Underreporting Concussions Case Study

We have all heard of the term “sports injury”. Usually an accident that occurs when engaged in a sport, the ideal can apply from something as frustrating as a rolled ankle to the more debilitating shock of a broken arm. Yet the fact remains that these physical ailments will heal, and properly, if they are treated properly. But what about concussions? What are the long term effects? In her brief editorial in TIME magazine, Alexandra Sifferlin explores the effects of concussions and specifically how they affect children if they aren't disclosed.

“In 2012 alone, there were more than 3.8 million reported concussions, twice as many as a decade earlier (Cleveland Medical).” According to the National Library of Medicine, even this seemingly large number of concussions under represents the full number of people who get concussed, because many people don’t seek medical care. In the same way I almost died in 2013. One second I jumped for a high pass and the next, I woke up in the hospital the following day. Many witnesses even profess to me dying on the field. This however, is just one lucky situation in the never ending battle with concussions. Concussions can be caused and worsened by hits to the head, cheap protective equipment, and misdiagnosed injuries.

The sports communities that require concussion education include the players themselves; their parents, the coaches, trainers, therapists, and referees; sports organizations/leagues; the media; teachers; and health care professionals. Several gains in recognition and management that impact upon concussion prevention can only be made through widespread of knowledge about concussions. Concussions are a serious issue in many professional sports. Concussions affect multiple sports in many ways. Many sports today are affected by the medical condition of concussions. Today, multiple leagues and professionals are learning how to prepare and prevent these career shattering injuries. With hundreds of medical advancements and a better understanding of the knowledge that the science has, we are assisting athletes to recover from these injuries. In order to understand concussions that lead the role on the games, one must look at the symptoms, injuries, and side-effects of this

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.

On fall Friday nights everywhere, high schools are buzzing for one thing: football. The players have practiced all week and are excited to get on the field. Students, parents, and fans alike are all counting down the minutes until kickoff. However, in one play all that excitement can be taken away. One helmet-to-helmet hit is sometimes all it takes for a player to sustain a concussion. Concussions happen frequently in football. Many people do not realize the risks associated with this type of injury. High school coaches need to be better trained on how to recognize potential concussions, athletes need to be better educated on concussions, and stricter concussion

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

Picture a college size stadium filled with parents, students, and fans. Overflowing with crisp fall air and trembling with excitement for kickoff of a high school football game. The whistle blows, ball is kicked , the sound of pads and helmets colliding. But then the second whistle blows and you see your teammate lying on the ground unconscious. Now nothing but that white jersey laying motionless on the turf matters to you. Trainers then EMT’s rush over. They put a brace on his neck, his body on a stretcher and rush him off the field. These are the types of hits apparent in high school age football. Now double the size and speed of that impact. Concussions happen in almost every sport but not in the same severity

Concussion injuries frequently occur in the United States affecting young children, teens, collegiate, and professional athletes. According to the Journal of School Health, “Concussions remain a serious public health concern as approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million sports-related concussions are estimated to occur each year” (Covassin, Elbin, and Sarmiento, 2012). Public health is bringing

The sound of two helmets bashing together sends a piercing crack through the stadium, soon to be followed by a roar of thunderous applause from every fan in the stadium. The next day the paper reads that one of the players in the collision suffered a concussion, nut the only thing people care about is watching the highlight on SportsCenter. Yet, people watching the games, coaching the games, and playing the games have never fully understood the danger of concussions. It is important for people in the football community to become aware of what head to head hits in football cause because they do not know the true danger of concussions and how often they occur, what concussions can lead to, and how drastically football can decrease the quality

With the growth of contact sports, such as football, hockey and wrestling, neurologists have seen a shocking rise in the number of reported concussions. Perhaps the greatest increase of SRCs have been seen in adolescents participating in organized team sports. In a 10-year span, emergency department visits for 8 to 13-year-old children doubled, while 14 to 19-year-olds nearly tripled (McCrea, Nelson and Janecek, 2014). The actual number of these concussions are thought to be higher than reported because the inclination of athletes to not recognize this injury.

Head coming forcibly into contact with another and concussions caused by physically coming into contact with other players in sports are a swiftly escalating epidemic among young athletes. When debatable cases corresponding to CTE are left undetected, concussions can lead to the condition of long-term brain damage and may even prove untreatable. Athletes are left defenseless and useless without facts provided without hesitation accessible about their own health. Most concussions resolve with rest within a week to ten days; however, about 10% of concussions take longer to heal and some may have long-term consequences. While research is ongoing to help identify the best approach to changing the culture of concussion in sports, there are action steps that coaches, parents, health care providers, and school professionals can take now to help keep young athletes safe and supported as they pursue the sports they love to play. A shortened play clock might also make obese linemen lose weight, since there’d be less standing around and more hustling. And since all players would be more tired, they would have less strength when delivering hits. This will allow coaches would to control the basic strategy, but the players would control its application, communicating with one another more and engaging their otherwise static athletic

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).

Many private companies and researchers have taken the issue of concussions head on. Research has drastically increased throughout the 21st century. In the words of Mark Lovell PhD. founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program, “90% of what we know about concussions we’ve learned in the past five years.” These private researchers have taken different approaches to solving the issue but they are all working to achieve one goal: the reduction of concussions and the prevention of their long-term effects.

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.

“CDC reports show that the amount of reported concussions has doubled in the last 10 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that emergency room visits for concussions in kids ages 8 to 13 years old has doubled, and concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14 to 19 in the last decade” (Head Case, 2013). It is reported that between 5-10% of athletes will suffer concussion during any given sports season. Football is the most common sport with concussion risk for males with a 75% chance. It has also been found that 78% of concussions happen during games as opposed to during practices (Science Daily, 2014).