Joey Jackson
Ms. Thompson
Junior English 6th hour
28 February 2017
Concussions In The NFL
In the NFL there are many different types of injuries that occur some more serious than others, however one type of injury sticks out the most when it comes to trauma after they retire, that type of injury are concussions, concussions are a very serious issue because, they can ultimately lead to CTE and the retirement of young players, this ultimately will be the demise of the NFL if something is not done. There are many signs of concussions such as headaches, imbalance, memory loss, and confusion. One of the main issues with concussions in the NFL is the way they are treated, Dr Dias Jr. stated in a recent article he published,” 91 former NFL players
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This is very reassuring that rules in the NFL can be changed with the votes of staff and an offseason to implement them. There are many remaining factors to the solution such as enforced suspensions and enforced fines on the players doing the damage, Ryan Wilson an NFL analyst states in his article,”Burfict has now been fined or suspended eight times in 53 games and it's cost him a whopping $805,000”(2). This is one of the many players constantly being fined and never changing. The league also could definitely use more time in order to help injured players and help diagnose concussions and other medical emergencies, Stated by Jason La Canfora,”The league needs medical timeouts because in the case of Chargers safety Jahleel Addae -- who returned to a Thursday night game in October numerous times and then was later diagnosed with a concussion that would keep him out for weeks -- is one that I won't soon forget, and one that seemed preventable with a beefed-up system”(3). This …show more content…
When injuries on kickoffs emerged as a concern in the 2000s, the league moved the kickoff line to reduce the rate of returns and outlawed wedges of three or more blockers”(8). The NFL doesn't just sit there and let it happen they understand and care about the safety of the players so that's why they do things like move the kickoff back. The biggest argument towards concussions is the fact that football will never be 100% safe which Mark Wilson an NFL analyst claims,
“NFL helmets will never be 100% safe and players with never be 100% safe from concussions. In the article he claims,”We’re expecting a mere 1.5 inches of foam and candy shell to decelerate a player’s head gently enough to prevent their brain from bouncing around inside their skull and causing poorly understood, but permanent and devastating injury. After talking to some of the brightest minds in helmet design, helmet testing and football physics, the elephant in the room became clear: A concussion-proof helmet is a pipe dream. If the NFL wants concussion-free football, they’ll need to redesign
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. The most common injury that football players suffer from pee-wee through the NFL 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 its minor and treated correctly. A concussion can lead to brain problems later in life, even after a player has finished playing football. This is why people are studying and trying to understand concussions fully in order to prevent and treat future ones. Concussions are very
Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.
A concussion is an injury suffered in the brain of an individual that can affect and alter a person’s ability to perform not only mentally, but physically as well. The New York Daily News reported on one of the finest cases of how serious the NFL is taking the issue on concussions, the current lawsuit that reached a “$765 million settlement reached between the two sides, 18,000 concussion suffer and the NFL” which states causes for important untold information the NFL refused to report to players about the prospective dangers concussions had for their long-term health, though this was later shot down by a federal judge claiming that it was insufficient sum. An NFL player may succumb from thousands of hits to the head playing football all
The National Football League, more commonly known as the NFL, has had growing cases of retired players that suffer from mental trauma or mental diseases from concussions. A concussion is a short loss of brain function following a direct or indirect force to the head. Concussions are extremely difficult to diagnose because the damage is seemingly invisible to the naked eye. Although the damages may not be present, the effects are long lasting. Concussions are plaguing retired NFL players and affecting the former athletes long term mental health.
