The Role Of Concussions In Sports

Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.

In contact and collision sports (e.g. football, hockey, wrestling, and soccer), concussion is a frequent injury at all levels of participation in sports. Concussion has become a trending topic in mainstream media part in due to the retired National Football League (NFL) players’ lawsuit against the National Football League (NFL). In the lawsuit, former NFL players alleged the NFL minimized and actively suppressed the awareness between the link of sub-concussive and concussive injuries in football and chronic neuro-cognitive damage [10]. The battle between former players and the NFL league office resulted into a settlement of $765 million dollars in 2012 [10]. As a result of the lawsuit, the NFL, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), high school, and youth football have further increased efforts on concussion awareness and prevention such as changing the rule regarding hitting with a helmet

A concussion is an injury suffered in the brain of an individual that can affect and alter a person’s ability to perform not only mentally, but physically as well. The New York Daily News reported on one of the finest cases of how serious the NFL is taking the issue on concussions, the current lawsuit that reached a “$765 million settlement reached between the two sides, 18,000 concussion suffer and the NFL” which states causes for important untold information the NFL refused to report to players about the prospective dangers concussions had for their long-term health, though this was later shot down by a federal judge claiming that it was insufficient sum. An NFL player may succumb from thousands of hits to the head playing football all

The NFL as you probably already know, stands for the National Football League. It is the elite league for the best players and best athletes in the world. These players are in tip top shape and are extremely strong. Now the big question is this. What is one of, if not the biggest problem in the NFL? Concussions. Nate Jackson, a former NFL player and writer says this, “Why is it that men who were the strongest and fittest people alive when they were young degenerate so quickly? That’s the million-dollar question.” With all of the protective equipment and top-of-the-line helmets, you would think that the players are safe from these types of injuries. But, there is a remaining problem of concussions that is still very

Concussions occur daily in a life of an athlete. This can change their lives forever if they have one that is severe. They might get lucky if its minor and they can go back to playing. Concussions are very dangerous in an athletic world, because they can affect their lives even after they retire from playing that sport. These concussions can start off at any age, but the huge problem people are having is pro sports. NFL being one the biggest leagues to have these problems. There are many debates about whether the NFL are being careful enough and understanding how bad these concussions are. There are some people who are trying to help this problem become known to all. They are trying to help fix this situation. There are ways to fixing this

The NFL is big part of many Americans life during the fall and the off season. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that hosts the most watched 4 hours of television in America. As an athlete who played football for many years, I wanted to ask the question; is the NFL’s new rules and penalties preventing concussions? During the first two weeks of April, I have compiled six different resources relating to this topic. Some, such as Trevor Horn’s article "Tackling seminar teaches new methods, inspires faith in safer football” cover the aspects of how youth and high schoolers are effected by concussions and what role the NFL plays. Other articles talk about research being put towards helping diagnose brain trauma in athletes, and also whether or

A great majority of kids and adults football careers are ending shortly because of brain damage and concussions. To this day scientist and people in sports are trying to find a way to decrease the number of brain damage and concussions. There been so many head injuries in the game of football. It got real serious over the past 20 years. In the NFL and College football league, players and coaches can know if someone have a concussion because of the technology they have at the game. It’s mandatory for every team in college, and in the NFL to have doctors and the technology they have at each game they have.

Over the past couple of years, there has been a growing concern for NFL player’s safety and the amount of concussions occurring over the past years. A concussion is a type of mild traumatic brain injury that may be caused by either a fall; a direct blow to the head, face, or neck; or a blow elsewhere on the body that transmits force to the head (JAAPA). There has been a high attention directed towards concussions in many sports, but mainly football. The purpose of the research I will be conducting is to educate the players, coaches, and future players of the NFL on ways to prevent concussions. Several topics I will touch upon my research topic are how concussions associate with musculoskeletal injuries, how long a player should be sidelined before returning to play, the amount of research that has been done to prevent concussions, how teammates can have an effect on whether a player continues playing through a concussion or if they take the safe route, how coaches who are educated annually on concussions can decrease how bad a concussion is and ways coaches have been educated in the past and how effective that method was. I will specifically be paying attention to what is known and what other ways can the members of the NFL be educated on concussions. I want to know what they know and what steps are they taking towards preventing concussions. I also want to know what damage does it cause to the brain over time.

