Concussions In Sports Essay

Throughout the years sporting has immersed itself into our Australian culture and perhaps this is the reason why so many people participate in sporting events and competitions. While participating in sports can derive many benefits such as comradery, character-building and overall good health, it is not without its risks. High-velocity and contact sports such as rugby, ice hocking and cycling all involve a high degree of risk for concussions. As the number of athletes participating in these sports grow so do the number of incidents for sport-related concussions. As scientific research in the area of sport-related concussion develops, more information is being shed on the serious short-term and long-term effects of athletes suffering concussions on the field of play. Concerns for such injuries are further elevated by the findings of numerous clinical studies which report on the high percentage of concussion related incidents occurring in sports. While protective equipment is given to many athletes participating in sports, the equipment does little in the way of minimising the effect of contact to the head. Arguably, with the type of contact allowed in many of these sports, protective gear such as …show more content…
The symptoms of concussion include loss of consciousness, dizziness, memory loss, convulsions and nausea. Suffering concussions can also lead to the degenerative disease of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) which has the same associative symptoms of concussions but it eventually leads to progressive dementia. While active symptoms make it easier to diagnosis concussion, concussions without symptoms (mild concussions) present a problem and they often go undiagnosed. Therefore, it is imperative that all concussions are treated in the same manner to reduce the likelihood of short-term and long-term consequences of