The Long-Term Effects Of Concussions In American Football
Sports are an integral part of American culture. Throughout the year, friends and families will spend enormous amounts of time and money to gather together to eat, drink and cheer on their favorite teams. American football has been named the most watched sport in the nation and continues to grow in popularity. There is something about the thrill of watching your favorite team score touchdowns and win championship games that makes watching football a nationwide form of entertainment. Beyond all of the wins and losses however are the many injuries that often occur in every game. Broken arms, legs and shoulders are only minimal injuries compared to the, often over-looked, head injuries that happen more often than not. Even though there are protective measures taken to prevent concussions and other head injuries, many football players are still being hit so hard in every game that they may experience one or more concussions in a single game day.
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Although short term effects of head injuries are at most minimal and do not cause much harm, once an athlete is constantly being hit and these head injuries are increasing in strength, the long-term effects can be harmful.
Only recently have doctors and researchers, such as Dr. Bennet Omalu found relationships between suicide, memory loss and vision impairments and concussions in professional football players. Football games are widely appreciated and followed by millions of Americans and as more people watch, more games are played and more football players are becoming injured. The severity of concussions in football players is often overlooked which is putting many people at risk for damaging head injuries. Research and information on concussions in athletes needs to grow in order to protect and prevent players from the harmful effects of
concussions. The Superbowl is the national championship for professional football players and is the most watched television event each year, but what viewers fail to realize is that the most head injuries occur during this event because of the aggressiveness from the players in order to win the title for their team and fans. In 2015, it was estimated that there will be over 150 hits to each player causing serious harm to not only the brain but other parts of the body as well. The definition of a concussion that the National Football League (NFL) uses is “A complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain induced by biomechanical forces” (NFL Head and Neck Committee). The basic symptoms of a concussion that is used for all sports and for all ages are dizziness, nausea, blurry vision, slurred words, balance dysfunction, headache and sensitivity to loud sounds and bright lights (Mayo Clinic). These symptoms, although short term are still harmful yet many athletes continue to play through these symptoms because they do not want to “let their team down.” All it takes is a simple “yes” from a team medical trainer to allow the players to continue fighting through the impairments despite the fact doing so could seriously damage one’s brain functions. Dr. Omalu, who studied concussions in football players, found a common disorder in football players who committed suicide at a young age called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) that is a slow degenerative disease of the brain (Concussion Foundation). Although it is not highlighted often, Dr. Omalu found that most professional football players who committed suicide had CTE or serious brain damage from years of hits and untreated concussions. Every time a player steps out onto the field they have a great risk of serious injury to themselves and there comes a point where the minimal damages begin to cause more detrimental ones and more needs to be done to protect all athletes who participate in contact sports. Although concussions and other brain injuries are serious to anyone’s health, it does not get much attention from media when a football player suffers one in a game or at practice. Possible explanations to this may be that viewers do not want to believe that their favorite is injured and may have to sit out the rest of the season or it could be explained by the fact that these players continue to participate in the games at full force regardless of any warnings or symptoms of brain injury. In every professional football game, 80 percent of the players suffer brain injuries and of those over half are of some form of a concussion. In an experiment done with helmets on mannequin bodies, it was found that a force of a punch to the head was small enough to cause some damage to the mannequin’s head. Football players experience forces ten times this in an everyday practice, showing how little helmets do to protect them. The helmets, which are made of metal and aluminum, can only do so much to prevent head injuries. Other measures should be researched and tested to protect athletes from potentially life threatening injuries. Every year, people from all over the nation spend time and money to cheer on their favorite players, but fail to recognize the negative aspects of such sporting events. Football players are constantly being injured and the only way to protect them is by providing more information and making better protective wear so that the number of concussions suffered on the field is decreased drastically.
Although short term effects of head injuries are at most minimal and do not cause much harm, once an athlete is constantly being hit and these head injuries are increasing in strength, the long-term effects can be harmful.
Only recently have doctors and researchers, such as Dr. Bennet Omalu found relationships between suicide, memory loss and vision impairments and concussions in professional football players. Football games are widely appreciated and followed by millions of Americans and as more people watch, more games are played and more football players are becoming injured. The severity of concussions in football players is often overlooked which is putting many people at risk for damaging head injuries. Research and information on concussions in athletes needs to grow in order to protect and prevent players from the harmful effects of
concussions. The Superbowl is the national championship for professional football players and is the most watched television event each year, but what viewers fail to realize is that the most head injuries occur during this event because of the aggressiveness from the players in order to win the title for their team and fans. In 2015, it was estimated that there will be over 150 hits to each player causing serious harm to not only the brain but other parts of the body as well. The definition of a concussion that the National Football League (NFL) uses is “A complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain induced by biomechanical forces” (NFL Head and Neck Committee). The basic symptoms of a concussion that is used for all sports and for all ages are dizziness, nausea, blurry vision, slurred words, balance dysfunction, headache and sensitivity to loud sounds and bright lights (Mayo Clinic). These symptoms, although short term are still harmful yet many athletes continue to play through these symptoms because they do not want to “let their team down.” All it takes is a simple “yes” from a team medical trainer to allow the players to continue fighting through the impairments despite the fact doing so could seriously damage one’s brain functions. Dr. Omalu, who studied concussions in football players, found a common disorder in football players who committed suicide at a young age called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) that is a slow degenerative disease of the brain (Concussion Foundation). Although it is not highlighted often, Dr. Omalu found that most professional football players who committed suicide had CTE or serious brain damage from years of hits and untreated concussions. Every time a player steps out onto the field they have a great risk of serious injury to themselves and there comes a point where the minimal damages begin to cause more detrimental ones and more needs to be done to protect all athletes who participate in contact sports. Although concussions and other brain injuries are serious to anyone’s health, it does not get much attention from media when a football player suffers one in a game or at practice. Possible explanations to this may be that viewers do not want to believe that their favorite is injured and may have to sit out the rest of the season or it could be explained by the fact that these players continue to participate in the games at full force regardless of any warnings or symptoms of brain injury. In every professional football game, 80 percent of the players suffer brain injuries and of those over half are of some form of a concussion. In an experiment done with helmets on mannequin bodies, it was found that a force of a punch to the head was small enough to cause some damage to the mannequin’s head. Football players experience forces ten times this in an everyday practice, showing how little helmets do to protect them. The helmets, which are made of metal and aluminum, can only do so much to prevent head injuries. Other measures should be researched and tested to protect athletes from potentially life threatening injuries. Every year, people from all over the nation spend time and money to cheer on their favorite players, but fail to recognize the negative aspects of such sporting events. Football players are constantly being injured and the only way to protect them is by providing more information and making better protective wear so that the number of concussions suffered on the field is decreased drastically.