Concussions In Sports Essay

One of the biggest issues in today’s sports is concussions in football. Because of this, participation and interest has been declining. In order to bring it back, leading organizations have decided to make safety their main focus. What this has done is make huge advancements in the game.

Through out all these studies, the MTBI was still making concussions sound minor, and not a big problem.They would say that the doctors did not do the research correctly, and they were just assuming. It was not until many fights and four years later when they officially announce that concussions can have long term effects on the players. Also in 2009, they made the return-to-play rules stricter with more criteria (Ezell). Officials are now more concerned about watching where the player gets hit

Many Americans love sports, including football, basketball and hockey. What most people do not think about, is the injury and risks that come along with playing sports. Concussions are a major part of this, and can cause severe brain damage and loss of basic functions. Many sports leagues, however, do not have the right protocol to increase player safety. The National government should implement rules and regulations to improve safety for players.

While the NFL is currently a very entertaining and popular American past time, there is one issue that threatens the future of the game-concussions. Concussions affect 1.6 to 3.8 million athletes and children annually in the United States. Among athletes, football is the most common sport involving risks of concussions for males, and soccer is the most common sports with concussion risks for females. The NFL has admitted that brain trauma effects a third of all NFL players (Knowles.) Concussions have been part of the game since the very beginning, but it 's only in the past 50 years or so that medical science and the public has become aware of the serious long term effects of concussions. The NFL is spending money on researching the problem, because they have been sued from hundreds of players that have suffered long-term damage from concussions. The NFL needs to dedicate more money and research into increasing helmet safety, implementing rules and policies to protect players, and utilizing the best response treatment to prevent and protect players from concussions.

“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).

This game-changing understanding highlights the inadequacy of the current protocol and assumptions regarding sports and concussions. Helmet sensors, impact absorbing helmets, removing the players after a concussion, even allowing players to fully recover before playing again are all part of dynamic actions being taken across American sports. Unfortunately, what researchers are seeing is that there is damage, much of it irreversible, to young players who have not even had a diagnosed concussion (Healey). Omalu suggests that we need to go much further than creating better helmets and making softer soccer balls. He believes that there needs to be increased awareness like there was for underage smoking or drinking.

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.

In 2007, the NFL finally started to take steps to slow down the rate of concussions in football (Lauren Ezell). Although concussions still occur today, there are specific protocols that were inserted to protect players’ health. This topic is so important to me because I am a big fan of the sport, and I would hate to see my favorite players end their career with disabling conditions. I hope to the see the NFL continually trying to find ways to limit concussions. I believe that one day football can be played without the risk of living the rest of your life with a critical

In recent years, the issue of concussions in sports has attracted considerable media coverage. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a nervous system disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function. It is a difficult disease to diagnose. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. Someone can only be diagnosed with CTE after their death if they donate their brain to scientists.

Concussions can damage you in two ways, causing a long-term and short-term effects.CTE plays a major role changing the way the person's mental state of mind.These effects do not only apply to male sports players it also can happen to female sports players as well changing the way that young sports players receive their education.

The league is now trying to reduce the number of concussions by inducing penalties in the case of head-to-head hits, resulting in a fifteen-yard penalty. There has been a problem for about 20 years regarding the long-term damage of recurring concussions among National Football League (NFL) players, often as a result of contradicting study results published by the NFL. However, by 2010, the NFL

Studies like the study at Virginia Tech can be used to identify the root cause of consussions and may in result, lead to a solution to the mass head trauma experienced by youth and even professional players. Because concussions occur so often in football, it is a suitable ground sero for the research on consussions in sports. It can lead to better medical diagnosis on the field where spli-second decisions are made and even in domestic cases. I addition, because concussions are a very misunderstood injury, this research is needed. The study wishes to develop a better helmet for football specifically but sports like hoccer could be benefitted too. The general knowledge of concussions would expand if more advanced and specific studies like these

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.

Another thing that would protect the football players from having so many concussion issue is fixing the layout on how a helmet is made or either improve the type of materials are made with to lessen the amount of pressure the brain receives after a hit. Researchers are in shock because they are not receiving enough accreditation about how they makes helmets they believe that football would be even worser if they didn't have the improved way of technology has improved the current equipment. Even though concussions and helmets don't seem to protect the players at all its improvements has to come as the years grow older. “Swartz, a former rugby player, is a kinesiology professor at the University of New Hampshire. It's there he implemented a two-year study to test the effectiveness of what he calls the Helmetless Tackling Training Technique.” stated by Tadd Haislop this quote means maybe if players are taught to tackle without their helmets. It would transfer over into the games and tacklers won't lead on with there head into a ball carrier or other players on the field.

Rules and regulations have not decreased the amount of concussions. NFL players, although being paid millions to play a sport, suffer from some of the worst head injuries. The National Football League have the players that follow the rules, then they have the players that go out of their way to severely injury someone. Rules and regulations are set, but what