Introduction
It’s an ordinary, eventful day filled with smelly cleats, a drenched-in-sweat uniform, and sun-burned noses. Watching your child play a sport is exhilarating and, well, sometimes amusing. However, if you heard that up to 3.8 million sport-related concussions are reported in the United States every year, would it make you monitor the game your child is playing more than the average parent (“Concussion and Sports”)? Concussions can be defined as a violent shock to the head caused by contact or a collision. They have been a serious epidemic for years, creating a sense of wonder on how and why we have continued to let the number of concussions stay at a high rate. Let us investigate the serious conspiracy around concussions and what we can do to make sports a safer environment for our children.
History
Reports of concussions date all the way back into the 1800s. Between building railroads, fighting in wars, and even playing a simple game of football, these activities all brought up the baggage of causing serious head trauma (“An Overview of Concussion History and Needed Research”, 1). Neuroscientist began to focus in on this epidemic in 1848, however it wasn’t until the 1880s, that the government and public became fully aware of the consequential damage concussions caused (1). The first real encounters that sprung up their attention, were the 159 momentous injuries, and 18 deaths, caused in the game of football in a ten-year time span (1). A former Penn football player, William Harvey, stated that in a game against Harvard in 1883, he was, “knocked insensible (…….).” During that following summer, Harvey wrote again, “I was sick with blood gathering in the head and threatened with congestion of the brain, my illness being attributed by the Doctors to the above incident (….).” In 1905, Vernon Wise, a 17-year-old footballer was taken out of the game after being knocked unconscious. Two hours later, he died of a broken back (Moser). Prior to this occurrence, another 16-year-old was killed due to injuries in football, causing state legislation to attempt banning football in areas of Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan (1).
Between 1965 and 1969, over 100 players were killed due to head trauma in the game of football (1). Because of the countless brain injuries, and the rigorous work of Richard Schneider, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan during the 1960s, the game of football received a drastic change in equipment and rules, making the sport “profoundly safer (1).” However, the beginning of the 21st century was labeled as, “The Concussion Crisis,” as sports concussions never really vanished, but had become one of the biggest public health problems (Moser).
Social Effects
According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or the AAAS, the damage caused by concussions on athletes “can last for decades after the original head trauma (Nordqvist).” Neuropsychologist and scientific director of the Quebec Nature and Technologies Granting Agency, Dr. Maryse Lassonde, states that even when the effects of a concussion appear to wear off, the brain is still not 100 percent normal. (1). During several tests on the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, Lassonde found that there was abnormal brain activity for years after such impact to the brain (1). Research done at the University of Pittsburg showed that athletes who had received three or more concussions were nine times more likely to suffer from memory loss, depression, loss of consciousness, and other severe concussion symptoms, then players without a history of concussions (Quinn). This concludes the dangers of continuing to play when obtaining a concussion and how serious your brain is effected when receiving multiple head injuries.
The National Football League, NFL, has received, for years, criticism for their excessive amounts of head trauma in the game of football (Jr., Carlos Dias). According to Boston University and the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs, “87 out of 91 ex NFL players”, who tested positive for brain disease due to brain damage, were also linked to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, a form of tauopathy that is progressive and found in people who have suffered from repetitive head trauma (1). Researchers also found that in 165 former football players, 79 percent of them showed signs of CTE (1). This research concludes just how dangerous concussions can be to our body. This disease has lasting effects on the brain that can forever interfere with the daily lives of athletes, hindering their ability to live a healthy lifestyle in the future.
Several injuries and deaths related to concussions occur every year in the United States. According to an article covering the topics of concussions and Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, 153 people die every day from injuries connected to these issues (“Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussion.”). Research shows that, in the U.S, approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million sport-related concussions occur each year (Sanfordhealth). In 2012, “an estimated 329,290 children” alone were reported for injuries associated with TBI or a concussion, due to activities connected with sports (“Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussion.”). With children, it takes a longer amount of time for them to recover as their brains are still in the process of developing (Sanfordhealth). Also, the likelihood of a child receiving a second concussion after obtaining their first is three to six times higher than a child who has not received a concussion (1). Putting children in sports is a great way for them to interact with people their age and receive physical activity. Yet, how long are parents willing to ignore the callous rules of sports and start demanding for safety of their child?
Examples
Former Atlanta Falcons football player, Ray Easterling, was only one of the multiple football stars who suffered from severe brain damage, destroying his daily life (Tierney). Playing eight seasons during the 1970s left Easterling’s brain vandalized, giving him more problems further down the road (1). 10 years after his career in football came to an end, Easterling begin suffering from depression and dementia (1). He was known for having “severe mood swings, inattention to his work, tardiness, and forgetfulness” (1). Although his hands “shook and felt numb,” he would venture out on long jogs (1). In April, at the age of 62, Easterling committed suicide. (1). After an autopsy report was concluded, it revealed just how damaged Easterling’s brain really was, showing that he suffered from CTE (1).
