Edgar Pages

ENC 1101/ Massey

December 9, 2015
Head Traumas throughout an Athletes Life
I have always asked myself how does the brain get hurt if it is protected by a skull. Well
the truth is that skull is what protects and causes the brain to bruise. This bruising is called
concussion. Every year thousands of kids and high school athletes receive sports-related
concussions. Concussions are among the most common and potentially among the most
dangerous injuries high school and younger athletes receive. Throughout my life I have been
involved in sports such as baseball, football, soccer, basketball and rugby. Without a doubt the
most dangerous sport that has the highest risk of concussion would be rugby. I did suffer from a
concussion that made me sit out the entire season because of the fact that my mental and physical
health were not at hundred percent. Concussions may not affect the person right away but in the
long run it will. Illnesses such as Parkinsons and Alzheimer can come into play depending on
how bad the brain was injured. Recently concussions have been getting more attention from
doctors and team trainers due to increased awareness, but more still needs to be done to protect
young athletes. No sport is immune to concussions. Rules in sports are starting to be created such
as no head to head collision in football and having to avoid collision at home plate in baseball.
Concussions can determine the career of any athlete that is why we need to put a stop to this and
take action now before it is too late.

A concussion according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention is a type of traumatic
brain injuryor TBIcaused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that
causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the
brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, stretching and damaging the brain cells and creating
chemical changes in the brain. Many concussions do take place while playing sports but any
blow to the head can cause one. When a concussion occurs neurological cells do not reproduce as
before causing mental and physical problems. After a concussion, some people lose
consciousness or are knocked out but not always. Doctors consider a concussion to be a mild
injury because they are usually not life threatening. There are such cases that the person has to be
hospitalized according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention. A concussion is not a structural
change it is a change in how it functions.
Concussions can happen on a daily basis to any person. We the people need to be better
educated on this delicate matter. Some doctors consider a concussion to be a mild injury and I
disagree. A concussion can play a huge role in the brains development. Some symptoms of
having a concussion are memory loss, be dazed or stunned, move clumsily, loss consciousness,
have a headache, nausea, bothered by light, feeling sluggish, being confused and having balance
problems or seeing double. Signs and symptoms generally show up soon after the injury.
However, you may not know how serious the injury is at first and some symptoms may not show
up for hours or days.
Martland describes Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy to be the punch drunk
syndrome because it was believed that it would only happen to boxers (1). Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes with a history
of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic

subconcussive hits to the head. CTE can happen to anyone but athletes take up a bigger
percentage especially boxers and football players. Getting hit on a constant basis is not healthy in
any environment. These repetitive blows to the head cause not only CTE but also Parkinsons
and Alzheimer.
Throughout the reading it also states the clinicians need to be mindful of the potential
for long term problems in the management of all athletes (Maroon 6). CTE can cause death
among athletes. During their investigation they noticed that the death ranged from 17 to 98 years
old and 72.7 percent died before the age of 70.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data there were an
estimated 446,788 sports related head injuries (CPSC 2). Sports from year to year keep
increasing in the number of head injuries. Boxing is one of the sports with the most head injuries
because of the lack of protective gear and the repetition of being hit in the head. The American
Association of Neurological Surgeons says that the force of a professional boxers fist is
equivalent to being hit with a 13 pound ball at 20 miles per hour (AANS 4). Since 1960 till
2011 boxing has had 488 deaths related to the sport and 66 percent of that are because of
previous brain or neck injuries.
Every year there are between 1.6 and 3.8 million sport related concussions in the United
States. In fact, for young people ages 15 to 24 years, sports are second only to motor vehicle
crashes as the leading cause of traumatic brain injury. Concussions also take up about 13.2
percent of all sport injuries and they are yet to be cared for appropriately. When we hear the word
cycling we do not think of a sport, but indeed it is. According to the AANS more than 500,000
people visit the emergency room in the United States; of those nearly 85,000 were head injuries

(6). But indeed of having such large number they have started to decrease because people are
aware of the danger and have started to wear protective gear such as helmets, and knee pads.
The numbers of athletes in high school and collegiate keep increasing throughout the
United States, therefore there are more people who have a higher risk of having a concussion
(NFHS 1). The research of concussions has also shown that many factors take place such as the
sex and the level of competition. The higher you go in competition the more likely you are of
having a concussion. Researchers state that it takes longer for a high school athlete to recover to
his or hers maximum capacity compared to a collegiate athlete or a professional athlete (NCAA
ISS 1). This is because as a high school athlete the brain has still to fully develop compared to a
professional athlete who is older and has developed completely.
Why do concussions happen and how do they happen? Well it is pretty simple a
concussion can happen to anyone at anytime. As said in the journal Mild traumatic brain injury
is common and represents a considerable public health, economic, and social concern (Cassidy
et al., 2004). Concussions mostly take place in contact sports but can happen in any place. In
football head to head collision is considered illegal because it can cause a lot of damage to not
only the players brain but also to his spinal cord. Baseball has evolved since it was created. Back
then no protective gear was used such as a helmet, now the helmets that they use cost up to 200
dollars because of the protection they provide. Once a person has their first concussion their
brain becomes very sensitive to anything meaning that the next concussion can happen really
quickly and will not take much to cause it.
Some ways to avoid a concussion is to always be aware of your surroundings. But that is
not enough, even if you are aware of everything you still need to wear protective gear. This gear

can consist of a helmet or a padded hat. After some incidents of baseball players getting struck in
the head with a ball, Major League Baseball came out with a hat to protect the pitchers head.
Concussions can and do happen to anyone you do not have to be an athlete to get a
concussion. Everyone should have a
better understanding of this harsh
injury. I recommend for parents to
take courses and learn about
concussions in depth so they can
take care and recognize any
symptoms their son or daughter has. Concussions are a serious issue in many professional sports.
Today, leagues and professionals are learning how to prepare and prevent these career shattering
injuries. With medical advancements and a better understanding of the science, we are helping
athletes recover from these injuries. In order to understand concussions role on any sport, one
must look at the symptoms, injuries, and side-effects of this condition. With that being said we
society have to find a way to reduce concussions in every aspect of life. Concussions will happen
no matter what but there is always a way to prevent them in some aspects of life such as sports.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 Feb. 2015.
Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/basics.html>.

Edmed, Shannon L., and Karen A. Sullivan. "The Influence of Injury Cause, Contact-sport Participation,
and Personal Knowledge on Expectation of Outcome from Mild Traumatic Brain
Injury." Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 36.3 (2014): 221-35. Academic
Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Gessel, Luke M et al. Concussions Among United States High School and Collegiate
Athletes. Journal of Athletic Training 42.4 (2007): 495503.

Maroon, Joseph C., Robert Winkelman, Jeffrey Bost, Austin Amos, Christina Mathyssek, and Vincent
Miele. "Correction: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Contact Sports: A Systematic Review
of All Reported Pathological Cases." PLOS ONE PLoS ONE 10.6 (2015): 1-16. Academic
Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

"The American Association of Neurological Surgeons." AANS. American Association of Neurological

Surgeons, 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <http://www.aans.org/>.
LaCroix, Emy. San Diego Padres' Alex Torres First To Rock New Padded Baseball Cap During Game.
2014. private collection. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <http://whatstrending.com/news/11952-mlb-gets-anew-protective-hat>.