The Effects of Concussions in Football

Ever since I was born football has been a major part of life. I feel like I could throw a perfect spiral before I could even walk, complete exaggeration but still. My father is a die hard Philadelphia Eagles fan along with the rest of my extended family so I am not shy to watching a good game on a Sunday afternoon. I have even spent years watching my two brother’s play football so I feel like at this point I am basically an expert. However, despite my extended knowledge regarding all things football one thing that always trips me up is the injuries due to football, especially concussions. A concussion is a type of brain trauma due a blow to the head that causes the brain to move quickly back and forth. This movement causes the brain to “stretch and twist” creating extensive damage. Football players are way more susceptible to this injury due to the manner of the sport. When a 200 some linebacker tackles you and your head slams to the ground there has got to be some damage.  This damage is some serious business that could affect a player for the rest of their life. Web MD states that athletes who have repeated concussions are more likely to get long-term brain damage including a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease that resembles dementia. This leads me to wonder, when is enough enough? How many concussions are too many? A study from a Boston University neurosurgery professor states that it is not about the amount of concussions but the “total brain trauma.” Research suggests that if someone has already received one concussion, they are 1-2 times more likely to receive a second one. If they’ve had two concussions, then a third is 2-4 times more likely, and if they’ve had three concussions, then they are 3-9 times more likely to receive their fourth concussion and so on. These constant traumas have led to depression and death, with some cases not even being reported. The most common symptoms for concussions are headaches, dizziness, memory problems, cognitive problems, and somatic complaints. Due to it’s aggressive nature football is one of today’s leading reason’s for concussions and permeant brain damage. I concluded that while it is detrimental the amount of times you are concussed it is the amount amount of head trauma that really makes the difference.

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Links:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/football-player-concussions#1

http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html#sfaq2

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/553967_3

Picture Link:

http://www.nj.com/times-sports/index.ssf/2011/12/the_philadelphia_eagles_are_st.html

4 thoughts on “The Effects of Concussions in Football

  1. Matthew Hogan

    This issue has received a lot of attention recently, especially since the movie Concussion came out. The movie showed the effects that all the head trauma had on football players when they were older. A lot of them had serious pain, memory loss, and depression. It’s a good thing the NFL is making rules to try and prevent head collisions, but this if football and I don’t see a way that they can truly stop this problem unless they make it two hand touch (which I don’t think anyone would watch). Many players say that throughout their career they suffered hundreds of undiagnosed concussions. This is a serious problem and will have a huge impact on them later in life. A lot of people say it will ruin the game if they put to many rules to prevent hard hits. In the end it is a question of player safety or fan base and money. Unfortunately there is no way to seriously stop this without losing a lot of fans because it would change the game too much.

  2. dff5115

    Concussions are the most common injury in the NFL today and is being studied extensively. I am a believer that in the only way to reduce concussions is to make a helmet that adds more protection to the players head. I think that if this is not done concussions will continue to be a huge problem throughout the NFL

  3. lkv5058

    After playing football and lacrosse for multiple years, I have suffered a couple concussions myself. These injuries are no joke. A broken wrist can heal relatively quick, but like you said, concussions can cause long-term brain damage. One thing our teams trainer stressed to us is to always report symptoms of concussions immediately or the damage could become far worse. This has something to do with the already damaged brain suffering additional trauma. So, if you do ever suffer from the symptoms listed i your post, be sure get it looked at immediately. Thanks for posting!

  4. William Joseph Robbins-cole

    I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the topics they covered was on concussions and pro wrestlers. It was found that the average professional WWE wrestlers have the brains of 80 year old men due to the amount of concussion they have had and the lack of recovery time. This has had huge effects on the mentality of wrestlers.

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