Essay On Traumatic Brain Injury

Injuries caused from head contact need to be eliminated. Concussions and traumatic brain injuries are a very high percentage of the injuries that high school athletes sustain every year. Football is the most common sport for traumatic brain injury with 29.1% of the injuries being treated and released at the emergency room. The percent that is admitted to the emergency room is 24.7% for these brain injuries from playing football. ("Concussion Statistics for High School Sports", Lindsey Barton Straus, JD.

Effects of CTE CTE is a disease in the brain that is caused by concussions. There has been a rising fears of this disease in the media lately. This fear has been surrounded by the sport of football. If you play this you are in danger of getting CTE. At least 31% of the people that have this disease have been suicidal at some point (Bonk).

“Long-term effects of concussions are very rare. Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause symptoms similar to a concussion, but individuals with TBIs often experience more severe problems with attention and short-term memory, have difficulty performing daily tasks, and report feeling ‘slower’ overall” (Long-term Effects of Brain Injuries). Brain injuries can always improve, but may never completely go away. “Difficulty making decisions or processing a lot of information, or trouble resolving problems, can have a significant impact on one 's life” (Long-term Effects of Brain Injuries). The matter is very serious and impacting the lives of many athletes around the world.

Head injuries and concussions are what scientist believe have caused these brain diseases in young athletes. These injuries are sustained by serious blows to the head to the point when the brain slams back and forth against the inner head. Traumatic brain injuries are long term effects that are sustained through various blows to the head which scar the brain itself. Unlike TBIs, concussions can be healed in due time as long as the person who has experienced the concussions has followed the necessary procedures and has received enough rest to further help the brain heal. Some head injuries although can lead to these brain diseases.

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).

The consequences of this injury is just scary to think about. Your head becomes more vulnerable than ever before. There may be times where you lose brain function and that could be permanent. You can even have vomiting and disturbed sleeping for a long time the effects may be temporary or

Since the brain can 't give signals to specific parts of itself, the body starts to shut down some of its functions due to the decaying brain tissues that start to form as soon as the CTE takes over. The functions being shut down are the same signs and symptoms of when a football player has had reoccurring concussions during their football seasons. But again, the only to actually see the evidence is to look deep inside the brain and the only way to do that is to perform an autopsy on the body. Mainly scientists use deceased football players when viewing CTE at a closer viewpoint to get a better understanding of what they are

We know everything about brain injuries and can come to a harmonious conclusion about them? Well, not exactly, there are a number of questions that still remain, even after thorough research. Does a single concussion or multiple concussions increase the risk of developing CTE or any brain disease, or is it more about the force of the blows? Does a single concussion that overlaps other concussions or separate concussions result in permanent brain damage kind of like those of which have diseases like Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases? Is there a certain amount of hits you can take to the head, or concussions, that could put you at higher risk of developing CTE?

However, these injuries heal eventually with time and rest. They may set an athlete on the side lines for a period of their season (or in worst case scenarios a large chunk of their career), but these injuries more often than not result in a recovery and a glorious return to the playing field. While a concussion is very similar to these physical injuries in the sense that it requires time and rest to recover and will set an athlete out for a portion of his or her season (assuming an appropriate amount of time is given for the brain to heal), it differs from most physical injuries from the stand point that it has possible long term cognitive effects if repeated concussions are obtained. Obviously, dying or paralysis is the worst case scenario for a person who has received brain trauma. However, athletes that have sustained three or more concussions over a life-time have been proven to likely have long-term cognitive impairment, emotional struggles, and a general decrease in the overall quality of life.

Brain Injury in Professional Football A reportable concussion had been described as change in brain function induced by trauma. It was demonstrated by: first, altered consciousness, including being amnesic, confused, or rendered insentient. Second, symptoms and signs usually accompanying post-concussion syndrome, such as, persistent headaches, impaired balance, syncope, cognitive dysfunction, hearing loss, blurred vision, drowsiness, lethargy, fatigue, memory disturbance, and difficulty in carrying out routine activities (Casson, Viano and Powell 471). The Concussion Legacy Foundation disclosed that CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by brain trauma, had been diagnosed among football players from more than 100 college football programs (Concussion Legacy Foundation).

Health professionals are not entirely sure whether or not concussions are linked to these diseases or not. Past studies in animals have shown that trauma to the central nervous system, including the brain, may jump-start the kind of autoimmune reactions that are underlined with multiple sclerosis. Other risk of concussions are chronic headaches, amnesia and neurological disorders like Alzheimer 's disease or Parkinson 's syndrome. These can also lead to second-impact

Almost 58,000 concussions were reported from the NCAA, which represents 1,200 colleges/universities, in the 2001-02 season (“Head Injuries”). That is about 48 concussions per school, and 1 in every 23 athletes. Sports and recreational concussions have become a more serious issue over the past decade. Many parents, coaches, and players deem concussions not serious and resume playing in the game. The increase in concussions, mainly in sports, has a long-lasting effect on the human brain and needs to be taken more seriously.

Theses effects involve many things from eating to sleeping. One of the problems that scares people the most is loss of sensation/numbness. Lots of people have been reported to not be able to move or feel their legs under themselves (“Neurological”). More symptoms have been named, like losing the sense of smell. To this day, there are still athletes suffering from these things.

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

Renner could not walk, and she needed to learn again. She said that waking up after you have a head injury is a very distressing thing that a person can experience. You have certain tasks that you took for granted before that have now become difficult. In addition, some of the things that used to be your greatest strengths can turn into a huge weakness after a TBI.