Trey Ynfante
Professor Hammett
English-1302
May 9, 2017
Introduction
A concussion is a sudden traumatic injury to the brain that makes the brain not function
to its full capacity and can cause major health defects in the future. Imagine your brain jolting
around in your skull and hitting the walls of the skulls repeatedly. This is what happens when
someone gets a concussion, usually suffered when a significant blow to the head is taken.
Therefore, people need to pay more attention to concussions even more than we already do!
Concussions are an epidemic and need to be treated as such. More needs to be done about caring for them and more importantly, preventing them, and doing this by going to the source of where most concussions occur, sports. The most prominent sport concussions come from football.
History
The sport of football dates to years back when “on November 6, 1869, players from
Princeton and Rutgers held the first intercollegiate football contest in New Brunswick, New
Jersey” (CNN). The game didn’t start out the way we see it today; it has gone through many
evolutions throughout the years. Most of these changes ensure the players safety above
everything else.
The game of football went through numerous technological advances to further protect
the players from experiencing such trauma to the head. Now, football has padding that is
supposed to absorb the high velocity hits these players are taking from on the practice and the
game field. A time line was configured to show the key turning points of how much concussions
became a big issue from the game (“NFL Concussions”):
1994 - NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue creates the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. Dr. Elliot Pellman is named chairman despite not having experience with brain injuries (1).
January 2005 - The NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee finds that returning to play after sustaining a concussion "does not involve significant risk of a second injury either in the same game or during the season" (1).
October 20, 2010 - NFL Commissioner Goodell issues a memo to all 32 teams that warns of possible suspensions for offenders that violate the "playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck" (1).
July 25, 2016 - The NFL and NFL Players' Association (NFLPA) implement a new policy to enforce concussion protocol. Teams violating the policy are subject to discipline (1).
This shows the timeline of how little care we the people, and the big corporations,
showed towards concussions because over time we came to realize the amount of harm these
injuries were causing to our bodies.
Examples and Effects
A study was done by a series of doctors, over three football seasons, and it was found that
“of the 17,549 football players represented, 888 (5.1%) sustained at least one concussion,” it was
also, found that “The greatest incidence of concussion was found at the high school (5.6%) and
collegiate division III (5.5%) levels, suggesting that there is an association between level of play
and the proportion of players injured” (Guskiewicz). This is alarming to most because this is
only a small-scale study when compared to the big ratio of kids and teenagers participating in
football. Concussions aren’t just a onetime thing, too, because “players who sustained one
concussion in a season were three times more likely to sustain a second concussion in the same
season compared with uninjured players” (1). The amount of times this epidemic can occur and
how easy it is for it to occur is scary!
Examples
NFL players are recently starting to come out about the affects their concussions have
had on them mostly cases involving CTE which is a brain disease that can have serious long
term affects and result in death. The tricky thing about this disease is you can only see it if you
have it by a surgical procedure that can only be done after death, with consent to donate your
brain to research. Former NFL player Kevin Turner died at the age of 43 from CTE. In the article
it was found that “CTE has been diagnosed in 91 of 95 professional football players who donated
their brains for CTE research” (Kounang).
The concussion epidemic has serious complications that need to be taken care of. At just the local high school alone, we have numerous concussions that happen in all sports every season. A close friend of mine was playing soccer when he was hit in the face with the soccer ball. He was out and barely conscious of his surroundings. I tried talking to him, and he couldn’t
understanding what I was saying. He received the proper care and was able to recover. He did
have reoccurring headaches afterwards and couldn’t play for a couple of games. Concussions can
cause serious long term problems if not treated properly immediately.
The concussion epidemic can occur in at any age, including young kids. A study was conducted and “Impacts were monitored using a custom 12 accelerometer array equipped inside
the helmets of seven players aged 7–8 years old during each game and practice for an entire
season. A total of 748 impacts were collected from the 7 participating players during the season,
with an average of 107 impacts per player” (Daniel). Concussions are more serious for kids
because they have developing brains and brain damage can be permanent. A lot of our youth
engages in football; there are approximately 5 million athletes participating in organized
football in the United States; with 2000 NFL players, 100,000 college players, 1.3 million high
school players, and 3.5 million youth players (1). A lot of our youth participates in football but
only just recently because as the history of football has evolved we have been able to keep most
football players safe, especially the children, and keep them from permanently causing harm to
themselves.
