Matthew Serrano
March 15, 2017
Comp. 1302
Prof. Hammett
Concussion Dilemma
As you line up on the line, waiting for the quarterback to hike the ball, all the thoughts of what will happen rush through your head. Dropped pass, broken leg, torn ACL, but the most dangerous of the outcomes is a concussion. Not only will it affect you immediately, but it will haunt you for the rest of your life. The quarterback hikes the ball and you run full speed into the defender. Nothing to slow you down but helmets. Your body may stop but your brain bounces around against your skull like a bouncy ball, slowly coming to a stop, but with consequences. The worst consequence of all is a concussion. In addition, you may not know you suffered from a concussion, until the affects have already snuck up and affected you.
Sports concussions have grown to become a serious epidemic in the past decade. As more and more research is coming out, people are becoming more conscious about if they would like to take the health risk with playing sports. Because of this, the sports world and industry is going absurd.
History
Brain injuries, or concussions, are when someone hits his head, or shakes his head vigorously, which makes his brain shake around in their head. When the brain shakes around, it will go back and forth against the skull causing it to damage. For example, the brain is like a soft potato in a glass of water, it is not connected to anything. When someone shakes the glass of water, the potato will bounce back and forth off the glass. This will cause the potato to start bruising, cracking, and even breaking apart. When a football player hits his head hard, his brain shakes just like the potato in the water. The brain is made of soft muscle tissue, so as it bounces off the skull it too will bruise and damage.
Concussions, have become a major spotlight in recent history, but sport commissioners and doctors have been aware of concussions, and some of their effects, on the athletes longer than most people would know. According to Barry Petchesky, an editor for deadspin.com, concussions have been in the NCAA’s Medical Handbook since 1933 (Petchesky). The NCAA’s Medical Handbook is what all NCAA schools look at for rules and regulations for injuries. In 1933, the medical teams required the concussed player to be supervised for 48 hours. If the symptoms were still present, the player would be required to sit out of any activity for 3 weeks (1). As the years went on, doctors held more studies and did more research. In 1973, “the condition later named Second Impact Syndrome is first identified. It occurs when an athlete receives a concussion while still suffering the effects of a previous one, and according to a 2013 study in the Journal of Neurosurgery it carries a 90 percent mortality rate” (1). The NCAA was the first sports association to acknowledge that concussions were a risk.
In 1994, “The NFL acknowledges the danger of concussions for the first time, forming the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee” (Petchesky). This committee worked with many motives. Instead of trying to help the players or defend the players, they actually declined the effects of concussions, even when many players stood up and told their personal experiences. For instance, in 1997, The American Academy of Neurology published their guideline for concussed players to return (1). This guideline stated that players who had been knocked out, should be removed from the rest of the game (1). Even though these guidelines were made from Neurologists, the NFL rejected their guidelines (1). The most recent important discovery came in 2002 when Bennet Omalu, a Neurologist, found, “Splotchy accumulation of tau protein, evidence of a brain disease that Omalu calls Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE is a neurological degenerative disease… [That] provides a direct link between head trauma and dementia later in life” (1). This was a major discovery because CTE is a very serious disease that will eventually cause death.
In the 2016 NFL football season, the NFL released that there were, “271 documented game-related concussions this past season — the most recorded by the league since 2011. Roughly one-third of those were caused by helmet-to-helmet contact” (Giles). This is significant because the number of concussion cases in the NFL are on the rise, and with that comes all of the consequences. Players should be aware and warned of the effects of concussions.
Effects/Examples
Next, concussions have many different effects on a person’s health and body. Sometimes concussions cause the victim to lose consciousness. The loss of consciousness is very rare in sports related concussions. “Fewer than 10% of sports related concussions involve a loss of consciousness” (“Concussion Facts”). Even if the victims do not lose consciousness, they can still be suffering from a concussion. According to brainline.org, “Because the brain is very complex, every brain injury is different. Some symptoms may appear right away, while others may not show up for days or weeks after the concussion. Sometimes the injury makes it hard for people to recognize or to admit that they are having problems” (“Facts About Concussion…”). With a person responding differently to concussions, one cannot be certain if they received a concussion or not. This is dangerous because he could have received a concussion and continued to play giving him a higher chance at receiving a second one. If he receives a second one while suffering one already they will get Second Impact Syndrome, where the chances of surviving are not high. A players who survives Second Impact Syndrome is not the same as before, he will have permeant brain damage and will not be able to use all of his body functions (Petchesky).
