Contact sports today, such as hockey have had serious effects on the health of athletes. One of the common injury concerns throughout all ages of contact sports is the concussion. The fact of the matter is, although concussions are a serious issue, people claim that certain changes could be ruining the overall enjoyment of a game. The differing views on this issue come from the several perspectives, the players, doctors, parents, and spectators. How are the recent changes in contact rules affecting the game of hockey? The history of the concussion and how it may be changing the game has become of great concern. Hockey has always been a dangerous, high contact game. In 1979, the National Hockey League took their first action on concussions by requiring the players to wear helmets. In …show more content…
In Brian W. Benson’s article, he states, “Concussion results in a graded set of clinical symptoms that may or may not involve loss of consciousness or memory dysfunction.” Major injuries are always an issue when it comes to contact sports among all ages. Due to this, changes have been made to the physical rules of the game. For example, in all levels, there is now a penalty for head contact. Hockey is a fast-paced game and it can be difficult to perform a clean body check. Therefore, this new penalty has been issued so players can do whatever they can to avoid the head. In John Branch’s book, Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard, the novel talks about a kid growing up suffered a serious concussion due to a dirty hit in one of his hockey games. The concussion was so serious and not properly treated, which ended in his passing. Derek isn’t the only one with such a story. Other tragic injuries like the concussion has occurred in sports other than hockey. After this book was published, the hockey world realized how serious this injury
When the so-called leaders of the hockey world, and subsequently the rest of hockey culture, fail to understand the simplicity of concussion protocols and healing processes, how do we ever expect this culture to be fixed? Change starts at the top, and we are far from that. To this day, hockey culture still prides themselves on toughing it out, regardless of knowing the long-term effects. Joe Murphy’s story is a powerful reminder of the significance and importance of addressing the risks of concussions and need for a cultural shift in player safety.
The documentary Head Games directed by Steve James follows former football player and ex-wrestler, Chris Nowinski, on his mission to uncover the truth about the consequences of playing sports related to concussions. A concussion is a brain injury that you cannot see and where the brain moves around in the skull. More than 3.8 million concussions occur a year due to a sport. The documentary raises the question of whether protective head-gear should be worn in all contact sports. I believe a head is more likely to sustain more damage to the brain without a helmet than a head with a helmet.
Concussions occur way to much in sports, A concussion is when the brain hits the sides of the skull and causes damage to the brain. The effects of this can be very bad, and even eventually turn into mental problems.
First, we chose to limit the subsample of head impact exposure to 8- to 15-year-olds to maximize our chances of capturing concussions. From previous research,9,14 we expected few if any concussions in the 5- to 7-year age group. Despite this, we captured few concussions on players wearing accelerometers and were underpowered to examine statistical differences between impacts resulting and not resulting in concussion. In addition, although all concussions occurred in NHUF leagues, differences in concussion rates between HUF and NHUF leagues were not found among the entire cohort.13 Future research should include a broader sample and perhaps include players at the youngest
709-735). This high occurrence rate suggests that sports regulatory boards must come up with more systematic techniques in protecting the players from a concussion and its consequences. Furthermore, the prevalence of concussions in contact sports, especially in football, proves that the NFL should admit that concussions are a serious issue in football. The obvious short-term effects of concussions, together with the prevalence of concussions in football, must have influenced the NFL regarding how they handle violence within football. Instead, the NFL continued to market the violence in
The long term effects of concussions are extremely tragic and haunts many retired athletes. D. Although concussions are almost impossible to avoid, the concussion crisis needs to be acted upon so that the future generation can stay safe while having fun. Thesis-The preventative measures put in place to protect athletes are not strong enough due to the increasing amount of concussions in contact sports. Paragraph1-
The seriousness of sports related concussions have been brought to the forefront in recent years. New concussion legislation along with new rules and regulations have been implemented around the country. In effort to reduce the amount of concussions greater awareness, action plans, and policies have been put in place for many sports--especially contact sports such as football. However, despite these actions the amount of sports related concussions have not seen a significant decrease. I propose a detailed analysis of current concussion policies and action plans implemented in recent years with an emphasis on football.
However, it is also important to note that a concussion can also take place outside of sports, meaning it can happen to anybody. For instance, there have been incidents where a person tripped while running, fell, and the impact of their head’s contact with the ground caused a concussion. Or, in a car accident many front-seat passengers, or even the driver, have slammed their heads against the dashboard/steering wheel, also possibly resulting in a concussion. Concussions when treated can be healed in a timely manner. Unfortunately, throughout history, there has been a tendency for people to overlook a concussion as a serious injury, therefore, making it more problematic than it already is.
Concussions in sports have been on a rise more than ever, not only just in football but also in other sports such as kids’ soccer and ice hockey. There are major outcomes that can occur with concussions, as in C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). This condition occurs when a player is hit, gets a concussion and part of the brain vessels block off with dead brain vessels. This has caused multiple deaths in many athletes like Mike Webster, a former Pittsburgh Steeler, who lived in his truck while going insane. He would taser himself just to go to sleep because of concussions in his former football career.
Rewind to the NFL Wild Card Round earlier this year. The date was January 9th; The Pittsburgh Steelers were facing off against the Cincinnati Bengals in an intense conference matchup for the first playoff round. This game was special since both teams are in the AFC North conference, so both teams were playing with a chip on their shoulder. The game was a hard-fought battle that came right down to the end. On the last gasp drive made by the Steelers to try and win the game something extraordinary happened.
Throughout America’s history, football has been well known and a popular sport. Throughout the years, however, the safety of helmets have always been in question. As time went on, the amount of injuries significantly went down the helmets did not solve the problem completely. On November 6, 1869 the first "football" game took place. In my research I found that helmets were not mandatory until the 30’s which left a lot of players open to injury especially when half the players were wearing helmets and the other half were not while playing on the field.
The occurrence of such changes within the brain leads it to vulnerability to injury and increased sensitivity. Concussions in athletes are a common scenario, and some instances may pass unnoticed making such cases to be very dangerous. The threshold of concussions is that it does not have an instant effect on a player. Most of the symptoms are gradual and this leads to a damaging effect on players over a period of time without any means of treatment. Most players are ignorant of the
Concussions in Sports In sports, concussions occur frequently across all age groups. From little leagues to high school sports to the professional leagues, concussions pose a high risk of long term Traumatic brain injuries. Because of the high rate of concussions in sports more attention should be paid to protocols and treatment to prevent traumatic brain injuries. High school athletes that partake in a sport that requires intense physical activity are the most vulnerable to concussion and need more time to recover. According to the Head Case “High school football accounts for 47 percent of all reported sports concussions, with 33 percent of concussions occurring during practice.”
In the article “‘Concussion’ doctor says kids shouldn’t play these sports until they’re 18”, the author, A. Pawlowski, interviews Dr. Bennet Omalu about the dangers of concussions in contact sports. Dr. Bennet, a forensic pathologist, uses pathos to convince his audience, particularly parents of children in sports, that concussions are more prevalent than they seem. His main audience is parents, and considering Dr. Bennet is a father himself, he is a reliable source. In the article, Pawlowski does an excellent job catering to a specific audience, using reliable sources, and eye-catching photos; nevertheless, there is only one side of the argument represented. Pawlowski clearly uses pathos in this article because her source is passionate about
More now than ever athletes are being watched out for when there is trauma to the brain. After multiple cases of poor treatment to concussions parents and doctors are cracking down on letting concussions not be a big deal. As more studies advance, it is discovered that every case is different. The range is created by severity, past experience with trauma, and how the patient heals. Concussions in sports can range in severity, and how they affect each individual over time depending on times of impact.