The topic that will be displayed in this research prospectus is how the NFL has poorly handled the ongoing concussion epidemic amongst its players and the problems that come along with it. Every time players step foot on the field they are taking the risk of suffering from a concussion due to the physicality of the sport. Concussions have an everlasting lasting effect on humans and can lead to serious mental health problems. After their careers, there have been many instances where concussions have led to players developing serious mental health issues. There have been many concerns around the league about the concussion protocol and how it has been processed. Over the past years, there has been an effort to upgrade league protocols and equipment …show more content…
Mental illnesses like CTE and Depression are developed in NFL players who suffer from multiple concussions. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a head injury that occurs from suffering multiple concussions. CTE develops into dementia if the brain has suffered around seventeen concussions. The NFL receives a lot of backlash for the safety of their players and the multiple reports of players who suffer from CTE after playing in the league have led to that. Depression is a mental health disease that is when a person always feels sad and losses interest in many things. This is also caused by NFL players suffering concussions and why the league has received criticism for the way they have carried out the protocols. According to Mez et al. (2018), a study in NFL shows that 99% of the players in the NFL have shown signs of neurodegenerative disease. Players tend to have a higher percentage chance of suffering from a concussion the longer they play in the league. Another reason the NFL receives so much criticism for the lack of support for players who suffer from concussions is due to the permanent effects it leaves on the players. In a study from Faure and Cassanova (2018), more than 70% of NFL wives have said that the symptoms of suffering from a concussion have become permanent on their husbands. The same study states that there many unreported …show more content…
A study by Lessley et al. (2020), states that players have a higher chance of getting a concussion based on their position on the field. This is due to the player's purpose on the field and the type of helmet that is required for the position. The three positions that suffer the most concussions in the NFL are Cornerbacks, Running Backs, and Linebackers. These positions happen to suffer the most concussions because they have the most helmet-on-helmet contact plays compared to any other positions on the field. The same study also indicates that the teams do not report some of the concussions suffered by their players to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) which is the database for the league's medical records. These are all alarming a strongly indicate there needs to be a change in how concussions are looked at and handled in the NFL’s future. Many retired players have participated in studies and around 50% have displayed serious mental concerns after suffering from a concussion, while the other 50% have shown moderate to low concerns about their mental health. This is still a problem because everybody who has suffered a concussion from the study is showing a level of concern for their mental health. Also, the concern levels have raised
This paper will go into detail about the mental and physical health effects of CTE and address what the NFL is doing to reduce concussions. CTE affects players not just mentally but also physically. One out of every three NFL players are affected by CTE and it is becoming a bigger issue everyday. CTE used to not be as common in football payers, but more in boxers, it was very common due to various amounts of headshots taken by the
This discovery highlighted the potential long-term impact the exposure to mild traumatic brain injuries, common to NFL players, can have. Furthermore, as more research about the correlation between playing football and developing CTE has been conducted this research aims to investigate how the NFL administration and players have addressed this safety
NFL vs. Players: Analysis and Intervention The National Football League is currently in a long-standing conflict with a group of its players and former players who demand compensation for the brain damage incurred during their professional careers with the NFL as a result of multiple concussions. The players’ group has taken these grievances to court, accusing the NFL of wrongful death and negligence for allegedly concealing the long-term effects of multiple concussions sustained during play, despite voluntarily investigating these possible effects. (Kenney 2012) This player’s group claims that players were not actively warned of the dangers of cumulative mild traumatic brain injury or MTBI until 2010.
One major problem that many doctors have recognized is that concussions not only affect players while they are playing the game of football but their lives long after their career ends. Articles written by (Nancy Didehbani) and (Marshall Kerr) discussions how player’s brains functions long after their careers end. Some of the issues they found with concussions are Short and long term memory loss, prescription drug abuse and depression and in some of the worst cases, suicide (Kerr). Studies of the brain after a NFL athlete’s careers show strong correlations linked to concussions. Which raises the question should the NFL require players who are diagnosed with concussions during their playing careers receive therapy and treatment in order
In the past few years, the number of concussions per year has only spiked. The NFL calls it a “cultural change” in that the staff are more willing to report head injuries instead of neglecting them. However, to many like Christopher Nowinski- one of the founders of the Concussion Legacy foundation- this increase just shows that the NFL does not care to prevent head injuries, only treat them when they are developed. The number of concussions between the 2013 and 2014 season actually increased by 58
Some of the tests revealed damage to the amygdala which controls mood. Additionally the NFL players scored much lower on memory tests, and had worse verbal skills (Hedin, 2015) 5. Due to the recent number of suicides & violent crimes committed by former players, there is more of a need to research the correlation between the head injuries in the NFL and brain disease even more C. Thesis Point 3: What steps the National Football league has taken to protect players long term health and safety 1. With the scrutiny the NFL has come under, they have developed a new protocol for the diagnoses and treatment of players with concussions 2. Under the new protocol, any player who exhibits sings of a concussion, even the most remote sign, must come out of the game and be checked out by the medical staff, they may not return to the same game if they undergo tests for concussion.
