Essay On Concussions In Hockey

A nationwide epidemic is occurring throughout the United States and is on the rise. Although many know about it, they fail to realize the side effects and diseases that can that lay dormant, waiting to be awakened and devastate their lives and potentially end them. Concussions are increasing annually among athletes in contact sports. Children and adults participating in these particular sports are potential victims of concussions and the long lasting side effects. The concerns of athletes receiving concussions is rising because as studies progress, many are leading to the conclusion that concussions impose future health complications.

Imagine a car travelling down the road going 25 miles an hour. Imagine that car striking another car moving at a similar speed. Now, replace those cars with two boys travelling at the same speed. The event described is a typical hockey hit. If carried out the correct way, it will simply displace one player from the puck and both players will likely skate away, however, if executed incorrectly, the results can be devastating. A collision such as the one described happens all too often in hockey. Be it because of ignorance by the coaches, player and league, or by the lack of knowledge on the topic, the problem is not subsiding. The issue of concussions is a growing problem reaching epidemic proportions. People always complain about officiating.

Millions of people are registered throughout North America for participation in Canada’s national sport and pastime, ice hockey. Most young hockey players have the dream of making it to the National Hockey League (NHL). Because of this incentive to keep striving towards their ultimate goal in their hockey career, they idolize the players in the NHL. Therefore, youth players may obtain certain habits from the elite, whether those habits are good or bad. Some cases are of bad influences, such as young players obtaining the dirty playing habits of the professionals. The primary action that influences the youthful population is body checking. With the thought of losing a game, it is no wonder why players have the urge to play rough and

Although concussions are very serious, if the athlete allows an appropriate amount of time and does not come back prematurely then they will be okay (Excerpt 3). Often times, coaches and players don't pay much attention to a huge collision especially in the sport of football because it's not uncommon. Concussions can sometimes slip through and are defined as "invisible" (Excerpt 2). The effects of repeated concussions can be cumulative, and the brain is very vulnerable after injury (Excerpt 3). High school athletes have a higher chance of being concussed again if they have already been concussed once before. Sometimes a player's will comes into play when suffering an injury. Players often play down an injury but with something as serious as concussion, it can be very difficult to do this. There are laws that have to be followed when a player possibly has a concussion and it all depends if there is a medical professional field-side. As long as enough time is allowed for a player to come back, then there should be no problems with suffering a concussion as long as they handled it

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.

My initial thought is kids can have memory lost and that's not good for anyone. If your kid was having memory lost due to concussions, would you want your kid going back into the game.

The sport of hockey is an intense test of power and will, and as a result of the injuries in sport are common realities that players and coaches are faced with. Among these injuries are concussions, arguably the worst injury of all. A significant blow to the head that causes the brain to shake in the skull and sometime even swell causes a concussion. These serious and sometimes life threatening injuries have always been a part of hockey, and up until a few years ago, little was being done to combat the cause. Although great strides have been made to help athletes recover from a concussion, the question arises, why are hockey players so susceptible to these terrible head injuries in the first place?

This is causing them to becoming more at risk of receiving a concussion. A child’s brain is not fully developed until they are well into their teen years. There have been many researches in the past few years that show when a child received repeated hits to the head, it can cause lifelong damage to the brain. It will take longer for children to recover from a concussion than adults, and they are also at a higher risk at receiving a second concussion. A recent study at Boston University was taken to scan the brains of a few high school football players. The findings were troubling. Of the 24 players who were tested, most of whom began playing football before they even could learn to talk, preformed worse on cognitive exams. The MRI’s unveiled a series of abnormalities in a broad band of nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain also known as the corpus callosum. This part of the brains’ main job is to relay information and commands between

Kids who have suffered a concussion usually report having headaches and fatigue which makes learning difficult. A study showed that the more difficult a students classes were the more the concussion interfered with the work they did. Some researchers have recommended that the healthcare professionals give families post-concussion plans that would pass onto the school. Many of the students that got concussions had problems with note taking and completing their homework. These factors may be overlooked when a child is diagnosed and could lead to a drop in their grades.

Athletes with head trauma should be required to sit out of the game until their head is fully healed. Although a medical professional signs a paper allowing them to go back into the game, they should not take advantage of that by starting right away. After concussions, teenage athletes should take it easy so their brain has the proper time it needs to heal. Concussions are a serious injury. They can have long lasting impacts and are more likely to reoccur during the same season. In contrast, in order for athletes to return to the game, a doctor has to sign forms allowing them to do so. Doctors are licensed professionals, so the athlete's head injury can't be too severe if they are able to play again. In addition, new equipment that helps prevent concussions is being created.

Approximately 10% of athletes take longer than seven days to fully recover from a concussion (article 1), but they still go back to the playing field before reaching that point. This is very dangerous and is mostly due to the fact that athletes, especially males, do not report their symptoms in fear of being sat out for a long period of time (article 1). It is understood that often if a person isn't feeling like they are experiencing any major symptoms then they might not want to be held back from participating in their normal activities. A concussion starts out as an "invisible" injury and can become majorly serious as time goes on if not properly handled and treated. An intelligent decision would be to have the concussed athlete monitored by someone, such as their coach, before a physician can give the athlete permission to return to the playing field

Kids are coming to their parents and coaches at much earlier ages than before. According to the article Stats on Concussion and Sports says the rate of concussions in eight-thirteen year olds has nearly doubled. Most often, kids that get these injuries and their first concussion can recover fully with no setbacks or long term injuries. However, it is the second and third concussions that can cause neurological disability and increase chances of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy by 39% (“Stats on Concussions and Sports” 1). The article also states how these concussions that athletes are experiencing at such young ages may be the reason as to why we are seeing so many athletes get concussions during their college and professional

In the journal Epidemiology of Concussion in Sport: A Literature Review, they state many ideas and rules that student athletes, coaches, and teachers should know when a student athlete is returning from a concussion. Michael Clay states that doctors have said that an athlete should not return to sports until they have had a few days of being symptom free from any concussion type of symptoms. Clay also says that students should report if they have concussion symptoms even if they have had symptoms in the pass because hiding the fact that they have had previous concussions hiding them and continuing to play could cause more problems with the injury. (Clay

Often the time after birth is a filled with joy and happiness due to the arrival of a new baby. However, for some mothers the birth of a baby leads to some complicated feelings that are unexpected. Up to 85% of postpartum woman experience a mild depression called “baby blues” (Lowdermilk, Perry, Cashion, & Alden, 2012). Though baby blues is hard on these mothers, another form of depression, postpartum depression, can be even more debilitating to postpartum woman. Postpartum depression affects about 15% (Lowdermilk et al., 2012) of postpartum woman. This disorder is not only distressing to the mother but to the whole family unit. This is why it is important for the nurse to not only recognize the signs and symptoms of a mother with postpartum depression, but also hopefully provide preventative care for the benefit of everyone involved.

NHL players suffer concussions at a very high rate. In 1997, the number of concussions among NHL players suffered during games was reported at 559. This does not include incidences where the player didn’t inform the team physician of symptoms that he was having, which would have made this number a lot higher. Players actually lost consciousness in 18% of these cases. Fortunately, there has been a significant improvement in these numbers over the last several years. The rates that these injuries are occurring have