When participating in a sport, the players are aware of the risks. Physical damage is always a strong possibility, but what about the mental damage that a player can receive. Concussions have been known to occur frequently in contact sports, making the rules based on injuries in need of change. The current rule is that after an injury occurs, players have to have a medical professional sign off before they are allowed to play. This is great for injuries related to the physical form of a person, but when it comes to the mental aspects, these rules need to be re-written. Things such as the types of people affected by concussions, how vulnerable concussions can be on the mind, and how concussions can affect everyone around a person that has been inflicted by a concussion, should be brought into consideration while deciding a specific set of

Concussions are becoming a big concern in sports today, mainly in football. All sports today, you can get Concussions in like golf, tennis and swim these sports you would never think of getting a concussion in but you actually can get on that is why concussions are becoming a big thing now in the sports world. People in the sports world understand the seriousness of concussions because they hurt really badly and you have to sit out from your sport for weeks on end till your concussion is gone.

The issue of concussions has been downplayed for years dating back to when the first forms of professional football came to the U.S. but the past 10 years have been drastically different. We need to be more aware as a society about the negative consequences that occurs with a concussion in the short term and the long run. Researchers claim that concussions can decrease your thinking capacity all the way to even a shortened life span. Most importantly to any claim there is proof; numerous athletes over the years have unfortunately committed suicide because of depression/post concussion symptoms. However, the world runs on money thus lawsuits by former athletes are starting to be very common as most have lost their career earnings due to addictions. The real issue is how can we as a society limit concussions from having such terrible effects. This research paper details the social and economic spheres that stem from concussions and their effects. With emphasis on how to prevent traumatic brain injuries from occurring and the proper rehabilitation steps once one has been sustained. This paper will also address solutions for this issue at hand with regards to prevention, treatment and recovery.

Introduction: Has one of your favorite football,basketball,soccer or hockey players been diagnosed with a concussion? With over 3.6 million sports related concussions reported per year - There’s a chance you may wanna stay tuned to insure they didn’t

Science says concussions are inevitable; 96 percent of all NFL players and 79 percent of all football players test positive for brain disease (Source: Frontline League of Denial 9/18/15 Concussion Watch Article). Prior to 2002, the NFL’s approach to preventing, treating, and managing concussions and CTE was very different than it is today. My essay will explore what some of those differences were and whether or not changes in the NFL are improving the outcomes and quality of life for current and former NFL players.

New evidence is now coming out showing that repeated brain trauma significant enough to cause concussions is causing long term effects that do not show up until later in life. This issue is knows as CTE or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This new condition is not yet well understood but the researchers know that it is in part caused by repetitive brain trauma. CTE has many negative side effects and symptoms that many retired NFL athletes are now starting to show which include; executive dysfunction, memory impairment, depression, and suicidality, apathy, poor impulse control, and eventually dementia. Since this is a CTE is a new finding research and findings are slow to come because their is yet to be a clinical diagnosis, findings have only come from post-mortem research and the individual's mental and physical history before his or her death (Baugh & Stamm, 2012). “Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) has found neuropathologically confirmed CTE in football players with no history of diagnosed or reported concussions (but who played positions, such as lineman, with the greatest exposure to repetitive hits to the head). This is a good example as to why concussion recognition, treatment, and prevention is so important. CTE so far is only showing up in athletes who are retired and ages 40 and older. These are the athletes who competed before

A recent study of college football players has shown that those who participate in high contact sports and have had a concussion before have a 300% higher chance of having another one in comparison to athletes that have never had a concussion before (Jolicoeur et al, 2007). The NFL and NCAA have enacted several rule changes in order to minimize the occurrence of concussions. These new rules, like many before them, have come under the scrutiny of the very athletes that they were meant to protect. The NHL and NHL Players Association in 1997 together created a program in order to get a better understanding of concussions and how to prevent them (Burke et al, 2011). According to Covassin (2008), athletes who have had more than one concussion take a longer time to recover with each concussion that they suffer from.