In 1994, after concussion injuries to start such as Steve Young and Troy Aikman, the NFL Commissioner at the time, Paul Tagliabue, established the Mild Traumatic Brian Injury Committee. The committee consisted of NFL team doctors whose aim to conduct comprehensive clinical and biomechanical research on mild traumatic brain injuries. Although the committee was originally established in 1994, it wasn’t until October of 2003, after Dr. Omalu’s findings, that the committee released its first scientific study. Furthermore, the MTBI committee concluded that concussions had no long-term health effects, which was contradictory to Dr. Omalu’s findings. This wouldn’t be the last time that the MTBI committee contradicted or discredited research conducted
What are the effects on an NFL player getting a concussion? Football players get concussions when the player gets hit to hard. When people get hit too hard in the head, the most likely have a concussion. Last year in the NFL there were 271 game related concussions that season. The worst one was the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals (NFL.com).
Concussions in sports have been on a rise more than ever, not only just in football but also in other sports such as kids’ soccer and ice hockey. There are major outcomes that can occur with concussions, as in C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). This condition occurs when a player is hit, gets a concussion and part of the brain vessels block off with dead brain vessels. This has caused multiple deaths in many athletes like Mike Webster, a former Pittsburgh Steeler, who lived in his truck while going insane. He would taser himself just to go to sleep because of concussions in his former football career.
Concussions Why are there so many concussions in the National Football League (NFL)? Why are they not taking more precautions to prevent them? The NFL has on average 130 concussions each year. This season, 149 different players obtained serious head injuries over the 271 games. This is a 30% increase from the previous three-year average.
This has caused new rules/ precautions to be made. “Blame the NFL for perpetuating some of our concussion misperceptions. Highly publicized lawsuits between the NFL and former football players have raised public awareness about concussions, but they’ve also confused us.” (outsideonline.com ) This occurred when “the disabling neurodegenerative disorder” was to blame for former football players: Mike Webster and Junior Seau deaths.
Football concussions can lead to brain injuries or other serious health issues that can be fatal. Concussions can happen in many different ways, which all involve big hits to the head. Hard hits to a player's head can cause his or her brain to move in different ways which can cause brain bruising or bleeding. A hard hit to a player’s forehead causes the brain to accelerate in a back and forth motion that can make a player feel nauseous or unstable. If the hit is focussed in the left or right side of a player's forehead it can cause the brain to move in a twisting motion which will leave the player light headed and with a headache.
The long-term side effects of these traumatic injuries have led spectators and doctors to speculate the dangers of head on collision in sports. Furthermore, concussions lead to TBI which leads to depression and problems with their functioning. Brain injuries have led to famous NFL players committing suicide and losing their families and
However, in some cases, symptoms can last for short periods or long periods either days or weeks. The common symptoms of a concussion are the imbalance, confusion, headache, memory loss, loss of consciousness, vision change, hearing change, mood change, fatigue, and malaise. For about 9 to 10 people with concussions, symptoms disappear within 7 to 10 days. The most common causes of concussions in sports is football, rugby, hockey, and basketball. Loss of consciousness is thought to occur in less than 10% of head injuries.
"By the time they get to high school, kids have a 5% chance of sustaining a concussion for each season they play" (Zimmerman). If they choose to keep playing football then they will eventually end up with a brain concussion or brain damage. Over the years 65-80% of head injuries go unnoticed ("Stopping the..."58). Football player ignore the fact that it is just a headache. Hospitals took 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009 dramatically increased because of concussions ("Injuries in...").