There is no greater controversy in American sports today than the long term effects of repeated concussions on professional athletes. The National Football League (NFL) reached a billion dollar settlement in 2015, which aimed to resolve the “concussion issue”. It was widely speculated that the NFL withheld information about concussion effects. The case brought forth against the NFL was centered on post-mortem findings of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in over 30 former football players. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head, and is characterized by headaches, erratic behavior, and is well known for leading to suicidal tendencies. CTE was responsible for the death of
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al, 2016) . A Tilt Table Test consists of a person lying flat on a platform; at intervals, the platform is moved quickly to different angles, at which several vital functions are recorded. The postconcussion symptoms experienced by subjects in this study were defined as dizziness or lightheadedness. The study’s objective was to correlate improvement on the Tilt Table Test with improvements in post concussion symptoms. While this study did not explicitly look at describing the effects of concussions in teens, it was able to “characterize autonomic dysfunction in patients with persistent post concussion symptoms” (Heyer). 70.6 % of the 34 test subjects in the study had abnormal Tilt Table results. While this link may seem obvious, it is important to gain very real evidence that post concussion symptoms have physiological roots, which was proved by the Tilt Table test. Personally, I’m not sure the Tilt Table test is a great test for kids; especially those who reported symptoms of dizziness or discomfort. The Tilt Table test is notoriously long, and I can’t imagine a kid, between 13-18, being totally relaxed and comfortable for a long duration. For these reasons I would like to see this experiment repeated; I’m interested to see if these results could be …show more content…
Children who suffer concussions suffer concrete physical symptoms, which can persistent anywhere from five days to over a month. Depending on the severity of the brain injury, children could face an increased likelihood to commit suicide at some point later in life. With the amount of children who play sports, or even just fool around with their friends, the implications of these findings is concerning. More research is vital to further understanding of these effects, so that doctors can develop safe and effective treatments for concussion in the future. It needs to be mentioned,that a key battle for doctors and researchers is not only the effects of concussions, but also the recognition of concussions. Concussions, for the most part, are mild. It is repeated, untreated concussions that can cause real damage. Fortunately, due to the attention the NFL is garnering for its’ concussion scandal, programs like Heads Up Football have been created to teach safer tackling techniques in youth football. These programs, combined with the development of safer equipment, will hopefully decrease the prevalence of concussions in children and adolescent
al, 2016) . A Tilt Table Test consists of a person lying flat on a platform; at intervals, the platform is moved quickly to different angles, at which several vital functions are recorded. The postconcussion symptoms experienced by subjects in this study were defined as dizziness or lightheadedness. The study’s objective was to correlate improvement on the Tilt Table Test with improvements in post concussion symptoms. While this study did not explicitly look at describing the effects of concussions in teens, it was able to “characterize autonomic dysfunction in patients with persistent post concussion symptoms” (Heyer). 70.6 % of the 34 test subjects in the study had abnormal Tilt Table results. While this link may seem obvious, it is important to gain very real evidence that post concussion symptoms have physiological roots, which was proved by the Tilt Table test. Personally, I’m not sure the Tilt Table test is a great test for kids; especially those who reported symptoms of dizziness or discomfort. The Tilt Table test is notoriously long, and I can’t imagine a kid, between 13-18, being totally relaxed and comfortable for a long duration. For these reasons I would like to see this experiment repeated; I’m interested to see if these results could be …show more content…
Children who suffer concussions suffer concrete physical symptoms, which can persistent anywhere from five days to over a month. Depending on the severity of the brain injury, children could face an increased likelihood to commit suicide at some point later in life. With the amount of children who play sports, or even just fool around with their friends, the implications of these findings is concerning. More research is vital to further understanding of these effects, so that doctors can develop safe and effective treatments for concussion in the future. It needs to be mentioned,that a key battle for doctors and researchers is not only the effects of concussions, but also the recognition of concussions. Concussions, for the most part, are mild. It is repeated, untreated concussions that can cause real damage. Fortunately, due to the attention the NFL is garnering for its’ concussion scandal, programs like Heads Up Football have been created to teach safer tackling techniques in youth football. These programs, combined with the development of safer equipment, will hopefully decrease the prevalence of concussions in children and adolescent