More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects concussions have on nfl athletes
Concussions and football research question
Concussion in football research
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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
The NFL position in this article makes them look very greedy and indifferent about the overall health of their football players. One of the ethical perspectives that can be used to analyze the NFL's position in this article is deontology. Deontology is the perspective where rules is the defining factor for ethical decisions. From the deontology perspective it makes it seem that the NFL has decided not to follow the rules and even blurred the lines as to what potential injuries their players can get. They wanted their injured players to play without having to follow through the with proper procedure in verifying that the players are in conditions healthy enough to play. It looks as if the NFL cares only about bringing in money and not care about
A big part of NFL’s hold on players is their contract and money. Thousands of young men aspire to be on a professional team, just for the fame, money and title. They are not made aware of the lasting conditions that come with playing football and their everlasting effects. If anything NFL has gone out of their way to discredit the newer research that links playing football with CTE. CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a disease that has the same effects as dementia and Alzheimer’s, except for CTE leaves tau protein deposition in distinctive areas of the brain, which is what separates C...
Throughout history in the NFL, head injuries and fixing those problems have always been hidden from the athletes because of the NFL striving to make a large profit instead of caring for the players. With this being an ongoing problem between NFL players and the NFL itself, many past and current players are digging deeper to find the truth and statistics continue to show how serious this problem actually is. When the lawsuits first began to come known to the public, the NFL agreed to pay over seven hundred million dollars to compensate former players suffering neurological injuries. Many believe the NFL offered this so quickly, hoping to avoid a potential public relations nightmare. The NFL, a ten billion dollar annual business, couldn’t take any type of guilt, or legal discovery, which some inside and out of the industry expected could have caused a fatal blow to the game’s future (Thiel). The settlement may have prevented the public from learning much about the past, but the issue of head injuries is a danger to football and won’t just go away because NFL wants it to (Waldron).
Football is a very violent sport. There is a lot of concern over the risks posed by hits that injure the head and potentially the brain. The players say they have suffered one or more brain injuries. They want the NFL and helmet maker, Riddell, to set up and pay for medical monitoring and treatment programs for all former, current and future NFL players. Liberals are big supporters of the respect for human dignity. In that case, the NFL tentatively agreed to pay $765 million to past players with health problems that can be caused by concussions. Although research and progress within the scientific and medical communities is understandably slow, the same could be said about the NFL's response to concussions and the dangers they pose to new research reveals new findings. However, some liberals believe that it has taken to long for the NFL to respond to the perceived crisis and its attempt to regulate the concussion treatments which could eventually lead to players ...
Al Toon, father of Saints receiver Nick Toon, was forced to leave professional football after sustaining nine concussions in eight years of professional football. Football is one of the most dangerous games. As the years go on, more and more rules are being written to prevent the danger, but danger is the nature of the game. Most of these rules are for the protection of the players, but there are times when injuries can be a good thing. The Philadelphia Eagles were 3-5 to start the year, but Michael Vick was injured and the backup quarterback led the team to be 10-6, win the division, and almost beat the New Orleans Saints in the playoffs. "About 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year, about three-quarters of them mild TBIs, or concussions" (Clemmitt). Traumatic Brain Injuries are used as the main form of evidence in Richard Cohen's claim that the end of the NFL is near, and quite frankly, his argument is pretty solid.
Concussions and the effect they have on people ranging from the young to the old has become a very popular discussion in recent years. Generally people watch sports for entertainment and then there are those who engage in high impact sports from a very young age on. The people at home know how fun playing in a sport is, however they may not know the brutal consequences for some participating in that sport. Injuries to the brain are a main concern among those in the world of high impact sports. Football, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, and rugby are among sports that athletes receive injuries in. The injuries vary from sprains, to fractures, to torn MCL or ACL, and bruised organs. Concussions are a severe type of injury endured by athletes in the sports world and this life changing injury is one that people are becoming more aware of.
A. Background In recent years, there has been an increase in research investigating the long-term effects of repeated head trauma on the brain, especially in athletes. Following his discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Dr. Bennet Omalu inspired a movement of research aimed at establishing better safety standards and protocols in football. It was not until 2002 that the initial connection between repetitive head trauma, such as concussions, and brain injury was suspected (Ott, 2015). As common as concussions were during the late 1970s and 1980s, they were often swept under the rug, as they were seen as insignificant injuries.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a degenerative disease of the brain linked to symptoms of dementia and depression. Some other symptoms of CTE include: amnesia, aggression...
Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.
The world of sports is filled with great memories, grand moments and at times complete mayhem. There are moments like hitting a Home Run in game 7 of the World Series or memories of scoring an overtime goal during the Stanley Cup finals. However, there are also incredibly low moments when mayhem occurs such as an action or incident that results in a concussion. An injury such as a concussion can ruin your sports career or potentially your ability to function normally in the future. Concussions are caused by blunt force trauma to the head, a fall or an injury that shakes the brain inside the skull. Recovering from a concussion can take weeks, months or even years to heal. For some, it can impair your mental or mobility functions for life.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease attributed to single, sporadic, or repetitive brain trauma, including concussions and subconcussive hits (Baugh et al., 2012; Wortzel et al., 2013). This disease was originally referred to as dementia pugilistica, and nicknamed “punch drunk,” because individuals suffering from this disorder would present symptoms that were similar to someone’s mannerisms while being intoxicated (Wortzel et al., 2013). This “drunken” behavior is thought to be attributed to the cognitive, mood, and behavioral alterations as a result of the repetitive hits to the brain over an extended period of time. Because individuals suffering from this disease are often exposed to conditions that allow them to sustain blows to the head multiple times, the populations most often examined in these studies are athletes (football, boxing, rugby) and/or individuals in the military (McKee et al., 2009). Individuals can be symptom free for several years (Baugh et al., 2012). The onset of symptoms are sometimes seen about eight to ten years after an individual retires from their sport, which roughly equates to someone aged thirty to fifty yeas old (Baugh et al., 2012; Wortzel et al., 2013; Karantzoulis and Randolph, 2013). As with all diseases, symptoms can range from mild to severe. Researchers have found a positive correlation between the number of brain injuries sustained during a length of time playing a sport and the severity of symptoms (McKee et al., 2009).
Recreational athletes, competitive athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, and professional athletes all have one thing in common: the risk of a concussion. It's impossible to go a season without one athlete from a team receiving a concussion. The more that these concussions are studied, the more we learn about them, such as their detrimental effects on athletes. Because of the risk of health issues and death that come with concussions, doctors, coaches, athletic trainers, and lawmakers are stepping in to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions. Concussions occur time after time throughout different sporting events and many are familiar with the word concussion, but what really is a concussion?
The failure of the NFL to disclose credible research linking concussions to permanent, hidden long-term brain injury to the players can be interpreted as both ethical and unethical. Ethical theories and traps influenced the NFL’s decision. Not disclosing the research is considered moral by the ethical theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarian ethics considers the best decision is one which maximizes overall happiness and minimizes overall pain is more ethical. Utilitarianism’s goal is to produce the best outcome for the largest number of people. The NFL’s failure to reveal the research connecting concussion to permanent brain injury’s is in line with utilitarian ethics. A larger population benefits from football compared to the small number of
The NFL is known for its gruesome de-cleating hits on players, but the rising number of concussions has stripped players from being able to make these types of plays anymore! After the 2011 lawsuit, the NFL realized that new player safety rules had to be enforced into the NFL rule book. Rules such as no crown on crown to the helmet outside the tackle box have taken away the element of “big hits” in a football game. 1Redskin’s safety Brandon Meriwether was fined $42,000 for a helmet to helmet hit on Packer’s running back Eddie Lacey. Thank God for technology, because back in the 40’s they played football with leather a helmet. Also the NFL stated a new rule that each NFL team has to have a neurologist placed on the sideline for every official game. Jet’s player Jeremy Kerley suffered from a mind boggling week one injury. Kerley passed the mandatory concussion evaluation and soon after returns to the team. Suddenly, the following same day Jeremy was diagnosed with a concussion. I agree with the saying taking one the team, but playing with a concussion is like playing with fire. Some big hitters in the NFL are viewed as dirty players because of their bone crushing tackles. A lot of coaches like to blame big hits for the fact of...
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is played in a lot of different ways, fashions, and other countries. It can be a very brutal sport with players hitting at the intent to hurt one another. With these intents come great consequences. In recent years the head injuries involved with this brutal game play have been getting uncomfortably high. Many rules have had to be enforced for player safety, because of the increase of head injuries resulting in tragic effects on players both old and new. One of the injuries that have had the most devastating effects is the concussion.