Nfl Concussions

According to National Conference of State Legislation (NCSL), a traumatic brain injury is a disruption of the brain due to a bump, blow, jolt or penetrating head injury. Although most of these injuries occur from car accidents and blunt force trauma to the head, the link between football and traumatic brain injury continues to strengthen. In a recent study, for example, researchers discovered that out of the 111 brains analyzed from deceased NFL players, 110 of them tested positive chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disorder associated with repeated hits to the head over a period of time. This means that professional athletes who play in the NFL are at greater risk because they’re more susceptible to concussions and other brain-related

I. Introduction A. Attention Graber: For many people there is nothing better on a crisp cool Sunday afternoon, than sitting down and enjoying a good football game. The NFL, hosts usually the football games people watch. Recently, however the NFL has had a huge conflict on its hands regarding player health and safety, specifically regarding repeated head injury and concussions. Research indicates, the NFL has not done enough to protect its players from the damage of repeated head injury B. Ethos Statement:

The NFL is about to go into one of the most unwanted territories it has ever been into, but this is definitely an issue that it needs to grasp before they are to deep into it and this is the issue of head injuries sustained by players. This issue is overwhelmingly forcing the hands of player’s future careers. This is something that our society has never seen before with things such as players retiring one to two years into their career due to the scare that head injuries have on these players. Along with after players retire they are receiving statements from these players saying that the NFL doesn’t do enough in the protection of head injuries. The NFL has had considerable problems with concussions dating all the way back to the 1900’s (Powell,

The term is also used loosely of the after effects such as confusion or temporary incapacity” (NFL Football Hits, Concussions, Injuries & a Lifetime of Pain). Most of the concussions that happen in the game come from a player performing head-to-head contact, or when a player experience whiplash from a hit and their head crashes into the grass playing surface. Because of the pace and intensity of the game, it is easy to make those collisions during the duration being played. Many organizations including the NFL are looking for ways to make the sport safer, and help with the long term health issues of the players.

Concussions themselves are a controversial topic simply because of their destructive forces on the lives of everyone, ranging from people who tripped and fell a little too hard, to people who make a career of hitting other people as hard as they possibly can. There are many people opposed to the idea of football’s inherent violence, yet advocates of the sport claim that removing the factor of colliding would make a completely different sport that cannot even be called football, which itself has become so ingrained in American society that it practically owns a day of the week from Week One of preseason to the closing seconds of the Superbowl. The fact remains though that if football were to suddenly cease existing, many people would be jobless,

With the movie "Concussion" appearing in theatre 's last December, I took it upon myself to dive deeper into the subject. This time with the same concept, but with a different group of football players. More specifically, the young football players in which the injuries received, being both minor and major injuries, contributes to the development of their brain structures. Within each hit these young players take, the still growing brain comes to a halt every time the team makes a tackle that damages the brain further than most humans do throughout their lifetime. Many different scientists have been conducting experiments to provide proof of how concussions can cause a decline in lifespan of young football players.

It is not new news learning that concussions are a common occurrence throughout the sport of football. It just so happens that throughout the last two decades, former NFL players have or have threatened the NFL with lawsuits regarding their personal health, specifically brain injuries. Many experts and players also question if the latest technology used to prevent concussions from occurring are effective. Modern day CT scans can rule out bleeding in the brain, they however do not diagnose concussions. This causes many concussions to go unseen due to the lack of advancements in the use of CT equipment.

Football has the highest percentage of concussion rates at a high 47%. Concussions get more likely when the player is from 11-17 years of age, 1-5 sports players in high school will sustain a concussion in the season. These are only a few studies that have been completed, but many more will come throughout the years.

Every person in the world loves football! Football has the highest rates of catastrophic head injuries (16).The long term health effects of high impact sport injures can be super dangerous. “Medical researchers at Boston University recently confirmed that 88 of 92 former NFL players donated their brains for research…”(15). “... NFL players who donate their brains for research suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy( C.T.E.), a brain disease induced by repetitive head trauma and linked to depression,aggression,impulse-control problems,memory loss, and dementia”(15).

While football is extremely prevalent in the American society, the tremendous contact and skyrocketing concussion rates have stimulated concern about the exposure of developing brains to neurological trauma, resulting in lasting cognitive impairment. Julie Stamm, with a PhD in anatomy and neurobiology, utilizes experimental data to demonstrate the correlation between football athletes who play prior to the age of 12 and long term critical impairment in memory, flexibility, and intelligence (Moran). In contrast to mature or developed athletes, the neurological development peak in adolescents at the age of 12 exposes youth athletes to a “window of vulnerability,” leading to heightened risk of long-term neurological damage (Moran). During the

Although some football enthusiasts believe that children under the age of twelve should play tackle football because it promotes friendship and teamwork, the negative impact that the sport has on the brains of adolescent males outweighs the comradery that the sport teaches. Children play the sport without thinking of the effects of the brain injuries. Through interviews with past players as well as scientific studies, researchers have found that the cognitive ability of males (average age of early fifties) is greatly affected by the age in which the young player began playing (Boston University School of Medicine). Boston University’s Dr. Robert Stern said the concern is not from concussions, it is from, “sub­concussive hits: these hits that don’t necessarily result in the symptom right then, but people can get hundreds of them a year.”

There are many sports that are too dangerous for children because they aren't fully developed yet and they have a high chance of being severely injured. More than 448,000 football-related injuries to youths under 15 are annually treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and emergency rooms, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons One reason football is too dangerous for children to play is because of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE. It is a deadly brain disease that can develop from the repetitive hits and tackles young football players experience. Many parents start their children out at a very young age. However, because younger football players' brains and bodies are not fully developed, they are more vulnerable to injuries, mainly to their brains.

Concussions in Sports In sports, concussions occur frequently across all age groups. From little leagues to high school sports to the professional leagues, concussions pose a high risk of long term Traumatic brain injuries. Because of the high rate of concussions in sports more attention should be paid to protocols and treatment to prevent traumatic brain injuries. High school athletes that partake in a sport that requires intense physical activity are the most vulnerable to concussion and need more time to recover. According to the Head Case “High school football accounts for 47 percent of all reported sports concussions, with 33 percent of concussions occurring during practice.”

Since children are not fully developed, it is morally reprehensible to allow them to play such a sport in which they can possibly have life-changing or life-ending injuries. Far too many high school athletes get concussions from playing football (Watson 35). Approximately 100,000 high schoolers report concussions each year

"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...").