Essay On Concussions

Concussions have been known for a long time to occur mainly in car accidents and contact sports. Recently in the past decade, doctors have been looking into more of the effects of concussions and studying them more with the use of MRI’s. There are also computer tests which rate your reaction time and memory. All teenagers playing sports in high school are required to take this test in the case that they are injured. Concussions can be defined as a blow to the head that causes brain swelling. There are symptoms that come along with concussions such as memory loss, mood swings, and sensitivity to light and even difficulties balancing. It has been a much recent concern with kids playing sports suffering from concussions. It is known that the brain
of a child is still growing and having a concussion or multiple concussions can pose a threat to the child’s development.
Therefore, the main question being asked is, are contact sports becoming a long term health risk for adolescence due to, the long term effects, longer recovery rate, and difficulties in school? Even with all of the new technology advancements such as, newer helmets and better mouth guards which are supposed to help prevent concussions, there has been a much higher increase of children with concussions who are playing sports. Depending on the severity of the concussion for example, when someone is knocked out and unconscious the concussion could be very damaging to the person who got the concussion. This is even truer if it is a child; the brain is still growing in adolescence and having injuries to the brain could be very dangerous and pose long term effects. Mark E. Halstead from The American Academy of Pediatrics said, “ Three months after a concussion, children 8 to 16 years of age have been found to have persistent deficits in processing complex stimuli” (Halstead, Clinical Report—Sport-Related Concussion in Children and Adolescents). The complex stimuli in which Halstead is talking about has to do with the functions of the brain such as, reaction. Also it is
important to notice that these kids have had the problem after three months and there are still symptoms that have impacts on their lives. In another source, written by Melvin Field, MD, Michael W. Collins, PhD, in the article Does age play a role in recovery from sports-related concussion? A comparison of high school and collegiate athlete. They say, “ Athletes with 2 or more concussions who had not been concussed in the previous six months performed similarly on neuropsychological testing as did athletes without a history of concussions who were concussed within the previous week” ( Field, Collins, Does age play a role in recovery from sports related concussion). This shows how concussions play a long term effect in recovering or even if the person who suffered the concussion can fully recover at all. Even after sustaining one concussion the chances of obtaining another one increases dramatically. Not only are there long term effects that tag along with concussions with children and adolescence, but there are also effects of a longer recovery rate as well. With high chances of long term effects on children and adolescence, there is also a longer recovery rate within these age groups even compared to those in the college level.
Field and Collins say, “ High school athletes with concussion had prolonged memory dysfunction compared with college athletes with concussion.” Prolonged memory dysfunction can have a huge impact on the kids’ everyday life. It can affect them in many ways such as school, driving, being with friends. Another important part of this is that, with prolonged symptoms and recovery it takes the kids out from doing what they love to do and that is the sport. In the same article it was said, “High school athletes performed significantly worse than age maintained subjects at 7 days after injury. College athletes, despite having more severe in season concussions, displayed commensurate performance with match control subjects by day 3 after concessions” (Field, Collins, Does age play a role in recovery from sports related concussion). It is clear that kids in high school suffer from prolonged recovery even when the concussion was not as severe as those at the college level. With prolonged recovery and long term effects it seems like it is becoming more and more of a threat to put a child into contact sports after sustaining even one concussion. However there is another issue, it has become more and more evident that going back to school can increase the symptoms of a concussion because the use of the brain occurs
throughout the entire school day. Having difficulties in school is normal for almost every kid out there, but having an increase in difficulties can become even more challenging with reoccurring concussion symptom. While someone has a concussion they are supposed to “rest” their brains. This simply means to do nothing, while having a concussion you are not supposed to look at screens, lights, and you are not supposed to work your brain. But in school, all of those things are inevitable. While being in school kids can suffer from worsening concussion symptoms due to over using their brain. In the article, Needed: Time Away From Books from the New York Times written by, Gerard Gioia. He says, “The most significant way a child uses his brain is school learning. In fact, data from our research tells us that during the school year, 69% of student athletes with concussions reported significant worsening of symptoms with cognitive learning activities like reading, math calculation, and writing” (Gioia, Needed: Time Away From Books). The quote goes to show that a startling 69% show an increase in symptoms. With not being able to attend school or able to learn kids can take a plummet in their studies which could potentially cause a major setback in their years of learning. Gioia also says, “In our clinic, even the toughest student athletes report worsening of headaches, fatigue, concentration problems, and irritability when they try to concentrate on lectures, class work, or homework. At this point it is clear how much kids and adolescence can be affected by just one concussion. To conclude whether or not contact sports are becoming a health risk to children due to, long term effects, a longer recovery rate, and issues in school, the answer is yes. It is in fact becoming a health concern for kids and their families that suffer from the concussion. After sustaining just one concussion the chances of getting another are tremendous, there are many long term effects with concussions such as, memory and processing complex brain functions. Also kids and adolescence suffer from longer recovery rates even when the concussions were not as severe as the college athletes. And lastly going back to school can prolong the effects of the concussion. It is up to the athlete or the athletes’ families to decide whether or not continue with the sport after getting a concussion. There is a lot to think about when there are possibilities of having dangerous long term effects that can change someone’s life.