Football Concussions: NFL Case Study

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During a regular season game on November 23rd, 2015, between the St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens, a sold-out crowd of onlookers watched as the St. Louis Rams’ quarterback Case Keenum had his head slammed viciously against an unforgiving turf by a Ravens defender. The Rams, whose owner was at the time working to move the team to a $1.86 billion dollar abode in Los Angeles, left Keenum in the game even though Keenum grabbed his head in pain and struggle to walk following the hit. Though Keenum was diagnosed with a concussion after the game, the NFL did not penalize the coach or owner for the decision to leave Keenum, obviously in pain and unable to perform in the game. As Baltimore fans cheered on their defense in the win, this example serves
This monster is concussions and their long term effects on the brain. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow to the head or body, causing the brain to move rapidly back and forth against the skull. Sub-concussive blows to the head are hits to the head after one has already sustained a concussion. Repeated concussions and often undiagnosed concussions over years of playing can lead to long-term damage primarily identified as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain found primarily in athletes with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions and asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head. CTE occurs when the Tau Protein, which holds the nerve cells in your brain together like ties on a train track, are knocked loose and are not given enough time for recovery before experiencing more of these blows. Tau Proteins are knocked loose during concussions and subconcussive hits to the head. “Research shows that your brain needs at least 12 or more hours to reset the tau proteins knocked loose before experiencing any more resistance to these so called ‘ties’” (Brain Injury Research Institute). If you do not wait for your “ties” to settle back into place after sustaining a traumatic hit to the head, the tau can become

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