Not only do players need to be cautious about the effects of concussions, but what can form due to concussions. The most dangerous outcome of a concussion is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE. “CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head” (What Is CTE?). This disease is very dangerous because the victim does not start feeling the effects until years after the concussion. In addition, the disease causes the victim to lose motor skills, lose partial function of the brain, and have rash behaviors. There have been multiple retired NFL players who have committed suicide after having radical behavior.
Concussions, and CTE, affect football players at personal levels by giving them life lasting problems. One of the side effects is that it clouds the victims’ brain where they cannot make rational decisions, which in some of these cases has led to suicide. For example, Terry Long, a retired football player committed suicide by drinking antifreeze. Dr. Bennet Omalu, “Concluded [Long] died from repeated football-related head injuries” or concussions (Casson). This shows the fatal effect that concussions can eventually have on a football player’s life. It effects a player personally by damaging their health, and even killing them. The level does not stop there though.
In addition to personal effects, concussions effect the family and associates around them. Players begin to be violent when they are suffering from CTE. In most cases, a spouse, girlfriend, or family member is the victim of the outbreak. “It has also been hypothesized as the direct cause to the growing problem with domestic violence in the NFL” (O’Keeffee). This is a problem because these players are injuring their families, which in most cases might just be bruises, but it could ultimately lead to death. For example, the effects, “resulted in numerous murders and suicides. It has been attributed to the O.J. Simpson murders” (“Dr. Bennet Omalu…”). O.J. Simpson is a Hall of Fame running back who was accused of murdering his ex-wife. With him playing many years in the NFL, he is almost certain to have CTE. In addition, leading up the murder, he had assaulted her multiple times. Simpson was a very calm person, but would then have very violent episodes. A side effect of CTE is also memory loss, so if he did kill his ex-wife, than he has a high chance at forgetting it even happened. Dr. Omalu stated in an interview with ABC news, “Simpson was “more likely than not” suffering from CTE. I would bet my medical license on it” (“Concussion’ Doctor…”). In addition to Simpson, “On December 1st, this sports organization had their foundation shake with the news of Jovan Belcher taking his own life following the murder of his longtime girlfriend Kasandra Perkins” (Jenkins). There have been multiple incidents where ex NFL players have killed a loved one and themselves. This affects the person who they killed, but it also effects the family of the player, and family of the person who they murdered because they lost a loved one.
Finally, the third level that concussions affect is society as a whole. Not only does society lose a beloved football player, friends and family lose a loved one, but society is becoming more and more aware of the side effects of playing football. Parents are holding their children out of playing football. According to usanew.com, “Among Americans with a four-year college degree, 41 percent say they wouldn't let their child play football, while among Americans with a high school education, 28 percent say the same” (Cook). This shows that the American people are concerned about the effects concussions have on one another. Fewer parents are letting their children play football because they are scared of the current concussion epidemic.
Overall, concussions and their absurd side effects are destroying the lives of NFL players after their careers. Not only do concussions effect the victim personally, but it affects the family, friends, and society around the victim. Less parents are allowing their children to play football, so the football industry is slowly losing players. The game of football’s future is going to be up for question until the absurd concussion effects are under control.
Solutions
Concussions have been a part of human’s history since the beginning of time, and we still have not found a way to prevent them from happening. Doctors do not even fully understand what causes a concussion (Polnerow). Doctors do not have an actual cure, or prevention, of football concussions, but there are multiple researches, and techniques being implemented, going on that could get rid of them. These preventions include giving up the sport, new and stronger rules in the NFL and NCAA, and new helmet test requirements.
First, a way to stop having football concussions is to stop playing the game of football. If a people wants to increase their chances significantly of not getting a concussion, then their best bet is to stop playing football. There is not a cure to concussions, and there may not be one for a while until researchers can fully understand it. People argue that there is no need to stop playing football because concussions happen to everyone on a daily bases, and that humans have dealt with them since the beginning of our existence. It may be true that humans have always dealt with concussions, but currently, concussions are caused by an impact of some sort, and football is full of hard, physical impacts every play. This increases the chances of a concussion, and the severity. Although there is no cure, officials and the rules committee of the NFL and NCAA has started to try to protect its players from concussions.
