Concussions
Are concussions a
problem in football today? Some people say it is not, but I beg to differ
especially now with the lack of advanced equipment. The school is at fault,
(the attacker in this case) should be at blame. One reason concussions are a
problem in American football now is because once a player gets a concussion he gets
or she gets a major spurt of depression
(Steve Fainaru). Another reason
is because the fact that it is impossible to make a concussion proof helmet. Many
people state their opinion and say that “there is a concussion proof helmet”. I
say different Students perform at higher levels to compete with other athletes
for their schools athletic events however it seems as if their efforts are
sometimes not appreciated. Many students suffer from concussions due to high
impact blows to the head mainly because of unreliable sporting equipment.
Concussions are a big issue in football; Concussions are a high risk in all
levels of football in today’s time, because there are so many football players
getting injured with concussions now. No one is really doing anything to do
about it.
Have you ever had a
concussion? Well I have had many of them in my life my first one was when I was
in 3rd grade I ran into a door and cracked my head on the ground.
But When I was in eighth grade, I was always getting hurt with broken fingers
and I also received two concussions. Then in ninth grade, I had received three
concussions. With my most recent concussion, I forgot all my “plays” and I was not able to
remember anything before the game. All I could remember was that the time left
in the game was 4:16, and the score was 21-0. My coach doubted me and put me
back in. While I was in, I was not able to do my “job”; I was letting blocks
in, always forgetting my plays, and asking where I go and what do I do. Later,
after my coach had pulled me out from the game he took a look at my eyes and
was shocked to find out that he was almost positive that I had a concussion and
had me out. I was out for the rest of the game, and I was lying on the bench.
After, the game was over and my mom picked me up we rushed to the hospital and
had my brain checked out with a CAT scan. When, the doctor came back with the
results he told me and my mom that I had a concussion from a “kill shot, blind
side or a big hit”. I was not able to play the rest of the year. Even though my
coaches still wanted me to play.
It is not even just football that concussions are a problem;
there is a huge up rise in concussions in soccer, lacrosse, and hockey players.
The number of girls
suffering concussions in soccer accounts for the second largest amount of all
concussions reported by young athletes, according to the American Journal of
Sports Medicine. (Football tops the
list.) Most prominent have been news
media reports about scores of relatively young former professional athletes
reporting serious cognitive problems and other later-life illnesses. Several
ex-N.F.L. players who have committed suicide, most notably Junior Seau, a
former San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots star, have been found
posthumously to have had a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head
trauma (Bill Pennington).
Many players in the NFL last year joined the
agreement. Just about 4,200 of the league's 12,000 former players have joined
the litigation. Some are battling dementia, depression or Alzheimer's disease,
and fault the league for rushing them back on the field after concussions.
Others are worried about developing problems and want their health monitored
(Munson). Former players and family members on hand for the hearing included
Kevin Turner, a former Philadelphia Eagles running back now battling Lou Gehrig's
disease; Dorsey Levens, a veteran running back who made a 2012 documentary on
concussions called "Bell Rung," and Mary Ann Easterling, whose
husband, former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling, was the lead plaintiff
in the litigation before he committed suicide last year (Munson).
Imagine
that you drive a car straight into a building at 40 mph. Despite airbags and
seatbelts, you’d probably feel lucky to be alive. But when an NFL wide receiver
meets a safety head-on, we expect them both to get back up to play second
down. The difference in a car crash, you
stop in a matter of feet, in an NFL impact, you stop in inches. In the eyes of
physics; a big hit on the field can be just as devastating as a car crash--or
in many cases, worse. “We’re expecting a mere 1.5 inches of foam and candy
shell to decelerate a player’s head gently enough to prevent their brain from
bouncing around inside their skull and causing poorly understood, but permanent
and devastating injury. After talking to some of the brightest minds in helmet
design, helmet testing and football physics, the elephant in the room became
clear: A concussion-proof helmet is a pipe dream. If the NFL wants
concussion-free football, they’ll need to redesign football” (Belinda Lanks).
She is right in more than just her eyes she is right in many of professionals
because you could just as easily get a concussion from whiplash as impact. In football, one man wants to go
somewhere, and his opponent doesn’t want him to. This basic tension leads to a
lot of body smashing big people slamming into one another at high speeds.
It’s a recipe for concussions, which, despite the helmets that football players
wear and the millions of dollars the NFL has poured into research on preventing
brain injuries, are still a huge issue in the sport.
Concussions occur as a result of a collision with another object while the object or person is moving at a high rate of speed. Forces such as these (and others) can result in deceleration and rotational concussive injuries. The high velocity movement of the head during a whiplash event alone could produce the same effects. So actually both of these are reasons we get concussions and helmets players use in football don’t helps us much.
Concussions occur as a result of a collision with another object while the object or person is moving at a high rate of speed. Forces such as these (and others) can result in deceleration and rotational concussive injuries. The high velocity movement of the head during a whiplash event alone could produce the same effects. So actually both of these are reasons we get concussions and helmets players use in football don’t helps us much.