Solutions
There are solutions in football to help stop concussions all together. Concussions are a difficult matter to assess for a multitude of reasons. When studying the science of concussions, you find it hard to come up solutions without a constant variable. Thus, there is no one way to receive this type of head trauma when playing the game of football, it comes in many different ways when you’re in the field of play. Although, there are different types of measures one can take in order to prevent the likelihood of getting a concussion.
One of these precautions is a formally fitted mouth guard. The study says “Concussions result from the sudden acceleration or deceleration of the brain because of either direct or indirect (eg, rotational) forces” (Winters). With this we can observe that hits that come through the mandible/jaw area are the bigger sources or trauma because the shock from that impact travels through the whole skull (1). With mouth guards the shock is absorbed into the mouth piece, and or is greatly reduced. The importance of a well fitted mouth guard is significant too. The text states “My contention is that over the past 35 years, quality has been sacrificed in exchange for a quick fix, ie, low-cost, ill-fitting mouthguards. These mouthguards do not hold their shape and fit so poorly that athletes sometimes alter them for speaking and comfort, forgoing the posterior thickness that might provide needed protection if a blow was delivered to the mandibular complex” (1). Another viable option to prevent concussions is education.
Education and understanding is something that should be valued more by not only out youth, but the coaching staff that’s in charge of our youth of football too. By teaching our youth the basics of football we are helping them have a brighter and safer future for their football career later in life. A program was created, called the “Heads-Up Program;” this program was designed to bring a sense of education and awareness to concussions. It was started then a mail questionnaire was issued, and if the coaches qualified then they were eligible to receive a kit containing valuable information about concussions that they can convey to the kids they coach.
A documentation and study was done to show the impact of this program, and the study states “In response to this important public health problem, the CDC, through the Children's Health Act of 2000, implemented a national concussion education and awareness initiative. This initiative, launched in September 2005, included a multimedia educational tool kit, ‘Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports,’ directed toward high school coaches, athletic directors, and certified athletic trainers. The initiative was developed to (1) raise awareness and educate coaches about concussion; (2) help coaches educate others about concussion; (3) improve coaches' ability to prevent, recognize, and manage concussions among their athletes” (Sarmiento). The initiative was complete in a way that a better understanding was reached by even the most experienced coaches (1).
With this the understanding of head trauma from football was clarified for most with the text stating “About half of coaches noted that they had access to concussion resources other than the “Heads Up” tool kit. The majority of coaches (60%) were aware of their school or club's policy on sports-related concussion, but most of these (79%) thought the information provided in the tool kit was more comprehensive than their current policy” (Sarmiento). It was also found that “More than one third of survey respondents (38%) reported making changes in how they prevented or managed concussions after using the tool kit” (1). The Heads-Up Program works! Education is one of the most key components to the prevention of concussions because once you understand how to treat them and how to prevent them, you are less susceptible for them to happen in the first place. And this is due to doing what you are told not to do. If you convey to a young football player not to hit a certain way, on a consistent basis, they are going to eventually make the change to how they play the game to avoid getting hurt.
One of the last solutions to help the concussions in football epidemic, is to make sure the gear the players are wearing are able to absorb the shock of the hits properly and the most efficiently. New technology emerges where we try to better the gear the players wear. The helmets are the most significant part of the gear to prevent head trauma. Newer versions are released to combat the epidemic. The helmets are put under numerous tests in order to make sure that they are functioning to the best of their ability to prevent injury.
A study was conducted where “In 60 laboratory tests, translational and rotational head accelerations were measured in the striking and struck players represented by Hybrid III dummies. Six-axis upper neck loads and moments were measured in five cases with the struck player and five with the striking player” (Viano). The result was this, “Thirty-two out of 50 reconstructed cases showed greater than 10% reduction in severity index with newer helmets compared with the VSR-4. The average reduction in concussion risk with newer helmets was 10.8% (range, 6.9–16.7%) based on severity index. The reduction was 9.7% (range, 6.5–13.9%) based on translational acceleration and 18.9% (range, 10.6–23.4%) with rotational acceleration. Neck responses in the struck player showed a general reduction in moment and force with newer helmets” (1). This shows that the technology we are discovering is helping the cause, at a small rate but still helping nonetheless.
Alburt Camus & Absurdity
Alburt Camus’ beliefs were that of being erratic. This can be applied to football concussions. Research has shown that concussions are not as predictable as they seem. We know the major causes of concussions but we don’t really know when a concussion is going to happen. The pattern for them has no consistency at all. Therefore he would still believe this social epidemic would apply to his beliefs; in which it would, because concussions do have a level of absurdity and erratic nature to them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, concussions in football is an epidemic that needs the proper attention. More awareness needs to be enacted in order to prevent these serious injuries from happening. Overall, we are making a difference to help stop this epidemic all together, therefore what the future holds for not only the epidemic but also football, is one that is very bright and intriguing to see where it goes.
