Sports-Related Concussions

Recreational athletes, competitive athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, and professional athletes all have one thing in common: the risk of a concussion. It's impossible to go a season without one athlete from a team receiving a concussion. The more that these concussions are studied, the more we learn about them, such as their detrimental effects on athletes. Because of the risk of health issues and death that come with concussions, doctors, coaches, athletic trainers, and lawmakers are stepping in to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions.

A concussion, which could be caused by a small head movement, is no minor issue as it could lead to brain trauma. Many people are affected by it and many more are vulnerable to it. But the impact isn't the real issue. The real issue is with the lack of healing and recovery. Healing time is crucial when it comes to head injuries and, according to the CDC, most athletes get around 7 days to recover compared to the recommended 1-2 months! Athletes sometimes don't even get time to recover and this could lead to long term effects in life. According to my personal experience, my ability to focus has been greatly reduced because of a concussion. This is a serious issue that is often overlooked my coaches and parents because of their pride and overconfidence in the child. Due to the fact that concussions could lead to permanent brain damage, discomfort, and long term illness, student athletes should be excluded from any athletics until a full recovery had been accomplished.

Those impacts are not good either. Long lasting concussions don't even have to be caused by multiple bangs to the head. As little as a minor bump can cause these consequences. Some of the long term effects are behavioral and mood changes, cognitive difficulties, affected attention and judgement. Long term effects can also happen from the athlete neglecting the injury, which happens often in sports, because people think of it as just a small accident, then return to playing. Sometimes, people don't realize they have a concussion, because not everyone loses consciousness when receiving one. After facing head trauma, athletes can get a post-concussion syndrome, which causes headaches, dizziness, irritability, and depression. The long term effects of a concussion can last for thirty years or longer, which is why these head injuries should be taken

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

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

Concussions are a very common injury among high school athletes. The majority of people do not realize that your brain needs more time to recover after a concussion. Once getting a concussion you are at high risk of getting another one in the future. Teens also have different symptoms than most adults and may not report the symptoms right away. Concussions can lead to serious brain damage down the road. Health providers should be taking these cases more seriously considering more than 300,000 sports affiliated concussions per year.

Each year approximately about 300,000 sports-related concussions are reported in the United States. The study has found out that an athlete who has suffered 1 concussion are at greater risk of suffering from another concussion. Sport-related concussion is still considered one of the main problem medicine professionals are dealing with. Research has also shown that multiple concussions have had detrimental effects on athletes participating in boxing, men's ice hockey, and men's soccer. Research on multiple concussions has been retrospective, using only posttest designs. Several researchers have suggested that the cumulative effects of repeated concussions can have long-term consequences. Collegiate football players with a history of 3 or more concussions were at 3 times greater risk for suffering another concussion compared with athletes without a history of concussion. Athletes with a history of 3 or more concussions presented more symptoms and poorer memory performance on neurocognitive testing at baseline than athletes with no history of concussion. These findings suggest that a history of concussion may place an athlete at risk for developing long-term sequelae associated with postconcussion

Some symptoms that lead to a diagnosed concussion, especially early on include: headaches, loss of consciousness, pressure in the head, dizziness, amnesia, confusion ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Other early signs of a concussion also include, nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delayed response to questions, slurred speech, appearing dazed and fatigue ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Symptoms for concussions, seen hours or days after the initial injury can include; irritability and other personality changes, concentration and memory complaints, sensitivity to light and noise, psychological adjustment problems, depression, sleep disturbances, and disorders of taste and smell ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). Athletes displaying these symptoms, make a diagnose for a medical professional easier, which allows for better treatment opportunities ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015). For medical professionals being able to recognize these symptoms not only helps to keep an athlete out of further harm, but also helps with that athlete’s treatment and ability to stay clear of any adverse effects for the rest of their life from sustaining a concussion ("What are signs of a Concussion?", 2015).

