Do you really know the effect that a concussion has on your body and brain? “In the US sports related concussions occur between 1. 6 and 3. 8 million times per year, making them the leading cause of mild traumatic brain injury. “(7) Many people nk that taking time to heal after a concussion is not important and you can just go back on the court or field that same day. Concussions are a major problem in the sport of football and need to be taken very seriously. A concussion is simply a brain injury.
Concussions are not only caused by a blow to the head, but also by getting hit in the body. Your brain is rapidly growing until you are 25 causing concussions before that age to do a lot of damage. “(3) Concussions do not only give you physical symptoms but also cognitive symptoms, emotional symptoms and maintenance symptoms. “There are plenty of ways you can spot these symptoms, for physical symptoms you might experience headaches, nausea or vomiting.
Feeling ‘slowed down’ or having troubles concentrating and remembering things are examples of cognitive symptoms. Emotional symptoms change the way you would normally act and maintanance symptoms are related to your energy levels and sleeping habits. (3) “In most cases concussion symptoms last no longer than two weeks. In 10 to 20 percent of individuals, however, concussion symptoms persist for a number of weeks, months or even years. “(1) “If you think you have a concussion or even if a teammate might, tell your coach then get cleared by a doctor. Playing with the healing concussion can cause you to take more time away from school and sports. “(3) “High school football players suffer 11. 2 concussions for every 10,000 games while colleges rates stood at 6. 2. “(1)
“Many football players get concussed with every play, but only 5 to 2 percent of concussions are caught. (2) ‘With only a few weeks into football season there had been already up to 14 concussions. “(6) “For the NFL in 480 games, there were 292 concussions resulting in . 61 concussions per game. In 2012 through 2014 NFL regular season (week one through sixteen), there were a total of 292 reported concussions. “(7)Delaney, J Scott et al. “The effect of protective headgear on head injuries and concussions in adolescent football (soccer) players. ” “The amount of pressure is immense,” says Wheatley, now director of the Dallas Cowboys football Academy”I did what I had to do.
I play with a broken foot, broken wrist, concussion. I didn’t want to lose my spot to another player. “(2) “Many players will just ‘shake it off or play through the dizziness and nausea. “(2) If players continue to play through the symptoms they can develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as CTE. CTE is a degenerative disease found in the brains of many athletes. “Recently the department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University researchers studied the brains of 165 people who play football in high school, college or pro level. The teams found CTE in 130 of them.
Of the brains studied 91 of them belong to former NFL players, 87 of those 91 had signs of CTE. “(6) There have been many solutions considered for preventing concussions. “Wearing the correct protective gear not only in games, but in practice, not purposely hitting anyone on the head, and educating yourself on what a concussion is, what it feels like in what to do when you get one are all simple solutions. “(3) Other solutions suggest changes in the rules of the game. “These suggestions include booting the kickoff, everybody standing and banding youth tackle.
Neuro injury rate is highest in kickoffs, by taking them away, hopefully the rate will begin to decrease. If the NFL eliminated the kick off colleges and high schools would follow. “Taking kickoffs out of the game would be a huge progressive reform. ” “Everybody standing” means that the three point and four point stance would be eliminated. Lineman stand on the line heads pointed at each other’s heads and at the snap they instantly collide.
If players did not have to keep their hands on the ground, heads would be up at the snap and the chance of getting a concussion would be slimmer. Boston university studies show that aging players who began playing full-pads tackle football before age twelve ‘performed significantly worse’ on tests of mental acuity than those who waited till after the age of twelve to play tackle football. ” About one third of deceased men who played contact sports in youth had CTE. Some communities have already started replacing youth tackle with flag football, which offers all the fun without the hits to the head. “(4)
“If programs do not want to get rid of tackling they can adopt a tackling style like rugby, where players tackle each other lower, grabbing the others legs and hitting with shoulders. (6) “Personally I think that the best solutions would be “medical timeouts” and reality goggles. A medical timeout gives the athletic trainer had an event the power to alert the referee to call a timeout. The athletic trainer could call a timeout if they ever see signs of a player needing assistance. “(6) “My favorite solution comes from Stanford University’s Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, he invented reality goggles. the concept is simple, all you have to do is put the goggles on and it runs a few tests without you having to do a single thing.
Within a minute the goggles can determine if you have a head trauma. “(2) “Player profess that the game and the team are more important than their individual health and that they may play through a concussion to avoid letting down their teammates, coaches, school and parents. “(1) If football players continue to avoid getting the proper help that they need when concussed they can easily get CTE and by the time they decide to get help it can be too late. Concussions can do so much more damage than you can imagine and they need to be taken more seriously. Is your headache really just a headache?