Works Cited
Daniel, Ray W., et al. “Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 15 Feb. 2012, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10439-012-0530-7.
Guskiewicz, Kevin M, et al. “Sign In: Registered Users.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine, SAGE Journals, 1 May 2000, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03635465000280050401.
Kounang, Nadia. “Former NFL Player Kevin Turner Diagnosed with CTE.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Nov. 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/health/kevin-turner-cte-diagnosis/.
“NFL Concussions” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Aug. 2016, www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/us/nfl-concussions-fast-facts/.
Sarmiento, Kelly, et al. “Evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Concussion Initiative for High School Coaches: ‘Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports.’” Journal of School Health, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 17 Feb. 2010, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00491.x/full.
Viano, David C. “Concussion in Professional Football: Performance of Newer He...: Neurosurgery.” LWW, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/Abstract/2006/09000/Concussion_in_Professional_Football__Performance.12.aspx.
“Who Invented Football?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 25 Sept. 2013, www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-football.
Winters, Jackson E. "Commentary: role of properly fitted mouthguards in prevention of sport-related concussion." Journal of athletic training 36.3 (2001): 339-341.
NFL players are recently starting to come out about the affects their concussions have
had on them mostly cases involving CTE which is a brain disease that can have serious long
term affects and result in death. The tricky thing about this disease is you can only see it if you
have it by a surgical procedure that can only be done after death, with consent to donate your
brain to research. Former NFL player Kevin Turner died at the age of 43 from CTE. In the article
it was found that “CTE has been diagnosed in 91 of 95 professional football players who donated
their brains for CTE research” (Kounang).
The concussion epidemic has serious complications that need to be taken care of. At just the local high school alone, we have numerous concussions that happen in all sports every season. A close friend of mine was playing soccer when he was hit in the face with the soccer ball. He was out and barely conscious of his surroundings. I tried talking to him, and he couldn’t
understanding what I was saying. He received the proper care and was able to recover. He did
have reoccurring headaches afterwards and couldn’t play for a couple of games. Concussions can
cause serious long term problems if not treated properly immediately.
The concussion epidemic can occur in at any age, including young kids. A study was conducted and “Impacts were monitored using a custom 12 accelerometer array equipped inside
the helmets of seven players aged 7–8 years old during each game and practice for an entire
season. A total of 748 impacts were collected from the 7 participating players during the season,
with an average of 107 impacts per player” (Daniel). Concussions are more serious for kids
because they have developing brains and brain damage can be permanent. A lot of our youth
engages in football; there are approximately 5 million athletes participating in organized
football in the United States; with 2000 NFL players, 100,000 college players, 1.3 million high
school players, and 3.5 million youth players (1). A lot of our youth participates in football but
only just recently because as the history of football has evolved we have been able to keep most
football players safe, especially the children, and keep them from permanently causing harm to
themselves.
Solutions
There are solutions in football to help stop concussions all together. Concussions are a difficult matter to assess for a multitude of reasons. When studying the science of concussions, you find it hard to come up solutions without a constant variable. Thus, there is no one way to receive this type of head trauma when playing the game of football, it comes in many different ways when you’re in the field of play. Although, there are different types of measures one can take in order to prevent the likelihood of getting a concussion.
One of these precautions is a formally fitted mouth guard. The study says “Concussions result from the sudden acceleration or deceleration of the brain because of either direct or indirect (eg, rotational) forces” (Winters). With this we can observe that hits that come through the mandible/jaw area are the bigger sources or trauma because the shock from that impact travels through the whole skull (1). With mouth guards the shock is absorbed into the mouth piece, and or is greatly reduced. The importance of a well fitted mouth guard is significant too. The text states “My contention is that over the past 35 years, quality has been sacrificed in exchange for a quick fix, ie, low-cost, ill-fitting mouthguards. These mouthguards do not hold their shape and fit so poorly that athletes sometimes alter them for speaking and comfort, forgoing the posterior thickness that might provide needed protection if a blow was delivered to the mandibular complex” (1). Another viable option to prevent concussions is education.
Education and understanding is something that should be valued more by not only out youth, but the coaching staff that’s in charge of our youth of football too. By teaching our youth the basics of football we are helping them have a brighter and safer future for their football career later in life. A program was created, called the “Heads-Up Program;” this program was designed to bring a sense of education and awareness to concussions. It was started then a mail questionnaire was issued, and if the coaches qualified then they were eligible to receive a kit containing valuable information about concussions that they can convey to the kids they coach.
