Essay On Head Trauma In Sports

We have seen it in sports from time to time, the graphic images of head contact in competitive and recreational games that makes one shudder and cringe. The Urban dictionary states that a “concussion is a temporary unconsciousness caused by a blow to the head”. It also describes the after effects as “confusion of temporary in capacity”. In the movie “Head Game”, directed by Steve James, the documentary follows football players and hockey players. The former professional wrestler and Harvard graduate Chris Nowinski teams up with James while on a mission to uncover the truth about the consequences of playing sports that have a great deal of head contact.

In the documentary, Nowinski says that changes that can be made in these high impact sports

Another reason is the income the organization makes. For instance, the NFL and the national hockey league (NHL) are the top two sports to obtain concussions according to NeuroTracker. However, the NFL alone generates about 3.6 billion dollars a year. With that type of income they don’t speak on head trauma very much because they could potentially lose business which translates to income. Let’s look at this further. If there was a situation when Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers had a serious concussion and had to sit out the whole season, the National Football League would lose revenue because their two biggest prodigies of the company aren’t able to play. This would start public conversations and perceptions about how bad concussions are to the sport with such famous players

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy and is a progressive deteriorating disease of the brain. This condition is mostly found in athletes. CTE is repetitive brain trauma, containing symptomatic concussions and asymptomatic sub concussive hits to the head. CTE is a major health problem in collision sports, especially when you are aging. The NFL already has quite a few players suffering from CTE and some who have lost their lives from this disease. Some who have been affected are, Mike Webster, Frank Gifford, Dave Duerson, Tyler Sash and others. Tyler Sash is the most recent and youngest victim to develop this disease and die from it. With the growing stats and debates one can conclude that CTE can be considered a possible health risk playing sports. Although administrators will develop strategies (eg. sensor helmets to measure hits) and rules to minimize the risk of a concussion, it is reported that one can have a brain injury without a recognized concussion. This means that without a diagnosis of a concussion, hits that jolt the brain can lead to changes in the brain and these changes are related to the frequency and intensity of the hits. Therefore, football or hockey, players who tend to have the most hits to the head or body appeared to have developed problems with memory and cognition. It is important to note that young players may experience learning and memory deficits as well as brain changes even when jolts to the head don’t trigger a