His wife, Mary Ann Easterling, having expected severe head trauma to be her husband’s issue, decided that with this information, she was going to bring awareness to the real damage concussions brought to the sport of football (1). She is just one of more than 3,000 retired players and relatives fighting for the protection of the players in a lawsuit against the NFL. She states, “I just want these living players and their families to find some relief and for the NFL to realize their responsibility to the players” (1). Life Line, the league’s mental health hotline, was created in order to provide current and former athletes, and their families, with help on getting the right advice and the right treatment (1). Dr. Timothy Lineberry, a medical director at the Mayo Clinic Psychiatric Hospital in Minnesota, believes that the Life Line program is, “A great move forward” (1).
Similar to Easterling, Nathan Stiles suffered from a concussion during a football game (“9 Football Players Killed by Brain Trauma”). The only difference, Stiles was seventeen years old when he collapsed in the middle of the field at halftime (1). Earlier that season, Stiles had suffered from a concussion, making him ineligible to play for three weeks (1). Once the symptoms seemed to have “disappeared,” and Stiles was cleared, he resumed play (1). However, his brain wasn’t completely healed. Lying to both his parents and coaches, Stiles had admitted to his girlfriend that he was dizzy the day before the game that caused his death (1). During the game, Stiles took a hit to the head causing his brain to bleed (1). Stiles was rushed to the hospital where doctors tried everything possible to revive his overly swollen brain (Drehs). After hours in intensive surgery, the doctors decided they did all the could possibly do and placed Stiles into a hospital room where friends and family came to say their goodbyes (1).
Stiles’ death may have been prevented if there were more precautions and stricter protocols for injuries in sports. Also, if Stiles would have been honest and spoke of his dizziness and headaches, his parents, doctor, and coaches could have intervened.
Solutions
Although concussions may never seem to fully disappear, there are ways we can decrease the number of people affected by them. Different sports organizations, including the NFL, have made several changes throughout the years attempting to lower the concussion rate.
One solution is the evolution of helmets over the past 90 years, transforming them from a soft leather to polycarbonate with extra cushioning systems (“Creating a Safer Football Experience”). In 2015, the NFL rand NFL Players Association teamed up to sponsor a study on the safety of helmets worn by their players (Reyes). They tested around 500 helmets, using a mixture of 17 different models, on crash-test dummies, replicating the average hit sustained on a professional football field (1). After the helmets were scored, the test revealed that about “one-third of players were using helmets in the lowest-performing group” (1). Jeff Crandall, leader of the NFL’s engineering subcommittee of the head, neck, and spine committee, stated that, “Ultimately, (the manufactures who make the helmets) are the ones who will take this information and figure out what they want to do with the design” (1). However, Crandall also made it known that, “With helmets, it’s the fit, the comfort. There are many factors that go into the safety of the helmets” (1). In other words, just looking at how a helmet performs on a crash-test dummy does not truly reveal just how “safe” it actually is, leaving experts to question many other contributing factors when designing a helmet.
Another solution is the reconstruction of the rules in the game of football. Each year, for many years, the NFL’s health and safety committees, subcommittees, and panels have provided input after reviewing injury data for each season (“Creating a Safer Football Experience”). Rule changing such as, “The ball is dead when any runner slides to the ground feet first, thereby declaring himself down,” in 1985, all the way to “Reducing the length of preseason and regular season overtime periods to ten minutes,” in 2017, have worked to decline the rate of concussions in football (“Healthy and Safety Rule Changes”). The NFL also works closely with coaches and players of all levels, education them on proper techniques and how to limit the amount of injuries (“Creating a Safer Football Experience”). Like the NFL, the government has also made new laws referring to the protocols and techniques required to be performed when dealing with concussions.
With the improvement of equipment and the rewiring of the rules, the country has seen major changes in the number of concussions recorded. According to the NFL’s Health and Safety report, concussions in the league had declined by 35% in 2015 (Reyes). At a high school in Greenville County, researches saw a 33 percent reduction in concussions during both games and practices (Osby). This is a major improvement among professional and lower-level athletes.
Camus and Absurdity
Albert Camus was an absurd novelist, journalist, playwriter, and author of novels such as, “The Plague,” and, “The Stranger” (Aronson). Camus questioned the meaning of human existence and portrayed that human life always had, “a conflict between our expectation of a rational, just universe and the actual universe that is quite indifferent to all of our expectations” (Cline), and that we, as humans, “will never live if [we] are looking for the meaning of life” (“Albert Camus > Quotes”).
In his younger years, Camus played for the Racing Universitaire Algerios junior soccer team (“Albert Camus: Soccer Goalie”). However, he unfortunately had to stop playing when he developed tuberculosis at the age of eighteen, similar to the athletes who have had to reform from playing football due to concussions (1). Because of his attraction to soccer, Camus would have appreciated this topic and would have found meaning behind it, stating, “Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to football (soccer)” (“A Quote by Albert Camus”). Although Camus somewhat relates sports to being an obligation to live, his beliefs over absurdism do not connect to the topic of concussions. Concussions in sports are a real and serious topic, unlike the impractical beliefs Camus expressed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, all athletes and coaching staff need to study and understand the signs and symptoms of concussions, and should take extra measures to ensure safety. Using different practicing methods and establishing stricter protocols can help lower the rate of concussions, which in return, could also lower suicide and depression rates. It is so important that athletes understand the severity of concussions so they can be responsible with the decisions they choose to make. Overall, the amount of people working to slow the momentum in which concussions are occurring is incredible and there will be a difference in the number of concussion reports as more people are educated over head injuries.
Works Cited
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