A documentation and study was done to show the impact of this program, and the study states “In response to this important public health problem, the CDC, through the Children's Health Act of 2000, implemented a national concussion education and awareness initiative. This initiative, launched in September 2005, included a multimedia educational tool kit, ‘Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports,’ directed toward high school coaches, athletic directors, and certified athletic trainers. The initiative was developed to (1) raise awareness and educate coaches about concussion; (2) help coaches educate others about concussion; (3) improve coaches' ability to prevent, recognize, and manage concussions among their athletes” (Sarmiento). The initiative was complete in a way that a better understanding was reached by even the most experienced coaches (1).
With this the understanding of head trauma from football was clarified for most with the text stating “About half of coaches noted that they had access to concussion resources other than the “Heads Up” tool kit. The majority of coaches (60%) were aware of their school or club's policy on sports-related concussion, but most of these (79%) thought the information provided in the tool kit was more comprehensive than their current policy” (Sarmiento). It was also found that “More than one third of survey respondents (38%) reported making changes in how they prevented or managed concussions after using the tool kit” (1). The Heads-Up Program works! Education is one of the most key components to the prevention of concussions because once you understand how to treat them and how to prevent them, you are less susceptible for them to happen in the first place. And this is due to doing what you are told not to do. If you convey to a young football player not to hit a certain way, on a consistent basis, they are going to eventually make the change to how they play the game to avoid getting hurt.
One of the last solutions to help the concussions in football epidemic, is to make sure the gear the players are wearing are able to absorb the shock of the hits properly and the most efficiently. New technology emerges where we try to better the gear the players wear. The helmets are the most significant part of the gear to prevent head trauma. Newer versions are released to combat the epidemic. The helmets are put under numerous tests in order to make sure that they are functioning to the best of their ability to prevent injury.
A study was conducted where “In 60 laboratory tests, translational and rotational head accelerations were measured in the striking and struck players represented by Hybrid III dummies. Six-axis upper neck loads and moments were measured in five cases with the struck player and five with the striking player” (Viano). The result was this, “Thirty-two out of 50 reconstructed cases showed greater than 10% reduction in severity index with newer helmets compared with the VSR-4. The average reduction in concussion risk with newer helmets was 10.8% (range, 6.9–16.7%) based on severity index. The reduction was 9.7% (range, 6.5–13.9%) based on translational acceleration and 18.9% (range, 10.6–23.4%) with rotational acceleration. Neck responses in the struck player showed a general reduction in moment and force with newer helmets” (1). This shows that the technology we are discovering is helping the cause, at a small rate but still helping nonetheless.
Alburt Camus & Absurdity
Alburt Camus’ beliefs were that of being erratic. This can be applied to football concussions. Research has shown that concussions are not as predictable as they seem. We know the major causes of concussions but we don’t really know when a concussion is going to happen. The pattern for them has no consistency at all. Therefore he would still believe this social epidemic would apply to his beliefs; in which it would, because concussions do have a level of absurdity and erratic nature to them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, concussions in football is an epidemic that needs the proper attention. More awareness needs to be enacted in order to prevent these serious injuries from happening. Overall, we are making a difference to help stop this epidemic all together, therefore what the future holds for not only the epidemic but also football, is one that is very bright and intriguing to see where it goes.
Works Cited
Daniel, Ray W., et al. “Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 15 Feb. 2012, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10439-012-0530-7.
Guskiewicz, Kevin M, et al. “Sign In: Registered Users.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine, SAGE Journals, 1 May 2000, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03635465000280050401.
Kounang, Nadia. “Former NFL Player Kevin Turner Diagnosed with CTE.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Nov. 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/health/kevin-turner-cte-diagnosis/.
“NFL Concussions” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Aug. 2016, www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/us/nfl-concussions-fast-facts/.
Sarmiento, Kelly, et al. “Evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Concussion Initiative for High School Coaches: ‘Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports.’” Journal of School Health, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 17 Feb. 2010, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00491.x/full.
Viano, David C. “Concussion in Professional Football: Performance of Newer He...: Neurosurgery.” LWW, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/Abstract/2006/09000/Concussion_in_Professional_Football__Performance.12.aspx.
“Who Invented Football?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 25 Sept. 2013, www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-football.
Winters, Jackson E. "Commentary: role of properly fitted mouthguards in prevention of sport-related concussion." Journal of athletic training 36.3 (2001): 339-341.
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