The average NFL career is only 3.5 years. Much shorter than other sports like the MLB, which is 5.6 years. These short careers are caused by injuries, many of which are concussions. Authors from Twelve Years of National Football League Concussion Data say, “There were 0.38 documented concussions per NFL game in 2002-2007-7.6% lower than the 0.42 in the earlier period (1996-2001).” This is showing improvement of the league’s efforts to make the game safer for the players. “In a move that would symbolize the league’s strategy in dealing with player health, the NFL made an arbitrary change to the rules, hoping that eliminating wedges would come across as a genuine attempt to protect players.” writes Nate Jackson. The wedge was a blocking formation by the returning team in an NFL kickoff that would cause players to go outside of the wedge eventually and be opened up to big hits, causing concussions. The article Twelve Years of National Football League Concussion Data also said this, “The number of players returning in less than 7 days was 8% lower during 2002-2007.” This is proof that when players take the needed time off of the game and the time to rest their bodies for full recovery, there are less injuries. When players come back too early, there is a risk for another concussion, and taking extra time off could prevent
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
Playing football is always going to be a dangerous sport because you don’t know if you’ll get a concussion. Concussion rating will go up each year and sometimes down when the NFL takes action and trying to protect the players. So why hasn’t NFL take more action on the concussion problem they are having each year and what are happening to the players when they get one. Football teams need to figure out how they can prevent brain damage from concussion by teaching the players how to tackle, understanding the signs of a concussion, and upgrading the equipment that they are
Concussions can cause long term effects if not treated properly. A player can recover from a concussion in a few weeks, but the lasting effects of a concussions still prove relevant. Retired players that have suffered from concussions during their careers and were not treated properly felt the long-term effects of sustaining head injuries that caused many to commit suicide, which has led to the NFL investigating their concussion protocol to keep the players safe. As the NFL uses its lead doctors to investigate and understand more about the brain it will lead to gains in the safety of athletes
Everyone loves to get at least a little physical while playing sports. Football is a major sport that has a lot of injuries and concussions in the game but many people continue to play because of the physical contact and the fun they have in the sport. Even though there is different technology being used to help prevent serious problems such as concussions many people still have serious side effects from them or worse yet die because of theirs. As claimed by, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/football-and-the-brain-nfl-60-minutes/ there has been 39 changes in the NFL to make the game safer. One change is that helmet-to-helmet hits are now illegal. To reduce the amount of head banging, the NFL and the Players Association have limited the number of full contact practices during training camp and the regular season. The league also estimates that heads slamming into the turf causes 7% of all concussions. Changes in the rules for athletic competition have thankfully reduced the number of sports-related concussions.
The NFL has put in new rules in place that keep the ball handler safe from hits to the head. The NFL has put a new rule in that if you hit a player in the crown of the head you will be penalized 15 yards. This rule is supposed to decrease the amount of hits to head players receive. Another rule put in is you can not hit a defenseless player because they have no idea they are about to receive a big hit. Even with these new rules concussion rates are still going up. In 2009 the NFL put in a new rule that would have players checked on the sidelines to tell whether they could go back
Getting a concussion in NFL football is completely different than concussions in high school, Middle school, or little league football. After getting a concussion myself and watching “League of Denial” I realize how serious they are and how poorly the NFL treated them. The NFL never had any professionals researching what the long term effects of getting concussions over and over were, They just assumed that it wasn't that big of a deal. They would put people back into the game even after they knew that they had a concussion which put them at a bigger risk than before. This makes me scared because they started to say that high school and middle school football players are allowed to go back into the game after their
It is important to analyze the NFL and concussions among its players as an interrelated issue rather than looking at individual instances. When a player sustains a concussion they then undergo physical repercussions from this traumatic brain injury. The case that really started all this concussion discussion was back in 2002 when Hall of Fame Center Mike Webster was found dead. Webster’s death spurred debate on the issue that still continues today. Meanwhile, the NFL’s role as a business has also played a significant role in limiting its ability to address the concussion problem and other brain injuries that result from playing professional football. Prior to his death, Webster had suffered from such severe pain that the only
Concussions in football have always been a problem. Recently the NFL is doing more to protect players from this serious head injury. a couple of moves made by the NFL to prevent concussions is that they moved the kickoff line up 5 yards resulting in a higher chance of a touchback. Another move to prevent concussions is that players are getting fined for illegal tackles that occur. The NFL is doing more to protect players because they realize concussions can have serious effects later in life like losing the ability to remember things. According to Nadia Kounang “NFL football players are 3 times more likely to have a neurodegenerative disease compared to the average population”. Examples of these diseases are Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The target population is football players who have received concussions in their playing days. Many of these head injuries were caused by players who wanted to excite the crowd with a big hit knowing a lot of the fans were just there to see violence and that the player would become more popular to those
Over the past couple of years the National Football League as well as other football associations have witnessed a rise in the occurrences of severe head trauma to players resulting in concussions. One of the NFL’s top priorities is the health and safety of their players. These NFL players bring an abundant amount of joy and excitement to their wild, raving, die hard football fans across the nation. However, these mens’ health today and for decades to come is equally if not more important than their careers that often last an average of 4 years playing football. Despite the increase in the number of concussions in football, leagues are doing all they can to prevent concussions by implementing new rules, provide new and improved equipment,
Before I begin my argument there is some personal connection and history I would like to share. I remember it like it was yesterday, several times feeling like I had a concussion. Getting up off the turf feeling dizzy and sometimes as players would call it “seeing stars”. Any and everyone who plays the game of football takes a risk one of the biggest being a chance to obtain a concussion. Luckily I have been concussion free but many of my friends and family members have not been so lucky. One game a friend of mine, Yaya Diaby, had a concussion and had to sit the rest of the game which had a huge impact on our defense. My former high school coach was subject to five concussions which put an end to his career. The biggest impact I’ve witnessed due to a concussion is memory