The World Cup, the Super Bowl, and even the Olympics, are all events that millions of people either attend or tune in to watch for the excitement of the game. Often times the more physical contact in the game, the more exciting it is to watch. The louder the bang, the louder the crowd. But when watching, many people are unaware of the physical trauma going on within the players’ head, mentally and physically. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that’s caused by a significant blow to the head or body, which causes the brain to shake inside the skull. The majority of concussions go unreported, which means they go untreated. Multiple concussions, especially untreated, lead to a disorder called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known
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This is understandable, until you look at the statistics of how the amount of concussions has increased throughout the years. The amount of concussions in the year 2015 has almost tripled the amount from year 2002. Ever hear of the saying “practice how you play”? 33 percent of all sport concussions occurs during practice. And unfortunately this can’t be stopped because there are no rules that are put into place. An athlete is at risk every time they go to train, or compete, and with the current rules have been set into place for years, and each year the number of athletes undergoing head trauma will just continuously increase and at a rapid pace. Also since there are no rules being put into action many people are unaware of the concussion risks. In the year 2010, NFL reported 154 concussions in just the first half of preseason. 21% of the reported concussions were from previous years that went untreated, because teams were simply unaware of the aspect of concussions (Tim Fitzgerald, 2016, …show more content…
When an athlete faces multiple concussions, especially untreated, the athlete is prone to suffer from CTE. “At least %17 of the 1.6 to 3.8 million athletes who suffer from concussions, develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy” (Mckee et al., 2009, p.709). Most common symptoms include: memory loss, irritability, aggressive outburst, violent behavior, confusion, speech abnormalities, unsteadiness, headaches, slurred speech, Parkinsonism, depression, and even death. (McKee et al., 2009, p. 709). According to studies ran by McKee et al. this disease slowly progresses averaging 2-46 years, which not only means long term suffering for the athlete but also their families. During their studies, they ran multiple cases on multiple athletes involved in a variety of physical contact sports. In Case B, an 80 year old male was tested. This African American male had been in a professional boxing league, since age 17. He began having difficulty remembering things by his mid- 20s, causing him to retire. In his early teenage years he had, on report, a significant concussion. He also suffered from multiple unreported concussions during his career. By age 30 he began to notice his tendency of being confused followed by his new habit of losing his balance. Family says that it only began there and within 40 years it only got worse. At age 70 his daughter
This is understandable, until you look at the statistics of how the amount of concussions has increased throughout the years. The amount of concussions in the year 2015 has almost tripled the amount from year 2002. Ever hear of the saying “practice how you play”? 33 percent of all sport concussions occurs during practice. And unfortunately this can’t be stopped because there are no rules that are put into place. An athlete is at risk every time they go to train, or compete, and with the current rules have been set into place for years, and each year the number of athletes undergoing head trauma will just continuously increase and at a rapid pace. Also since there are no rules being put into action many people are unaware of the concussion risks. In the year 2010, NFL reported 154 concussions in just the first half of preseason. 21% of the reported concussions were from previous years that went untreated, because teams were simply unaware of the aspect of concussions (Tim Fitzgerald, 2016, …show more content…
When an athlete faces multiple concussions, especially untreated, the athlete is prone to suffer from CTE. “At least %17 of the 1.6 to 3.8 million athletes who suffer from concussions, develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy” (Mckee et al., 2009, p.709). Most common symptoms include: memory loss, irritability, aggressive outburst, violent behavior, confusion, speech abnormalities, unsteadiness, headaches, slurred speech, Parkinsonism, depression, and even death. (McKee et al., 2009, p. 709). According to studies ran by McKee et al. this disease slowly progresses averaging 2-46 years, which not only means long term suffering for the athlete but also their families. During their studies, they ran multiple cases on multiple athletes involved in a variety of physical contact sports. In Case B, an 80 year old male was tested. This African American male had been in a professional boxing league, since age 17. He began having difficulty remembering things by his mid- 20s, causing him to retire. In his early teenage years he had, on report, a significant concussion. He also suffered from multiple unreported concussions during his career. By age 30 he began to notice his tendency of being confused followed by his new habit of losing his balance. Family says that it only began there and within 40 years it only got worse. At age 70 his daughter