Concussions Injury

We have all heard of the term “sports injury”. Usually an accident that occurs when engaged in a sport, the ideal can apply from something as frustrating as a rolled ankle to the more debilitating shock of a broken arm. Yet the fact remains that these physical ailments will heal, and properly, if they are treated properly. But what about concussions? What are the long term effects? In her brief editorial in TIME magazine, Alexandra Sifferlin explores the effects of concussions and specifically how they affect children if they aren't disclosed.

Concussions have a huge impact on athletics and student athletes in our generation today. They effect people's lives for the worse and cause setbacks in education and athletic opportunities. Many students who get concussions from athletic activities return to play their sport too soon after getting the concussion, which can cause even more serious issues. Considering 300,000 sports related concussions occur each year, they are very relevant to our everyday lives. Returning to play a sport too soon after suffering from a concussion can result in the risk for a further injury or worse concussion, severe symptoms and healing, and the very likely chance for another concussion to occur.

Concussions have become a major controversy in the United States. Because of uninformed students and negligent coaches, many student athletes are experiencing the severe complications that accompany the injury. High school athletes seem to be the most affected and for this reason are more vulnerable than other students to experience concussions. Not properly managing concussions in time could have significant and problematic injuries that could potentially effect the victims overall ability to live a healthy life. For this reason, athletes should have to stay out of any physical activity for the necessary time to allow their brain to properly heal.

If a student player were to be impacted on the field and have a concussion, they should sit out for a longer period of time to fully recover. This because if a student were to have a head injury, somewhat recover, and then get back on the field, they would have higher risks of permanent brain damage which can effect their daily activities. Findings show that a high school student are 3 times more likely to experience a second concussion if they have already had a concussion during that season. They also show that if they fail at properly healing their concussion, they might have long-term consequences and could effect jobs further in life.

There are a countless number of students in high school and college throughout all of the U.S. that participate in sports and physical activities. High school sports are a fun and enjoyable way for young adults to compete and play in an organized setting. Many of these sports involve a copious amount of risk for injury. There are preventative measures to a certain extent in most sports to limit the risk of injury as much as possible. There are an umpteen number of injuries that one can sustain during the participation of sports. One of these injuries that should be put on the radar is the concussion. Concussions and serious brain injuries

The participants that was selected for this research were athletes that were practicing and competing during the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 academic school year. A total of fifty seven concussed college athletes were selected from five northeastern universities active in basketball, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, football, wrestling, gymnastics, softball, volleyball, and cheerleading. From the fifty seven collegiate that were selected 36 of them did not have any history while 21 of the athletes have two or more history of concussion. This study did not include athletes with a history of one concussion due to the fact that their sample size provided inadequate data.

Children and adolescents must rely on their parents for obtaining the proper treatment and if they don’t that child is continuing to play on top of an already injured brain. This places them at risk for more harm and future concussions. Populations of low socioeconomic status are also more at risk for concussions and post concussive effects because of the lack of education of the parents, sports coaches, and community resources.

Sports hold tremendous value in American society and all athletes have at least one thing in common: the risk of getting a concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that results from a direct/indirect action or force that causes the brain to shake rapidly within the skull (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). This injury can mildly or severely affect the brain’s function by damaging brain cells and producing chemical alterations (CDC, 2016). Throughout the years, concussions have been more prevalent not only in professional sports, but among youth, college, and recreational sports as well. Despite the remarkably high statistics on concussions in the U.S., many cases still go unreported (Groce & Urankar, 2016, p. 22). Sustaining this injury can significantly set a person back physically, mentally, and emotionally. Due to the risks and health issues associated with concussions doctors, athletic trainers, coaches, and lawmakers are getting involved to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions.

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

In recent years an abundance of brain injury research has provided evidence of the lifelong impairments affecting children who have sustained a sports related concussion. Although the information on and how to prevent sports related concussions have been distributed among both athletic coaches, faculty and parents alike, sports related concussions often go unreported. Lack of proper education has lead parents and coaches to believe sports related concussions as being “minor injuries” (Macdonald).

A 2011 study of U.S. high schools with at least one athletic trainer on staff found that concussions accounted for nearly 15% of all sports related injuries reported to athletic trainers. More than 248,000 children visited hospital emergency departments in 2009 for concussions and other traumatic brain injuries related to sports and recreation. Injuries associated with participation in sports and recreational activities account for 21% of all traumatic brain injuries among children in the United States. These statistics, all gathered by and coming from SWATA (Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association), a branch of the NATA (National Athletic Trainers’ Association) are all reputable facts that were analyzed by healthcare professionals in the field of sports and that deal with athletes everyday. No argument for why a child should become one of these statistics is needed, given the gross number of cases and the severity of them

My article covers the very important impact that sports and concussions have on an individual and their families. Head injuries are a very serious problem as described in this article, and to make sure that this problem is understood, we must educate our coaches, and athletes as well as parents, of signs of concussions and head trauma. Throughout this paper I’m going to summarize the article, and then approach it from the stand point of whether or not I agree with what the author is saying, or if I disagree with what the author is saying.

Sports related concussions have become an increasing problem among young athlete, especially seen among athletes who take part in high contact sports such as football. Concussions can be defined as an impulse blow to the head.1 There has been a growing amount of studies about sports concussions, which have provided a variety of evidence-based practice about athletes safe return to play.1 The research to date suggest a common theme on managing a player’s return to play reflecting players should ‘rest until symptom free.’2 Athletes resting allows for the brain to recover and be able to re-establish neurometabolic balances and restore ideal neurological function.2 Many high school athletes are not see taking time for complete rest, including rest from studying, video games, and texting, which can further cause a delay in return to play, which makes it necessary for health care providers, coaches, players, and parents to have a direct understanding of the recovery process of a concussion. 1,2,3 The goal of this study was to investigate the knowledge of varsity football players and coaches about concussion symptoms, along with identifying players suffering from a concussion, based on the current summary and protocol tools provided by Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) and King Devick tests.

Underreporting concussions is a growing issue among young athletes for several different reasons including jeopardizing spot on the field or letting teammates down, do not want to seem weak to their coaches, parents or teammates, want their peers to think they are tough and can “take the hit”, or they do not want to be pulled out of the game or practice. Some athletes believe that if they can get up and walk away from it, they can keep playing but this is not the case. In most cases they do not feel the symptoms until a few hours after the actual impact occurs. In a study conducted by Chrisman (2013), he gave high school varsity athletes 4 hypothetical scenarios of collisions. When giving these scenarios, the “investigators” refrained from

“CDC reports show that the amount of reported concussions has doubled in the last 10 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that emergency room visits for concussions in kids ages 8 to 13 years old has doubled, and concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14 to 19 in the last decade” (Head Case, 2013). It is reported that between 5-10% of athletes will suffer concussion during any given sports season. Football is the most common sport with concussion risk for males with a 75% chance. It has also been found that 78% of concussions happen during games as opposed to during practices (Science Daily, 2014).