American football is a well-known sport throughout the USA and most likely the world. Professional football players are rich and a lot of them are seriously injured like having concussion. By the time a player retires from the sport they might go through many concussion in the time spent playing the sport. Some factor like artificial turf and dehydration are having an effect on concussion in football players. Artificial turf is plastic grass that is use in indoor stadium where real grass won’t have enough sunlight to grow. But artificial turf is not as soft upon impact like real grass.
Because of artificial grass rubber material it is said to be stickier than grass. “It is these surfaces on which players say their foot gets “caught in the turf. ” Studies have shown that there is a higher incidence of ACL injuries with surfaces that have a higher coefficient of friction. ” (Drakos). The sticky rubber of artificial turf lead to player getting ACL injuries and them falls more frequently when their feet get caught in the turf. Upon falling on artificial turf players are feeling more impact than falling on normal grass. Artificial turf are harder than natural grass because of the plastic material they are made from.
As a landscape synthetic turf provides a low maintenance, weed free surface that don’t require constant watering and fertilization. Synthetic/artificial doesn’t get destroyed easily and don’t need time to regrow, which is why they are more popular on the playing field than real normal grass. But falling on artificial grass increase concussion rating on football players significantly. “Statistical analysis of the peak Gs for impacts onto each surface indicate all three are statistically different.
The artificial surface of the domed stadium was the hardest surface, with an average peak acceleration of 261 Gs compared with 183 Gs for the indoor rtificial turf practice field and 246 Gs for the outdoor grass field. ” (“Does the Use of Artificial Turf Contribute to Head Injuries? “). Based on this result we can say that football players are being hurt more upon impact when they fell on artificial grass. This have a great impact on concussion because the players head are receiving more impact force through the helmet when falling. Since artificial turf is the most popular turf to play on, concussion rating will be high in players. “Critically, the spread of artificial turf is seen as a major contributing factor to increased incidents of brain trauma. ” (Smith).
It’s widely believed that the use of artificial turf is leading factor for head injuries upon football players. Since artificial turf is easy to maintain without it being taking care of makes it the most common on playing fields. The thing that could be done to help players on the field is to try and use more natural grass on the playing field. It might be a hard job to maintain real and natural grass in good condition but would help players on the long run with injuries. Another factor affecting players on the field is dehydration. Dehydration is what occurs when players are getting fluid in their throughout the game.
It may not seem like dehydration would be a factor in concussion but it is. “Inside the skull, CSF helps cushion the brain during hard hits and blows. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized, it would seem that dehydrated athletes suffer more concussions. ” (Zintl). Upon dehydration the body loose “Cerebrospinal Fluid” which is located in the skull witch help protects the brain from impact. For example “some studies have shown that even 2-percent dehydration, which is often signaled by the feeling of thirst, leads to significant reduction in CSF levels”( Zintl).
If %2 of dehydration which is from feeling of thirst lead to significant loss of CSF, it’s even worse when playing a sport that causes you to sweat allot and be dehydrated even more. When significant loss of CSF happens it put the player in risk of brain injuries. CSF is use to cushion the brain from impact, but when the players losses CSF due to dehydration their brain have no protection from high impact tackles from other players or when falling on the field. All in all football is a well-known sport. Many people watch and enjoy the game. As well the players who play the game certainly enjoy what they do.
With all the money they are making there is injuries that follows. Football players are getting serious injuries like concussion. Factors such as artificial/synthetic turf and dehydration are some leading cause of football player concussion. Artificial turf which is the common use materials on the field is also the leading factor in football concussion. Either safer artificial turf need to be produce or the use of natural grass. Another problem is dehydration that put the player’s brain in risk for injuries when the loss of CSF happens. Our players needs to drink more water or other fluid throughout the game to stay hydrated.
