National
Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB). National Basketball
Association (NBA), and many other sport athletes have some kind of sports
injury at some point in their career. A very common injury in sports consists
of a concussion, which is a traumatic brain injury. A concussion occurs when
your head is jolted either by impact or some kind of fall. This kind of injury
happens a lot in athletes especially in impact sports such as football.
Football in 2017 itself had about 281 concussions reported just in one year
(Jones & Reyes). Concussions are very serious and can cause long-term brain
injuries.
Concussions have been evident since within the first
decade of football beginning. Football first began to be played November 6th
1869. Soon after is when some early signs of concussion cases emerged. One
prominent case occurred in 1883 when William Harvey, a collegiate football
player from Penn State University began experiencing troubling signs. According
to the article for Am J Public Health, during a football scrimmage Harvey was
“knocked insensible” for fifteen minutes. Harvey later discovered that due to
his previous injury he had gathered “blood in the head and was threatened with
congestion of the brain”. During the times the American Culture embraced the
violence and ruggedness of the sport, however certain institutions such as Ivy
League schools banned the playing of the sport but eventually succumbed to
society’s enthusiasm for the sport. In 1933 the NCAA’s Medical handbook warns
that concussions have been being treated too lightly and recommended that a
person who has been concussed have a waiting period of 48 hour before playing
or practicing the sport until all symptoms subside. Another major development
occurred in 1973, when “Second Concussion Syndrome” was identified. This “occurs when an athlete receives a
concussion while still suffering the effects of a previous one”. It is said by
the Journal of Neurosurgery that Second Concussion Syndrome is carried by 90%
mortality rate and the 10% that survive are neurotically devastated. In 1997
through 1999 there was lots or resistance from the football league regarding the
concussion guidelines from the American academy of Neurology, they suggested to
remove players that get knocked unconscious from the game. The NFL rejects the
guidelines given and starts to “quietly begins giving out millions in disability payments to former players suffering cognitive
decline, finding that they had become "totally disabled" due to
"league football activities.". In 2000 a study by the American
Academy of Neurology discovered that sixty one percent of former NFL players
sustain concussions and seventy nine percent of those injured said they had not
been forced to leave the game. They also found “49% of the former players had numbness or tingling; 28% had
neck or cervical spine arthritis; 31% had difficulty with memory; 16% were
unable to dress themselves; and 11% were unable to feed themselves”.
In 2002 a doctor by the name of Bennet Omalu begins to do a study on a retired football
player, Mike Webster’s, brain who had commit suicide. Before having commit
suicide Webster had rather frightening past such as drug addiction, strange visions
in his head, and sleeping in his car. Although Websters initial cause of death
was a heart attack Omalu knew there had to be something more to it and began to
research. During the study he found that
the former football players brain had evidence of a brain disorder called
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as CTE. The symptoms of CTE
includes difficulty thinking, impulsive behavior, depression, short-term memory
loss, emotional instability, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts or behavior.
This disorder is a neurological brain disorder that is more often found in
boxers. Not long after all these
discoveries there were many former football players who began maintain the kind
of symptoms that pointed to CTE. In the extreme cases there were even attempts of
suicide. Justin Strzelczyk, Terry
Long, Andre Waters, Junior Seau, these players have all commit suicide and the
reasons for this point to CTE.
It’s unfortunate when financial
rewards are more important than human beings health. As researchers and doctors
obtained information and gathered evidence related to CTE, they experienced
resistance from powerful organizations that financially benefited from contact
sports. The results were presented to officials of the National Football League
(NFL). Even though officials already suspected that retired football players
suffered due to the violence of the sport. Evidence of this was that the NFL
decided to pay disability payments to retired football players suffering from
injuries in the sport. However when they were presented with evidence that a
large majority of football players had been suffering from Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy they refused to accept the findings. Fearing that these findings
would harm their multibillion dollar industry they placed this interest above
the safety of its players. The doctor’s findings were published in reputable
medical journals and provided to the media. According to the MTBI (Mild
Traumatic Brain Injury) Committee of the NFL, they pressured the neuro surgeon
to retract the article on the findings of CTE.
In Barry Petchesky’s article he states that in 2009 “For the first time, the NFL acknowledges the effects of head
trauma.
League spokesman Greg Aiello says, "It's quite obvious from the medical
research that's been done that concussions can lead to long-term
problems." The first lawsuits against the league are filed. Over the next
few years, they will balloon to nearly 250 cases and 5,000 plaintiffs,
including former players from the 1940s”. Only after this overwhelming evidence
did this National Football League accept the realities of concussions and what
it can cause.
According to Petchesky the National Football League began
putting informative posters in the locker rooms informing football players
about the severity of concussions and they warned the football players there
would be fines and penalties for any tackles that are aimed for the head.
Although these changes were implemented there were still instances when
concussed players would be allowed to continue playing such as the case of a
San Diego Charger football player, Kris Dielman, who later experienced a
seizure on an airplane flight home. Another advance in the treatment of
concussions stems from researchers that developed “a simple collar worn by athletes that compresses vessels in
the neck to increase cranial blood volume, thereby reducing internal movement
of the brain.” (Chicago Health). The National Football League assembled a group
of physicians at every football game to conduct concussion protocol and forbid
the athletes from returning to a game if they experience signs of a concussion.
The NFL has partnered with more medicine associations to help reduce the risk
of concussions and also CTE.
The harms of CTE are so
devastating to athletes and their families that the research of this disease
was imperative to the save lives and improve the health of athletes
participating in contact sports. It is shameful that certain interests were put
above the health of professional athletes. The overwhelming evidence often harm
of concussions has changed societies attitude and improves the safety of
athletes prone to concussions everywhere. Changes in training and the rules of
youth sport have been enacted to prevent the harm concussions can do to young
growing athletes. Concussions will continue to be studies
and technology to lessen the possibilities of harming human beings. Though
football was the main focus for this study of the disease other sports such as
boxing, soccer and others have changed their rules as well to comply with the
findings.
Work
Cited
Harrison, Emily A. “The First Concussion Crisis:
Head Injury and Evidence in Early American Football.” Advances in
Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, May 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987576/
Jones, Lindsay H., and Lorenzo Reyes. “NFL's
Reported Concussions at Six-Year High in 2017.” USA Today, Gannett
Satellite Information Network, 26 Jan. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/01/26/nfl-concussions-2017-season-study-history/10703
Petchesky, Barry. “A Timeline Of Concussion
Science And NFL Denial.” Deadspin, Deadspin.com, 30 Aug. 2013,
deadspin.com/a-timeline-of-concussion-science-and-nfl-denial-1222395754.
Rogers, Justin. “Lions' Jarrad Davis in Favor
of NFL's New Helmet Rule.” Detroit News, DetroitNews, 17 Apr. 2018,
www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2018/04/17/lions-jarrad-davis-favor-nfls-new-helmet-rule/33920347/
Mike Webster, 50, Troubled Football Hall of
Famer, Is Dead, 25
Sept. 2002, rip-tv.com/pages/webster.htm.
“HEADS UP.” Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 June 2017, www.cdc.gov/headsup/index.html
“Researchers Develop
New Potential Solutions to Concussions.” Chicago Health, 16 Nov.
2017,
chicagohealthonline.com/researchers-develop-new-potential-solutions-to-concussions/
“Pro Football Hall of Fame.” Pro
Football Hall of Fame Official Site,
www.profootballhof.com/football-history/birth-of-pro-football
“Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research, 20 Apr. 2016, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921
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