Today, concussions have become perhaps the most complicated issue facing the NFL, the NFL is trying to find ways to help prevent players from receiving a concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions since football involves a heavy amount of contact, players can easily be put in a position where they could receive a concussion. The NFL is trying to prevent concussions because multiple concussions can really damage a player’s brain, which in the long run can give players some serious emotional and physical issues.
Too many hits to the head can cause brain disease, as we have seen in some former NFL players, like Dave Duerson I believe that the NFL needs to find better ways and techniques to help prevent players from getting concussions so easily. This topic is personal to me because I have had a couple concussions myself. When I got my second concussion from playing football back in high school, I had some serious side effects.
For a couple of days I would always have an unpleasant headache, and at random Limes, I would start to feel real dizzy and lightheaded. Also, the concussion messed up my vision to the where I had trouble reading and even watching TV. That in fact was my first serious concussion and it took me a significant amount of time to fully recover. This experience showed me how serious concussions really are, and that they are no joke, therefore, I know the effect concussions have on NFL players has to be taxing, since they are getting hit with a great deal of force.
Also, it is extremely common for players to receive multiple concussions throughout their career. In the last season, there were 111 concussions in games during the regular season, which is way too high. From 2009 to 2012 the number of head injuries in the NFL increased by 68%, and even though the percentage has started to go down a little bit in recent years, those numbers are still way too high.
If these numbers stay like this and don‘t drastically change, we are going to see more former players suffer from brain damage. Recently, I watched a movie that was just released called a concussion, starring Will Smith and directed by Peter Landesman. This film tells the true story of a forensic pathologist Drt Bennet Omalu who discovers neurological deterioration that is similar to Alzheimer’s disease in former NFL player Mike Webster, Omalu publishes his findings and names the disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is the result of taking too many hits to the head. As other athletes face the same diagnosis, Dri Omalu embarks on a mission to raise public awareness about the dangers of football-related head trauma. This film shows how serious concussions in the NFL really are and that people need to be more aware of the long- term side effects that come with football-related head injuries Scientists have proven that damage to the brain caused by concussions can last for decades after the original head trauma. Some people can recover from a concussion in about two weeks, however, others can experience post-concussion syndrome (PCS), which has longer-lasting symptoms that can affect someone both physically and emotionally.
Multiple head traumas can lead to even more severe issues for example, Junior Seau who was a standout player in the NFL from 1990-2009, committed suicide two years after he retired from playing and studies by the National Institutes of Health concluded that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is the same disorder that Dr Omalu discovered in the movie concussion. Seau played the position of linebacker, which involves the most hitting out of any other position in football Seau played during the 90’s and early 2000’s, and during his career he had never officially been diagnosed with a concussion, but right after he retired he said in an interview that he had received multiple concussions throughout his long career. This is where the NFL failed Seau, because of the lack of attention that they showed toward concussions, seau went through his career without receiving any treatment or help with his head injuries and there is a chance that if he did receive some help at all, then he wouldn‘t have committed suicide.
The NFL needs to continue to try and reduce the number of head injuries that players are receiving. Too many former players suffer from brain disorders due to hits they received from playing football. We need to protect our players and help make them as safe as we can. The first football game in the NFL was in 1920 back then players wore less gear and had leather pads and helmets, instead of the harder plastic shoulder pads and helmets that players wear today. In the early years of the league, concussions weren’t as big of an issue as they are now, due to the fact that there was way less contact and the game was not as physical as it is now. It wasn‘t until 1937 that the American Coaches Association declared that any player that any player with a concussion must immediately leave the game. Over the years the NFL gradually started to become more physical and equipment began to evolve into what it is today.
For many years concussions in the NFL weren’t taken that seriously and were mistakenly overlooked It wasn’t until 1994 that NFL commissioner Paul Tagilabue created the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. The commissioner named Dr. Elliot Pellman chairman of the committee even though he had no experience with brain injuries. The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee began studying the nature of m plays resulting in concussive impacts and developing its own biomechanical analysis of the effect of these forces on the brain. In 2003 this committee began to publish study results that stated there are no long—term effects of concussions sustained by NFL players. So after this six-year of study of hits and tackles in the NFL the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee concluded that”Players who are concussed and return to the same game have fewer initial signs and symptoms than those removed from play. Return to play does not involve a significant risk of a second injury either in the same game or during the season.” We now know today that this committee was way off in their studies.
After the committee released their study results, numerous organizations began to release their own study results that linked repeated concussions to long-term health problems, which was contrary to reports by the MTBI Committee. For example, in 2003 a report by the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina found a connection between multiple concussions and depression among retired professional football players. Furthermore, the centers follow-up study linked Alzheimer’s disease with retired NFL players, these studies began to bring more attention to the concussion issue in the NFL. The NFL has had a history of overlooking the dangerous effects of concussions Since the league wasn’t very strict on concussions, many former NFL players have tried to sue the NFL and Because of these lawsuits, the league is now suspending and fining players who deliver constant blows to the head. The total number of people filing a lawsuit are 3,356, 2,138 being former players. After this ridiculous amount of lawsuits, the NFL is now suspending and fining players for giving someone a concussion.
Today the NFL has become more aware of the issue of concussions, but the NFL has also become more physical and players are making more impactful hits and tackles. Concussions are proven to cause loss of brain function that can lead to physical and emotional symptoms, attention disorders, depression, headaches, nausea, and amnesia. These symptoms can last for days or weeks and even after the symptoms have gone, the brain still won’t be completely normal. Players with multiple concussions can have drastically worsened symptoms and exponentially increased recovery time. in the NFL it is very common for players to receive multiple concussions throughout their careers. Even though many people think that the NFL needs to do more to prevent concussions, some people believe the NFL has done all that it can. The NFL has been doing things to try and solve the concussion problem, for example.
The Head Health Challenges is a three-stage collaboration between the NFL, General Electric and sportswear brand Under Armor that works to “ advance the development of technologies that can detect early»stage mild traumatic brain injuries and improve brain protection.” The initiative pledged $20 million to fund technology and research over five years, taking in three stages which seek to: understand and diagnose mild traumatic injury; invent materials and technology that will protect the head from traumatic injury; develop advanced materials with energy absorbing and energy dissipating properties Football organizations from Youth programs all the way up to the NFL are doing all they can to keep players safe but there are still many people and many groups who feel that there is still not enough being done to ensure the safety of these athletes.
Representative John Conyers Jr, a Michigan Democrat and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is just one of many fighting to make more laws for football to obey by. In December 2009 a law was passed requiring any player that exhibits any significant sign of concussion to be removed from a game or practice and be barred from returning the same day. Conyers is just one of many fighting to change the rules and regulations of football when it comes to injuries but it is with out a doubt a constant battle because of the fact that so much is already being done to ensure the safety of every. Football player whether it be someone just strapping up their helmet for the first time or a veteran in the NFL. The main priority it so keep the athletes safe and allow them to play the game that they love to play and that we love to watch.
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