The Importance Of Concussions In Sports

Not to be Ignored
People who have had concussions in sports would know that you would get two to three weeks off and then you could play again. In a lot of contact sports concussions happen frequently and sometimes they may even be ignored just to keep playing. Concussions are a big deal and should never be ignored because they can cause further injuries that are more serious.
“Minnesota's high school athletes suffered about 3,000 sports-related concussions in the past school year, with nearly half of them involving football players and one in 20 resulting in severe symptoms that lingered for more than two weeks” (Olson). Concussions play a big role in contact sports at all levels even in high school. If you do not take concussions seriously at a young age it could cause serious problems when you get older. Serious stories of concussions or mass amounts of athletes who have suffered from concussions try to change the rules for sports to make them safer.

“Concussions pose a serious threat to the health of the players and the game itself,” (Izraelski) some of the short term effects of concussions in sports is you have to take a break from playing.

There is not much you can do while not playing besides stay away from screens as much as possible to help get rid of the concussion faster. Also, concussions can cause headaches which could be annoying in the middle of class or when you are in the middle of a test. Concussions make it hard to focus and think even on things you would find easy to do. Concussions have always effected contact sports but it is something that will never be completely eliminated and people are still trying to minimize the chance of

concussions.
“High school athletes suffer thousands of concussions every year, most often in football, ice hockey, and soccer”(Sports Medicine: Concussions in Sports). Often high school athletes get concussions and one concussion could be minor , but the effects of multiple concussions could be catastrophic. In teens multiple concussions during high school can lead to chronic symptoms through high school like headache and the ability to not focus. “Studies nationally showing higher rates of concussions in female athletes in sports played by both genders” (Olson), this may be due to weaker neck muscles. If there are many bad concussions through your lifetime it may limit what physical activities you can and cannot do. Multiple serious concussions could lead to severe brain damage and even death, but it is not very likely.
“Unfortunately, the scientific literature on concussions in ice hockey is derived mostly from research conducted on youth and amateur levels of play, leaving a gap in our knowledge at the professional level” (Izraelski), there is a huge difference between the pros and the young kids. Pros have less amounts of concussions than younger kids because the kids may not well informed on how to make a correct hits. Even though pros know how to make correct hits the speed of the impact is what causes the concussions. All pro sports leagues have changed rules over the last decade to try and improve sports in the younger generations, so they are less likely to get hurt.
Concussions in sports are very common at all sports level no matter how much experience the players have. The effects of most concussions are minor and not life threatening, but some concussions and multiple concussions can cause worse injuries. A lot of rules in sports have changed due to the amount of concussions and since the rules change it changes the way sports are played. In the end concussions should be taken seriously and shouldn’t be ignored because they can have huge effects.