human body and leads to severe injuries; especially head injuries.

Concussions have been known about since the early 1900s. During this time concussions did not receive the attention that it receives now. In mainstream media today concussions are a growing issue, not only in professional sports but also at high school and college levels. It is believed that Dr. Bennet Omalu was the first person to come up with a study and show that concussions are very dangerous and the great effects it has. His focus was mainly towards American football but it was helpful to others who did not play football as well. Dr. Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a forensic pathologist who was the first to publish findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players while working at the Allegheny County Coroner 's Office in Pittsburgh. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as sub concussive hits to the head that do not cause symptoms (Boston University, 2015). CTE has been known to affect boxers since the 1920’s (when it was termed punch drunk syndrome or dementia pugilistic). However, in recent years the disease has been found in other athletes, including football and hockey players, as well as in military veterans (Boston University, 2015). CTE is not limited to professional athletes; it has also been found in athletes who did not play sports after high school or college. The repeated brain trauma

Jessica Firger writes “In many circumstances--if not most-- frequent blows to the head have effects that may last a lifetime, a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).” This disease causes a variety of psychiatric, and neurological symptoms including memory loss, depression, anxiety, aggression and dementia (Firger). None of the blows have to result in unconsciousness, in fact, most people diagnosed have never had severe brain trauma or concussions (NFL Concussions Fast). Early studies found a disease in correlation to boxing, a condition called dementia pugilistica, or “punch-drunk syndrome” (Alzheimer’s and Dementia). Studies for dementia pugilistica began in 1929, outlining the symptoms as memory loss, confusion, dizziness, and personality changes. (Alzheimer’s and Dementia).

He described symptoms which he noted as “slowed movement, tremors, confusion, and speech problems typical of the condition” (institute). Harrison dubbed the condition “punch drunk”, since his test were being done on boxers. (institute) Since 1966 CTE was known as a disease boxers received from constant blows to the head during fights, which caused concussions. The medical community and medical literature believed this issue was entirely a boxing one, since from 2009, 39 out of 49 cases were of boxers. There have been other cases not related to boxing, which have the symptoms of CTE. Cases such as a “battered wife, an epileptic, two mentally challenged individuals with head-banging behavior, and an Australian circus performer who was also involved in what the medical report authors referred to as “dwarf-throwing”

Over the years, the demand for research on the cognitive and neuropathological consequences of repetitive head impacts in athletes has been an uprise in the sports medicine field. A concussion is caused by a direct blow to the head or another body region, resulting in a sudden acceleration and deceleration of the craniocervical complex ().It is estimated that each year between 1.6 and 3.8 million athletes in the United States suffer a concussion in sport, however, it is still considered an underestimation due to many injuries going unrecognized or unreported by players. The sports-related concussion has gained primary attention from the media due to the potential dangers and long-term consequences of the impact. For example, the movie “concussion” was released in December 2015 start an uproar of the media consider of the early focus on professional football players due to the game built around quick and full contact between powerful players. The movie was based off a true-life story which unfolding in September 2002, when Omalu was assigned to perform an autopsy on the body of Mike Webster. He discovered the presence of tau proteins. The proteins would cause impair moods and cognitive function upon accumulation. It has been usually common to find in the brains of the deceased boxer. The rap proteins were named the condition of "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy," or know as CTE. Due to the recent widespread media attention surrounding the topic of concussion in the

High impact sports (like football, soccer, etc.) are capable of giving severe concussions and a good amount of long term negative effects. “The NFL revealed that it expects nearly a third of all retired players to develop permanent brain impairments…” (15). People are getting injured in their own careers willingly. More and more

As a nation that loves competition, the United States has become obsessed with sports. This obsession has allowed professional sports leagues to generate billions of dollars of revenue each year. The one sport that stands on top is football generating around 13 billion dollars a year. This even surpasses “America’s Pastime,” baseball. One of the reasons the sport has been able to succeed so much is from the sport’s violent nature, which attracts many fans looking for big hits. But unfortunately with big hits come injuries, one of the most common injuries being a concussion (injury to the brain caused by a hard hit on the head). In the United States alone over 300,000 concussions occur annually. That includes high school and college athletes.

