The Risk on the Field Benjamin B.
What is a concussion? A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that damages many of your brain cells. A concussion can occur in many different ways whether it's hitting your head on a hard surface or heading a soccer ball for the game winning goal. The four sports with the most concussions are football, boxing, hockey, and soccer. Even though there are many different ways to cause a concussion, we will focus on the game of football. In football, there are several ways that a player can be severely injured. The NFL has an advantage in diagnosing concussions over college football because they have team doctors and physicians on the sidelines. A concussion can also be called a MTBI or a mild traumatic brain injury. It comes from the latin word concutere.
The History of Concussions Concussion warning in football has been around since the 1930’s where the first recommendation from the NCAA handbook to watch these head on head collisions. In the book, League of Denial, the national football league is challenged to face questions about a connection between concussions in football. This book claims the league has been covering up knowledge of the problem for 20 years. Three players, Junior say, David over son, and Andre Andre waters in this is Daverson will have to look a has been covering up knowledge of the problem for 20 years. Three players, Junior Seau, David Overson, and Andre Waters committed suicide. This brought the issue and public light. They all had severe Brain injuries from the game. For many years signs were ignored and players were for forced to continue. Early knowledge of dangers on the field were silenced by the NFL. In early 2000, the NFL was told by top neuroscientist that the big hits like head to head we're also causing chronic traumatic endophalopathy or CTE. This leads to memory loss and brain damage. The NFL did not publish these facts, according to Dr. Anne McKee of Harvard, only two brains of 54 harvested from deceased players did not have CTE.
Perspectives on Concussions Doctors Opinions on Concussions Doctors involved with the National Football League and concussion organizations have their own opinions about the topic. Symptoms may include slow to get up, initial staggering, unsteadiness, head movement, such as shaking and grabbing head, eye blinking squinting, no focus, glazed or blank, and poor response to questions. Doctors are for sure you have a concussion if you are unresponsive, confusion, and symptoms worsen. Dr. Bennett Omalu recently made a movie about his perspective on concussions. This was a movie about Mike Webster. After discovering unusual findings in his brain, Dr. Omalu names the diseases of CTE. He started identifying the disease in many players that committed suicide. Dr. Mickey Collins states, “if you let them heal the brain will recover.” Another quote by Doctor Collins is, ”if injury is not managed, the concussion is cumulative.”
Players Opinions on Concussion
Many players have different opinions on whether or not football is deadly. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman states players know the risk we are fully educated but we are still playing NFL is acting like they care by finding players if you don't like it stop watching. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrel Suggs says I think the week is looking forward to covering more than player safety. For time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady claims I don't think about it I'm not overly concerned. One of my favorite quotes was by Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he addressed the media by saying, “I know the risk that I take when I step on the field I'm risking future help and future mental health.”
Preventing Concussions A Helmet to Help the Head A helmet to prevent concussions has not been invented yet, but some companies are making football helmets that are resisting the collisions. Riddell, Schutt, and Adams are among the companies trying to prevent head- on- head injuries. Although no one has reached the goal of stopping concussions, there have been many innovations that that have come close. The newest step towards this goal is the Zero1 football helmet. With the help from the National Football League, Under Armour, and other big name brands, along with researchers from the University of Washington have created a helmet that resist hits like a car bumper. This helmet will be used by many NFL and NCAA teams at the beginning of the 2016-2017 season. The materials used in a football include Polycarbonate, for the outer shell, Vinyl strapping for the chinstrap, Polyethylene to create the foam casing, and vinyl foaming for the inside of the helmet. So for now, Football will continue to be one of the world’s most popular sports and concussions will continue to occur– but with these new technological advances, hopefully less frequently.
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