What Good Is Glory If It's Forgotten Essay

Head injuries, including concussions, particularly in the game of American football, have become a subject of deep concern, much study and even Congressional hearings in the United States.

Safety and equipment have come a long way in football in order to prevent brain injuries. A very important piece of equipment used to prevent brain trauma is the helmet. The helmet has evolved a lot over the years, even more in the past decade. The Helmets main purpose use to be just to stop skull fractures, then they added the facemask to prevent facial injuries. Concussions are more of a recent concern (Hand 1). Overconfidence in the helmets' protective power prompts many NFL athletes to deliver and accept hits that would have killed players of previous generations. Now the helmet is being revolutionized. Helmets aren't only being created to stop skull and face fractures but they are being created to help prevent brain damage such as concussions now. Helmets have gone through testing to see how to design a better preventative helmet. These newer helmets are being designed to reduce the amount of force that is being applied to the head by a hit that is received (Vandantam 2). Virginia Tech football has been monitoring helmet collisions since 2003, courtesy of Dr. Gunnar Brolinson. Dr. Gunnar Brolinson has outfitted the teams helmets with six sensors and a small antenna that records and transmits data to a computer on the sideline. This information collected is crucial because it will help find better ways to design a helmet that will prevent concussions(Goldman 1). Equipment isn't the only important part of football that can help prevent concussions.

On November 6th, 1869 the young American sport called football was born. In 1903, the addition of the football helmet was introduced; however, the helmet was not mandatory for all players until 1943 (“History of the”). Since the mandatory protocol for the use of helmets, the football helmet has advanced in safety. The helmet evolved from a plastic shell-shaped helmet to a more protective rounded plastic helmet with a face mask and chin strap. After those improvements, the modifications for safety increased. Today, professional football players have impact indicators on their chin straps to identify head injuries. As players have gotten bigger and stronger, head injury awareness is a major part of player’s safety and if they are not aware, it often results in a concussion. Many players and viewers of the game do not know how concussions occur, what the effects are, and how engineers and associations try to prevent the occurrence.

Concussions are rapidly becoming more and more of a concern in sports today. This is especially true in the sport of football, youth, amateur, and professional. What is a concussion? How do they happen? A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that occurs when the head is impacted, hit, struck, or shaken. Inside the skull, this violent movement of the brain is very detrimental to the brain itself. When a concussion occurs the brain literally bounces or twists in the skull causing damage to the brain cells, which in turn cause chemical changes in the brain. These changes make the brain more sensitive to other injuries or stress. All athletes participating in contact sports are at risk

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.

An estimated 1.6 - 3.8 million concussions are sustained each year in the United States, due to recreational sports injuries. (What is a Concussion?, 2016) Ten percent of athletes in contact sports sustain a concussion in a year. Brain injuries cause more deaths than any other sports injury. In football, brain injuries account for sixty-five percent to ninety-five percent of all fatalities. Football injuries associated with the brain occur at the rate of one in every five and-a-half games. In any given season, ten percent of all college players and twenty percent of all high school players sustain brain injuries. (What is a Concussion?, 2016) Eighty-seven percent of professional boxers have sustained a brain injury, five percent of soccer

Football is one of the most beloved sports in the United States. It is one of the most violent bone crushing sports, leaving players permanently injured for life in some cases they lose their life. The most common injury that football players suffer from pee-wee through professional football is the concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that changes the way your brain works. The effects of a concussion are usually temporary and can result in a full recovery if it’s minor and treated correctly. A concussion can lead to brain problems later in life, even after a player has finished playing football. Concussions are more than just a swelling bump on the head, they’re considered a minor traumatic brain injury. We need to spread awareness about this injury that sports players are told to “Shake Off” and get right back into the game.

“Studies show that approximately one in five high school football players suffer concussions or more serious brain injury during their brief high school careers. The rate at the collegiate level is one in twenty” (Longe, 965). Even though this study showed twenty present of high school football players recorded concussions, many concussions go unreported or unrecognized. Dr. Wayne Langburt surveyed Pennsylvania High School football players after their season. The survey was anonymous and the term concussion was replaced with a generic definition. “The share of players who claimed to have suffered a concussion the previous season was not four percent or even fourteen percent, but was forty-seven percent! Those who received concussions claimed an average of 3.4 each season” (Nowinski,

Bone-crushing hits and flying tackles are all part of what makes football exciting to watch, but they are also part of the reason why the sport is now facing heavy criticism over the serious head injuries that it can bring. In response to concerns from both the public and players about injuries, research into making this head-crushing sport safer has become a leading concern for the NFL and many other sports medicine organizations across the country.

The hot topic of concussions in football has attracted a considerable amount of unwanted attention in recent years. This problem is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, while our society is oblivious that a problem even exists. Many of us in today’s day in age know someone who has played football at the high school, collegiate, or professional level. The incidence of players who end up with concussions is astounding. It is interesting that someone who has suffered from a concussion can seem virtually symptom free for many years before it causes a number problems. It is estimated that damage to the brain caused by a concussion can last for decades which opens the door for more potentially life

Football is a sport beloved by Americans. Millions of boys from a young age enjoy playing football from recreational to dreaming of the NFL. Whether these boys end up play for their school team or the NFL, all levels of players experience head collisions. Recently, many people have questioned the severity of these head injuries, or concussions, induced by playing football and their lasting effects.

There is a lot of rising controversy surrounding minors and high-impact sports like football. From Elementary age kids playing little league to high school football, an increasing number of studies are surfacing that are showing many negative effects surrounding head trauma. Some experts are even calling for the sport to be banned from middle and high schools. The concerns surrounding head trauma have existed in the NFL for numerous year, and these concerns brought foreword extensive new research in detection, effects, and prevention. Even today the NFL plans to spend 100 million dollars on new prevention and treatment options for concussions. The shock absorption technology used in football helmets has made advanced majorly in the last 10 years, yet concussion rates are increasing. With the risk of head trauma having long term consequences, especially in minors with developing brains, the ideas of terminating the sport take root. Although serious, these risks are far outweighed by the benefits of football that a substitute sport can not provide: The answer to how to make football safer for minors is much simpler and cheaper than advancing technology.

The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.

“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).

There has been extraordinary improvements of helmets from the old leather to the modernized-plastic football helmets along with the face mask and energy- absorbent padding. In addition, the concern over preventing concussions, have led to helmet changes, impact testing methods and reconstruction of injuries during play helping to provide insight on concussions(4). Helmets have been successful in decreasing the risk of traumatic brain injuries, but there is much concern over concussion; therefore, scholars argue the importance of technology development to address concussion(5). As the author(s), David Viano and David Halstead discusses, there is room needed for understanding the types of collisions associated in youths and the impact condition addressing collisions. There are many variables to consider addressing concussion and where they occur.