Concussions Research Paper

Are Concussions the real problem

“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health.” Chris Borkland told ESPN of his retirement from the National Football League at just 24. A lot of people would say Borkland is one of the smart ones to get out of the league as concussions are getting worse than ever. Even though concussions are supposedly more severe than ever, if they're such a big problem why does everyone care so much now because concussions haven't changed over time and concussions will always be the same.

Many people who claim to know a lot about the National Football League aka NFL would tell you that concussions are a bigger problem than they’ve ever been before. Well they’d be right but they’d also be wrong today we have the knowledge and technology to diagnose concussions that they didn’t have back in the day so more concussions are being diagnosed now but there aren’t necessarily more concussions. Now they might be right about the severity of today's concussions because we have monstrous athletes like future NFL

running back Derrick Henry who’s 6’3” and 240 pounds or Kam Chancellor who’s 6’3” and 230 which is almost unheard of for a defensive back. We’ve also got linebackers who are around 250 pounds running 4.6 40s so yeah the game is dangerous but that’s what makes it fun.
There have been many supporters over the NFL from basicly the beginning even though the violence. One of its supporter was Teddy Roosevelt who once said “i do not feel any particular sympathy for the person who gets battered around as long as it is not fatal.” (Remnick) Another supporter which kinda surprised me is Trump who really doesn’t seem like he would know much about sports but he has been quoted saying “ You used to see these tackles and it was incredible to watch right?” (Remnick) I’d say the quote that surprised me the most though was from Mike Ditka when asked about the situation he said that he wouldn’t let his son play football even though his whole life has been about football himself.
Even though concussions are a big deal why do people care so much now? Well there is actually a very simple answer to this question and that answer would be fear. People who had multiple concussions say 20 or 30 years ago have either killed themselves or are showing signs of dementia and alzheimer's which may not be completely do to concussions. A pretty bad study of a small number of players autopsies supposedly showed that 96% show signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy aka CTE. This math is very flawed in the fact that this study was done on 165 former players post-mortemly and 131 of those 165 players showed signs of CTE (Firger) but the place where that math is flawed is that it really didn’t take into consideration that there are roughly 2000 NFL players in any given season the test sample should’ve been a lot bigger. A neuropsychology director at NYU has been quoted saying “ We don’t know the breadth of the problem, and we still don’t know the ultimate cause.” Now this information is extremely possible because many players who may have experienced multiple concussions are just fine and have died of natural causes it really boils down to how your body handles it and studies have showed that higher altitudes reduce the risk of sustaining a concussion any altitude of around 644 feet above sea level factors in. This means there are 9 NFL stadiums that are essentially the best to play in these stadiums are in cities such as: Phoenix, Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Denver, and obviously we save the best for last Minneapolis. “Brain slosh” the theory that concussions occur because the brain doesn’t fit tightly in the skull and gets thrown around during big hits “At higher altitudes cerebral blood flow rises.” (PR Newswire) The higher altitudes create a rise in cerebral blood flow which makes the brain swell a bit and ft in the skull better and not move around as much.
I read an article titled “League of Denial” which states that the NFL has denied that concussions are a major issue which most other people along with myself can’t confirm or deny but I do know that the NFL has donated $30 million to the National Institute of Health for concussion research.

the article has views and experiences from a former NFL player who recalled some things about the team doctors and trainers. “Never do I remember even a cursory discussion of head injuries.” or “Our athletic trainers never brought up the subject.” (Jackson) Another thing mentioned was that the trainers and doctors only told them to report their injuries along with showing up to treatment sessions on time and to make sure to pass drug tests. I being a football player myself strongly feel that they shouldn't have bring up the subject of concussions in the NFL after coaches, trainers, and doctors already pound that into your head in high school and

college.
So it is clear that although concussions are supposedly more severe than ever if they're such a big problem why does everyone care so much now for two main reasons. First concussions haven't changed over time. But most importantly concussions will always be the same. In Chris Borkland’s case he didn’t have to retire because if you treat your body right you be fine for the most part and if you play the game right you shouldn't have to worry about concussions. So really to answer the big question of “Are concussions the real problem?” no they aren’t the real problem the real problem is the players who feel the need to try to knock someone out with a hit.