Participation in any athletic activity directly increases risk of injury.Throughout this research, many of the sources have provided information about the methods of preventing a concussion, different types of concussions or brain injuries, and medical treatments for concussions. Many athletes today receive concussions when participating in sports, mainly football and soccer. Some ways to prevent a concussion from happening would be to wear protective gear, and watching your eating habits, as this can lead to an occurrence of a concussion (Halstead). Concussions are a major public health issue and many athletes may face the risk of receiving a concussion. A concussion is a clinical syndrome of symptoms and signs occurring after biomechanical force is imparted to the brain. The different types of concussions or brain injuries include mild traumatic brain injury, postconcussion symptoms, postconcussion syndrome,which is the symptoms after receiving a concussion, chronic neurocognitive impairment, subconcussive injury, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Cervical Trauma Syndrome, the neck pain and stiffness after receiving the concussion, and Cerebral Palsy, which causes loss of function and mobility (Hecimovich). For people who receive concussions and have to attend school, there is a new program specifically in Guilford County Schools named “Return to Learn Method for concussions”. This program is considered to be a method to assist people who have received a concussion from playing a sport to get back on track, refresh their minds and try and remember the material they have learned. Another reason why this program would be an important method after receiving a concussion would be for the simple fact that it would help the student recover and relieve the pain in their head. Depending on how severe the athlete got hit in the head, this would determine whether the athlete has a slight headache, or a severe head injury that would require full treatment. When an athlete gets critical damage to the head, then this would possibly lead to a severe brain injury and would cause the athlete to suffer from many symptoms like headaches, fuzzy or blurry vision, dizziness, sensitivity to noise or light, balance problems,

Concussions are caused by a direct hit to the head causing brain damage, which in this case leads to a concussion. These types of brain injuries are very dangerous and sometimes life threatening. If an athlete receives a concussion they are required to sit out of contact sports until signed off by a medical professional. If they do not sit out until the brain is fully healed this may lead to permanent damage to the brain. Based on studies concussions can leave long term effects.

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. A concussion occurs when you receive an impact to the head. The importance of concussions varies and affect all types of athletes, from professionals to little leagues players. Sport concussions has become a major problem and it could be long-term effects of this injury if not properly treated. However, a concussion is usually short-lived. Several people recover from concussions within seven to ten days while others may take even longer than that (Zalser, 2015). Sadly, once an athlete has experienced a concussion, it is possible that he or she is at greater risk for varies concussions. In addition, because of the wide range of symptoms concussions cause, it is important that coaches, athletes, and parents are aware of them. Symptoms of sport concussions are not always obvious. Some may appear right away and others can be hindered for numerous of days after the injury occurred. The most common symptoms are headaches, drowsiness, confusion, balance, dizziness, and memory loss. When a player receives a blow to the head and is slow to get up, the athletic trainer or whoever is over them checks them out. There are a number of tests that can be ran on the athlete to make sure that they are thinking and seeing clearly. Just recently people have started paying more attention to concussions because new studies have come to light describing how bad they can affect you in the long run, for example; years after a football player career is

High school athletes are more prone to concussions than older athletes due to the body systems not being fully grown. The recovery of the high school athletes is longer than older students as well (article 1). Athletes with previous history of concussions were nine times more likely to demonstrate loss of consciousness and memory (article 1). Although athletes

In addition, it is believed that the difference in fitness levels and equipment could increase the rate of concussions in student age athletes. Due to increased susceptibility, high school athletes are three times more likely to experience a second concussion during a season (Iverson, 1999). Failure to properly manage concussions may lead to long-term consequences, such as difficulty learning, emotional difficulty and personality changes (Iverson, Lovell & Smith, 2000).

“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).

Any type of sports is bound to have some type of injuries. These injuries will vary and the athlete will take the necessary treatment that he or she needs to be active again. Now sports related injuries differ in how it affects the health and well being of the athlete; this means that some injuries are more serious and need more attention than others. However concussions, head injuries that were only looked as minor sports related injuries are to be treated with more delicacy since they not only affect an athlete’s body but can also have multiple effects on the player injured. Concussions in professional sports have had long-term effects on those athletes whom have suffered from these types of injuries. Providing not only better equipment but also better regulations and treatments can make a difference inside the sports community to help those athletes who have suffered these types of head injuries.