Secondly, officials and the rules committee have started to change the rules to protect their players. According to Dan Polnerow, writer for Northeastern University Writing, “The NFL and NCAA have implemented a number of policy changes (namely, making intentional head-to-head contact and the striking of a defenseless player illegal) in an effort to reduce the number of injuries” (Polnerow). Head-to-head contact and striking a defenseless player are the two biggest causes of a concussion for a player. Head-to head contact is when two players hit each other with their helmets, usually the top of the helmets. This is very dangerous because all of the impact is being absorbed through the head. In addition, striking a defenseless player is dangerous because when the player hits another player who is defenseless, that player has no way of protecting himself; which gives him more of a chance of having his head go back hard causing him to suffer a concussion. If the rules committee can create more regulations to prevent head contact, they will be one step closer to preventing concussions.
Finally, creating a concussion test for helmets before they are released will help reduce the amount of concussions occur while the helmets are in use. Players wear helmets to help protect them from getting a head injury. Before football helmets can be worn for play, they are forced to be dropped from 1.52 meters high onto six different surfaces (Polnerow). This test was created to protect players from skull fractures and other catastrophic head injuries (1). “The incidence of skull fracture and other catastrophic head injuries in football has dropped off dramatically since that time” (2). Helmet manufactures have not created a method to test the helmets for concussion preventions. If they could create a test to see how well the helmets prevented concussions, then the number of concussions each year would decrease. By having this test, the manufactures may learn that they need to change the shape of the helmet, put more padding in, or something that they never would have thought of without the test.
Camus and Absurdity
Albert Camus and his absurd writing never had a straight plot or followed a straight line; this is the same with concussions. Concussions are a very absurd, abnormal epidemic. They are absurd because they too do not follow a set of rules. Concussions happen sporadically and doctors still have not found a reason for that. On one play during the game, a football player could get hit very hard while being defenseless, and it being a head-to-head contact, but the player could walk off after the play without a concussion. On the other hand, a player could fall to the ground, hit his head on the turf, and suffer a concussion. This shows how inconsistent concussions are, and how absurd they are. There is also very little known about concussions. Even though this epidemic is so common, doctors cannot tell a person what causes a concussion or what all the effects are. How little doctors know about concussions is another example of this absurd epidemic.
Conclusion
A concussion is an extremely absurd epidemic. Even though we have been affected by this epidemic since the beginning of mankind, doctors still only know parts of the surface. To help prevent concussions, people can stop playing football, officials can change the rules against head contact, or scientists can create tests to help helmets reduce head contact. Even if all three of these preventions were executed, there would still be a chance that a concussion would occur. The chance of a concussion after the implications shows how absurd concussions are. Camus was a man of absurdity, so concussions are the perfect match for him.
Work Cited
Casson, Ira. "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Ina National Football League... : Neurosurgery." LWW. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
"'Concussion' Doctor: 'I Would Bet My Medical License' O.J. Simpson Has Degenerative Brain Disease CTE." ABC News. ABC News Network, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.
"Concussion Facts." Sports Concussion Institute. Sports Concussion Institute, 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Cook, Linsey. "Parents: I'll Watch Football, But My Kid Can't Play." US News. N.p., 5 Feb. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.
"Dr. Bennet Omalu 'would Bet My Medical License' That O.J. Simpson Has CTE." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 16 Jan. 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
"Facts About Concussion and Brain Injury." Facts About Concussion and Brain Injury. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.
Giles, Matt. "What Happens To A Football Player's Brain During A Concussion?" Popular Science. N.p., 05 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.
Jenkins, Janet. "Managing employee suicide: A case analysis of the Kansas City Chief’s crisis from a public relations perspective."
O'Keeffe, Michael. "Study: CTE May Be Linked to Domestic Violence." NY Daily News. NYDailyNews.com, 18 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
Petchesky, Barry. "A Timeline Of Concussion Science And NFL Denial." Deadspin. Deadspin.com, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.
Polnerow, Dan. "Solving Football’s Concussion Problem." NU Writing. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
"What Is CTE? » CTE Center | Boston University." CTE Center RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
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