As sports are becoming more popular, more concussions are being observed and an increase of reported traumatic brain injuries are becoming a concern.  The focus has turned to the organisations as they have been recognised to be making decisions made reflect the interest of the coaches and organisations and ignore the athlete’s health and well-being. Players are forced to want to live up to the expectation of the coach and fans. The conflict theory by Karl Marx outlines these issues as they reflect the interest of stakeholders rather than the safety of an athlete. Changes are needed to make to ensure the safety of all athletes regardless of age or gender. The athletes, and organisations need to become more educated about the potential risks of high contact sport and how to best manage and treat them. Standardized tests need to be undertaken to gain a pre-injury baseline record of all athletes, this will help individualise prevention and treatment. With the rise of technology sporting organisations could see a reduction of reported concussion within sports if a legislature on protection required or forced adoption of improved headgear was implemented to benefit the athletes. Concussions in sport have become a significant health concern, interventions need to be adapted to ensure as a community, the sporting arena will be safer for all to participate

This scary article shares traumatizing information dealing with repeated, massive hits to the head in vigorous activities, like football, hockey, and even the war. What happens is people take part in too many brain risking activities and don’t stop after the first sign. Ann McKee, a pathologist at Boston Collage, states that a 25 year old man has blurred vision, major headaches and, and memory loss due to over 10 concussions, not including other massive crushes. McKee says that the man kept playing football until he became abusive and angry. Starting at age eight going to age 24 with an injured brain is an extreme risk. Finally, beat down and rugged, the car ran out of gas in the football world for this man.

Have you ever wondered how much damage the brain suffers during and after a football players playing career? All throughout history there have been cases of serious head trauma in a series of sports besides football such as boxing, soccer, baseball and hockey. Since football is a more contact sport than others there’s a spike of head injuries in that field of sports. To really understand how to make football helmets safer and more efficient, you must understand how effective they are right now, their history, and comparing how much damage they can resist comparing to other head injuries. Football in our youths and professional programs have caused a lot of controversy. For younger individuals, many people wonder if it is a safe sport to play

Dementia is frequently associated and at times, confused with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but many fail to consider other potential causes of dementia. One of the strongest environmental (and preventable) risk factors in developing dementia, and in particular early onset dementia, is traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this article by Smith, Johnson, and Stewart (2013) this is addressed, focusing primarily on athletes of contact sports such as boxing, football, hockey and professional wrestling. Contact sports have a much higher risk of TBI and a much higher

Last year in June I was given a match where If I do well, I might get a chance to become a heavyweight pro boxer. I trained day and night for the perfect form every boxer desires. Then it was match day where the fight lasted for five rounds. That match I almost won but I was hit 19 times on my upper part of the face. I was hit on my face so much that It shocked my brain allowing it to move that caused my body to fall because after being hit on the face there is no up and down. After a full body checkup the doctor told me that there are no brain injuries, but, if I keep on boxing I will get extreme headaches and dizziness and they do not stop when they start. My issue here is that 65 boxers percent out there get brain injuries, and boxing

In 1997, the injury rate predicted in the sport of boxing was 7,257 injuries and 10.8% of those injuries were estimated to have affected people between the ages of five and fourteen. 1.3% of those injuries were predicted to be in the ages between zero and four, and 55.8% of those injuries were in the group of ages from fifteen to twenty-four.( National Electronic Injury Surveillance System et al., Estimates for Sports Injuries 1997) Boxing can be a safe and fun sport as long as it is practiced and played properly. Boxing should not be banned because it can help relieve stress, and like running it is a good addition for getting in shape. It should also not be banned because boxers know the risks and they still choose to do it ; it is their