Concussions In Sports
Concussions are the most popular type of head trauma in children and adults, yet it has only been within the last few years that the understanding of what concussions are and how easily they can occur in sports and other accidents, such as a fall or a car crash, has come to the attention of coaches, parents, and medical professionals. Because the awareness of what concussions are and the effects they have on brain function has increased, the number of concussions in children and adults has also increased significantly because the head trauma is able to be diagnosed and recognized as a concussion. Concussions have always occurred but if consciousness was not lost or an obvious head wound was not present, athletes were …show more content…
This is why researchers and sports experts are trying to improve the way sports are played and the equipment used. Though helmets have been great at reducing the impact of lateral forces, they are unable to protected the brain from rotational forces. Researchers have found that rotational forces are the biggest cause for the serious brain damage such as concussions. Yet parents and athletes are still buying the most expensive helmets believing that it is protecting them and there kids from concussions. This is why experts are debating on removing helmets all together, in hopes that players will protect their heads more and hit with there shoulders, but on the other hand they are trying to add helmets to other sports, such as lacrosse, hoping to limit some of the head injuries that occur. Other things experts believe that can be done to limit the risk of concussions is having athletes, especially youth athletes, strengthen their neck muscles, and to add extra or more safety equipment to all sports. With the increased knowledge about concussions and the research being done on trying to prevent them, talk about eliminating contact in youth sports altogether and limiting the amount of contact in adult sports, is one way sports experts are trying to reduce the number of concussions significantly. This leads to another recent debate on the risk of heading the ball in soccer and if it should be against the rules. Without any helmets or protective gear, when a player heads the ball there head is absorbing all the force, damaging valuable nerve cells. It has also been found that women are at a higher risk to receive a concussion then men are in soccer and other sports because women tend to not have the neck strength to absorb forces that come with a hit or blow to the
Concussions are the most popular type of head trauma in children and adults, yet it has only been within the last few years that the understanding of what concussions are and how easily they can occur in sports and other accidents, such as a fall or a car crash, has come to the attention of coaches, parents, and medical professionals. Because the awareness of what concussions are and the effects they have on brain function has increased, the number of concussions in children and adults has also increased significantly because the head trauma is able to be diagnosed and recognized as a concussion. Concussions have always occurred but if consciousness was not lost or an obvious head wound was not present, athletes were …show more content…
This is why researchers and sports experts are trying to improve the way sports are played and the equipment used. Though helmets have been great at reducing the impact of lateral forces, they are unable to protected the brain from rotational forces. Researchers have found that rotational forces are the biggest cause for the serious brain damage such as concussions. Yet parents and athletes are still buying the most expensive helmets believing that it is protecting them and there kids from concussions. This is why experts are debating on removing helmets all together, in hopes that players will protect their heads more and hit with there shoulders, but on the other hand they are trying to add helmets to other sports, such as lacrosse, hoping to limit some of the head injuries that occur. Other things experts believe that can be done to limit the risk of concussions is having athletes, especially youth athletes, strengthen their neck muscles, and to add extra or more safety equipment to all sports. With the increased knowledge about concussions and the research being done on trying to prevent them, talk about eliminating contact in youth sports altogether and limiting the amount of contact in adult sports, is one way sports experts are trying to reduce the number of concussions significantly. This leads to another recent debate on the risk of heading the ball in soccer and if it should be against the rules. Without any helmets or protective gear, when a player heads the ball there head is absorbing all the force, damaging valuable nerve cells. It has also been found that women are at a higher risk to receive a concussion then men are in soccer and other sports because women tend to not have the neck strength to absorb forces that come with a hit or blow to the