Concussions can have devastating effects on athletes including death. In 2015, 271 concussions occurred in the NFL which is the highest number of concussions in NFL history. While the diagnoses of concussions in the NFL has increased, so has the awareness and research which may account for the increased incidence of NFL players with concussions.
This research has also benefitted youth, particularly those involved in athletics, and has resulted in greater testing, training and education for concussions.
Description of a Concussion
A concussion is when there’s an impact to the head and the brain impacts the skull. People can obtain a concussion from a hit to the body. While, most people believe that the brain is attached to the spine, the brain actually floats in spinal fluid. This
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Most people take a an aspirin or ibuprofen if they have a headache, which can be a symptom of a concussion Doctors advise those with concussions to stay away from certain types of pain relievers because they may cause a person’s brain to bleed if it is a concussion . Some pain relievers such as Tylenol can help with the headaches from a concussion. However, it is important to see a doctor. Concussions can take a while to heal but it is critical they are treated properly as to not cause ongoing or future damage.
Concussions can have severe effects on an athlete. They can lead depression, memory loss, and event death. However, with growing research, it is possible to take preventative measures, identify the likelihood of a concussion and engage in treatment. Undiagnosed concussions can lead to more severe injuries and athletes should be concerned about, aware of them and treat them. With new technology, greater awareness, and growing acceptance that concern should be less on winning a game than preventing and treating a concussion, it is possible that one day, concussions may be a rare thing of the
Recent studies in science have concluded that multiple concussion injuries puts the player not only at immediate risk for problems, but long term health effects including memory loss. Even the most experienced player and coach may not have the proper training or education on recognizing or treating concussions. Concussions in sports remain a large problem. According to CDC research, it is believed that as many as 3.8 million concussions occur in youth through college sports. Unfortunately, less than half of these concussions are properly diagnosed and treated. The reason why so many concussions are left undiagnosed is because of lack of education of officials and coaches, and understanding of the long term effects.
A concussion is medically defined by a traumatic injury to the brain. An athlete that has a concussion may experience signs of confusion, may lose consciousness, disorientation, or have a dazed look. Concussions occur due to an impact with the ground or another player. The skull is stopped by the impact, but the brain continues to move inside the skull in a shaking or spinning manner. Medical experts state that, “Violent shaking caused the brain cells to become depolarized and fire all their neurotransmitters at once in an unhealthy cascade, flooding the brain
One hard hit to a NFL player’s head can destroy their life. Concussions are a major problem that the NFL has been dealing with for a very long time. As a huge football fan, I have a special interest with this issue. When concussions were first identified as a problem, they were extremely down played. People thought that injuries to knees and backs were much worse than a concussion. What they did not know was that a concussion is lethal and can cause serious consequences. After this was discovered, the NFL started to take steps to improve the safety of players, but for some, it was far too late. Concussions that NFL players receive are negatively impacting their lives after their career, due to Chronic
In the united states over 170 million adults participate in physical activities, including sports which can have a greater impact on unorganized sports because most of the time there not properly trained and just go for what they know and injure themselves 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur in recreational activities annually. However, this vastly underestimates total concussions, as many individuals suffering from mild or moderate concussions do seek medical advice... Many of these activities are associated with an increased risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI). In the united States, an estimated 1.7 million people sustain a TBI annually, associated with 1.365 million emergency room visits and 275,000 hospitalizations annually with associated direct and indirect cost estimated to have been $60 billion in the United states in 2000, So concussions are not only taken a big toll on someone’s life but also their pockets.
A concussion is a type of mild to moderate brain injury caused by sudden hit to the head. This sudden blow can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull which damages brain cells and causes chemical changes in the brain. Some symptoms of a concussion include “blurred or double vision, seeing stars, sensitivity to light or noise, headache, dizziness or balance problems, nausea, vomiting, trouble sleeping, fatigue, confusion, difficulty remembering, difficulty concentrating, or loss of consciousness”. It is important to note that you do not need to be knocked unconscious to have a concussion. Concussions cause damage to the frontal and anterior temporal lobes which are the very place where one’s emotions and self-control are located. Some concussion victims claim to experience loss of
When someone is diagnosed with a sport related concussion, it not only affect them, but it also affects the people around them. While playing sports that involves high impact to one’s head the athletes should already know that they are putting them self’s at risk of having a sports related concussion. Concussions can happen in almost any sport. The most popular sports that are known for having concussions will have to be American football and lacrosse of both genders. In the past, concussions were rarely heard about in youth sports, however, with today’s knowledge doctors can see the symptoms rather than in the past when people barley knew what a concussion
Football is all about the fame and money until BOOM, you’re hit and out for the season with a concussion. The cause of a concussion is getting hit in the head too hard with or without a helmet. No matter what sport you are playing, if you get inside the head too hard it could affect your brain bad or sometimes not as bad. Concussions can happen all around the world, a lot of people suffer from them few die from them. The effects include Memory Loss, CTE, and Long-Term Brain Damage.
