Sports Concussions

With advancements in technology, sports medicine professionals can more successfully diagnose, treat, and hopefully prevent concussions. The prevention of concussions is the hope for the future of medical technology, as studies have shown that once a person suffers from one concussion, they are about four

In the U.S. alone, athletes suffer from roughly 300,000 concussions per year; 3,800,000 concussions were reported in 2012, which is double of what was reported in 2002. A concussion may be defined as a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI—caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, stretching and damaging the brain cells and creating chemical changes in the brain. Concussions are not usually considered life-threatening, but they may result in effects to the brain that may lead to devastating outcomes. Concussions are serious injuries that need to be taken seriously because of their severity and the serious health disorders that may arise.

A concussion is a mild head injury which is sustained by a jolt or impact to one's head. “Concussions can be caused by a variety of traumatic events: motor vehicle accidents, penetrating injuries, sports injuries, strikes, and falls”(Schafer, 2014). Side effects of concussions range from clumsiness. slurred speech, nausea or vomiting, headache, balance problems or dizziness, blurred vision, sensitivity to light and noise, sluggishness, ringing in the ears, personality changes, difficulty concentrating and memory loss. A concussion is similar to a bruise on an arm or leg but instead the bruise is on the tissues of the brain. Since people can’t see the damage of the injury to the brain many concussions go undiagnosed or untreated for days weeks or even years. When a concussion goes undiagnosed or untreated it can result in further head trauma: untreated it can lead to blood clots and tumors in the brain, an onset of parkinson’s disease and in worst cases death. However it wasn't until 2011 that the issue of concussions went into the public spotlight.

Do you keep yourself up to date with the news, ESPN, or the National Football League? If so, then you have probably heard of the many problems of the long-term effects of football-related concussions. Even kids in high school who have suffered multiple concussions are immediately put at risk for death related cause of such a severe head injury. As committees create and change the rules to protect players from such a traumatic brain injury, it is up to coaches and officials to enforce these rules to protect players. According to the Mayo Clinic Staff, a concussion is defined as a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions. There are many different ways to receive a concussion, but

More than 300,000 sports-related concussions are reported each year in the United States, and although the awareness of concussions and other head injuries is rising, concussions are still very dangerous to young athletes. Some may say that after an athlete receives a concussion, they just have to wait until the obvious, and most common symptoms like dizziness and nausea subside before they can play again; with medication, and constant rest, this may only take 2 weeks, however, depending on the severity of the injury, there could be some other underlying symptoms that are even more dangerous than the obvious ones. After a having a concussion, student athletes are also much more prone to a second, more severe, traumatic head injury (especially

In addition to using existing data sets I will also use the correlations method to conduct my research as well as to understand what the NFL has done in order to reduce the number of concussions and whether it is having a positive or negative outcome. I also conducted an interview with Dr. Peter Deluca who has been practicing medicine for over 30 years and is a world know orthopedic sports surgeon who has been the physician for the Eagles the past 19 seasons. In addition he was selected to serve as Head Team Physician for the NFC in the Pro Bowl in 2003, 2004 and 2009, which is given to the top 2 doctors in the NFL each of those years. He has done a tremendous amount of research on concussions within the NFL and how it affects the players both physically and mentally and by allowing me to use his own data set, gave me a clearer understanding of what needs to be done in order to help stop this issue once and for all. By using existing data in order to compare the number of concussions from (1996-2001) to the number of concussions from (2002-2007). Lastly I will describe the different rules the NFL has changed in order to help reduce the number of concussions per year and see the different studies that team physicians have done in order to see what types of positions have the greatest chance on receiving concussions and on what types of plays. I understand that this is a lot of research to conduct and I not only look forward to the challenge but also look forward to the information I will learn while looking into this topic because this is something that also affects me in my life since I am a athlete who has suffered three concussions to

Concussions have been a recognized disease in sports for decades, but the severity of these injuries has been drastically understated. Many sports, are only now beginning to understand and take action to try and better comprehend and treat concussions, and how to care for those who have sustained them. MAny of the major sports in the country have sustained huge backlash due to their lack of attention, to what is now considered a major health crisis in the country. Steps have been taken to action against the growing numbers of concussions and the ways they are

A concussion by definition is a “traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions.”(Mayo Clinic) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) records about 2.5 million traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year. Concussions can happen anywhere but many come from physical sports such as hockey, lacrosse, soccer and especially football. The symptoms for a concussion

Concussions are becoming a big concern in sports today, mainly in football. All sports today, you can get Concussions in like golf, tennis and swim these sports you would never think of getting a concussion in but you actually can get on that is why concussions are becoming a big thing now in the sports world. People in the sports world understand the seriousness of concussions because they hurt really badly and you have to sit out from your sport for weeks on end till your concussion is gone.

Head trauma from concussions can be extremely detrimental to a person’s body so that such things as death can occur. Everyone knows that concussions are not a good thing but not everyone knows how severe they actually are. Concussions are becoming an epidemic in sports and a solution should be drawn up to help the players in sporting activities.

Professional and amateur sports in the United States are big money. It is big money for the teams and the companies manufacturing sports equipment and clothing. It is also a literal headache for many participants. Sports concussions that occur frequently have terrible outcomes. We live in a sports oriented culture, which promotes a hard-nose on field mentality. Athletes learn early on to not report injuries or to play through an injury, especially an injury causing problems with mental processes. This denial has dangerous consequences. The attitude begins with youth sports and is reinforced by parents and society. For the past twenty years, reevaluation of sports-related concussions has become a real and pressing need. This interest has

Many private companies and researchers have taken the issue of concussions head on. Research has drastically increased throughout the 21st century. In the words of Mark Lovell PhD. founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program, “90% of what we know about concussions we’ve learned in the past five years.” These private researchers have taken different approaches to solving the issue but they are all working to achieve one goal: the reduction of concussions and the prevention of their long-term effects.

A recent study of college football players has shown that those who participate in high contact sports and have had a concussion before have a 300% higher chance of having another one in comparison to athletes that have never had a concussion before (Jolicoeur et al, 2007). The NFL and NCAA have enacted several rule changes in order to minimize the occurrence of concussions. These new rules, like many before them, have come under the scrutiny of the very athletes that they were meant to protect. The NHL and NHL Players Association in 1997 together created a program in order to get a better understanding of concussions and how to prevent them (Burke et al, 2011). According to Covassin (2008), athletes who have had more than one concussion take a longer time to recover with each concussion that they suffer from.

Early identification of concussion is paramount in mitigating the serious consequences of concussion. The NCAA and California Community College Athletic Association

According to ProctectTheBrain.org there are 1.8 to 3.6 million sport related concussions that occur in the United States alone a year with most with every 5 out of 10 going undetected which means the athlete is still playing the sport even with the concussion. Most sport related concussions occur in football, which is a very physical and contact sport that many play in the United States. 28 percent of all football related injuries are head and neck related giving it the most fluent injury in football (Sailor & Putukian). There’s been efforts to prevent concussions over the years but it seems like people have just gave up on the topic and resorted to letting the concussions happen.