Concussions
Matthew Colby died in the fall of 2001 at a high school football game after a
helmet to helmet collision with an opposing player. He had complained for two weeks
that he had a headache from an earlier helmet to helmet hit (Nowinski 45). A
concussion is a serious injury that happens to many football players. It is estimated that
there are 1.5 million high school football players in America today (Slattery 1). Of the
300,000 sports related concussions reported annually, 83% are suffered by football
players (Scoggins 1). Sadly, since 1968, eighty nine high school football players have
died after suffering a concussion (Nowinski 49). Players also can suffer long term
negative effects from a concussion including depression and sometimes even
Alzheimer’s Disease (Yeoman 1). The purpose of this paper is to explain the causes,
effects and treatment of the football concussion injury, as well as an examination of the
high technology research being done that aims to prevent this type of brain injury.
It should not be surprising that there are a lot of head injuries in the game of
football. Football is a game where players use their heads to tackle and block. A huge
problem with this injury is that it is hard to diagnose (Logue 43). After suffering a
head hit, many players come to the sidelines and tell the trainer that they are seeing stars
or that they have a headache (Logue 43). Despite giving their symptoms to the trainer,
many players insist on going back into the game. This is known as the “Macho Factor.”
Even though the player has probably suffered a concussion he wants to go back in
because he doesn’t want to let his team down Football players are also taught from an
early age to play through the pain (“Mucho Macho“ 1).
Over the last several decades doctor’s have come up with standards on the
different degrees of concussions. These grades were made so that the
helmet to helmet collision with an opposing player. He had complained for two weeks
that he had a headache from an earlier helmet to helmet hit (Nowinski 45). A
concussion is a serious injury that happens to many football players. It is estimated that
there are 1.5 million high school football players in America today (Slattery 1). Of the
300,000 sports related concussions reported annually, 83% are suffered by football
players (Scoggins 1). Sadly, since 1968, eighty nine high school football players have
died after suffering a concussion (Nowinski 49). Players also can suffer long term
negative effects from a concussion including depression and sometimes even
Alzheimer’s Disease (Yeoman 1). The purpose of this paper is to explain the causes,
effects and treatment of the football concussion injury, as well as an examination of the
high technology research being done that aims to prevent this type of brain injury.
It should not be surprising that there are a lot of head injuries in the game of
football. Football is a game where players use their heads to tackle and block. A huge
problem with this injury is that it is hard to diagnose (Logue 43). After suffering a
head hit, many players come to the sidelines and tell the trainer that they are seeing stars
or that they have a headache (Logue 43). Despite giving their symptoms to the trainer,
many players insist on going back into the game. This is known as the “Macho Factor.”
Even though the player has probably suffered a concussion he wants to go back in
because he doesn’t want to let his team down Football players are also taught from an
early age to play through the pain (“Mucho Macho“ 1).
Over the last several decades doctor’s have come up with standards on the
different degrees of concussions. These grades were made so that the
Cited: Associated Press. “Better Helmets, Fewer Concussions.” 10 January, 2006. 2 Dec.2007 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/ “Closed Head Injury, Head Trauma.” University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Nov. 2006 MA: The Drummond Group, 2007. Yeoman, Barry. “Lights Out- Can contact Sports Lower Your Intelligence?” Discover Magazine 3 Dec, 2004