Head trauma from concussions can be extremely detrimental to a person’s body so that such things as death can occur. Everyone knows that concussions are not a good thing but not everyone knows how severe they actually are. Concussions are becoming an epidemic in sports and a solution should be drawn up to help the players in sporting activities.
Professional and amateur sports in the United States are big money. It is big money for the teams and the companies manufacturing sports equipment and clothing. It is also a literal headache for many participants. Sports concussions that occur frequently have terrible outcomes. We live in a sports oriented culture, which promotes a hard-nose on field mentality. Athletes learn early on to not report injuries or to play through an injury, especially an injury causing problems with mental processes. This denial has dangerous consequences. The attitude begins with youth sports and is reinforced by parents and society. For the past twenty years, reevaluation of sports-related concussions has become a real and pressing need. This interest has
A concussion is traumatic injury to soft tissue, usually the brain, as a result of a violent
“Concussion,” as defined by Elizabeth D. Schafer and Amy Webb Bull from the Salem Health Magill’s Medical Guide, is “the mildest traumatic brain injuries that impairs neurological functions” (Magill’s Medical Guide). In making this comment, Schafer and Webb suggest that the effects of having concussions may affect or alter the normal functioning of the head causing serious, fatal damages or deaths. Moreover, the numbers of concussion discerned in athletes are increasing drastically. For instance, in the article In Football, Stigma of Concussion Creates Incentives to Hide It from Chronicle of Higher Education, Brad Wolverton, the author, presents revealing evidence about the increasing number of concussion in recent years. His study is based on the data from the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention. It was concluded by National Collegiate Athletic Association that 4.7 was the average number of concussions per team during 2011-12 season, but it increased to 6.5 in 2013-14 season. These findings show the interesting number of players who incur concussions in recent years. An anonymous study assembled in January of 2014by ESP. it revealed that “320 NFL players play in the Super Bowl with a concussion. Eighty-five percent said yes” (Almond 49). Based on this study, NFL players are putting their lives in risk. They are ignoring the fatal risks that concussion can cause long-term complications. If the
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.
One may ask just what exactly a concussion is. A concussion can be defined as a clinical syndrome characterized by immediate and transient impairment of neural function, such as alteration of consciousness, disturbance of vision, equilibrium, etc., due to mechanical forces (Roy/Irvin, 142). The brain is made up of a “tofu-like”
As a nation that loves competition, the United States has become obsessed with sports. This obsession has allowed professional sports leagues to generate billions of dollars of revenue each year. The one sport that stands on top is football generating around 13 billion dollars a year. This even surpasses “America’s Pastime,” baseball. One of the reasons the sport has been able to succeed so much is from the sport’s violent nature, which attracts many fans looking for big hits. But unfortunately with big hits come injuries, one of the most common injuries being a concussion (injury to the brain caused by a hard hit on the head). In the United States alone over 300,000 concussions occur annually. That includes high school and college athletes.
Not many sports are as physically demanding on the human body as football. The physical toll that football players pay is almost impossible to comprehend unless one has actually played the sport for a significant amount of time. However, until recently any connection between the hits taken by football players and their health down the road was largely ignored. A common, yet difficult injury to detect in football is a concussion, the most common traumatic brain injury. A concussion is defined as “a brain injury that is caused by a sudden blow to the head or the body. The blow shakes the brain inside the skull, which temporarily disrupts the brain from functioning normally. Reports and studies have surfaced shedding light on just how much damage is inflicted upon the brain due to crippling hits. These studies suggest that NFL athletes who received concussions suffered lasting damage to the brain, which opens the gate to a multitude of other health issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and clinical depression .