09-03-2017, 02:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-03-2017, 04:45 AM by cosbornballboy.)
Football fans know all too well well how it looks and how it sounds. From just off screen or just out of sight there is a flash followed by a pop. Helmets collide. A player is slow to get up. This is an average week in the sport of American football. No These kind of hits can result in concussions or other types of head injuries, and ultimately, result in brain damage. Today, we must look at; Why is this a problem, why is this a concern? Well, first we will look at what concussions are. Second, we will look at the sad reality behind these injuries. And finally, we will look at what is currently being done to combat this, and the steps that still need to be taken.
Let’s first address the main question we need to know the answer to in order to grasp this concept. What exactly is a concussion? It’s a brain injury, sure, but what does that actually mean? What may help us understand it further is that it is referred to as an MTBI, a mild-traumatic brain injury. And this illustrates one of the main problems and relative dangers of these injuries. People tend to make a mild-traumatic brain injury by giving them a name that makes them sound more mild than they actually are and doesn’t address what is actually occurring. The name “concussion” brings much less legitimacy to the problem than the name “mild-traumatic brain injury.” But even when referring to this phenomenon as a “concussion,” it is still important to develop a better understanding of what it is. According to WebMD, “A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull.” Now, your brain is a soft organ that is surrounded by spinal fluid and protected by your hard skull. Normally, the fluid around your brain acts like a cushion that keeps your brain from banging into your skull. But if your head or your body is hit hard enough, your brain can crash into your skull and incur injury, and these injuries can lead to complications down the line. Now the question is, why does this harm people other than the fact that it causes long-term brain damage? Well, short term effects come in the form of symptoms, which may include, according to Mayo Clinic, “headache, confusion, lack of coordination, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, ringing in the ears, sleepiness, excessive fatigue, and mild depression.” And these are just short-term effects. Now, we must look at the sad reality behind concussions and brain injury that occurs in high school football, as well as college and the NFL, and how this can affect the game of football.
First, we look towards HLN, a branch of CNN and I quote, “From 1966 to 2014, 46 college-level and eight pro-level players lost their lives as a direct result of on-field play. The number for high school level players -- 343.” That’s an average of 7 to 8 high-schoolers per year, ages 14 to 18, losing their life on the field, playing….a game…... While that may not seem like a big number, in the case of a supposedly “well-protected” sport, this number should, ideally be 0, or, at worst, a freak accident case of 1. Returning to the wording of these statistics, it says “lost their lives as a DIRECT result of on field play.” This does not mention anything about players who had sustained injuries that took them out of football, or players who had their clock cleaned one too many times, which would lead to dire consequences. One such player is former NFL Linebacker for the Chargers, and a beloved San Diego icon, Junior Seau. Seau retired from pro football after the 2009 season. A standout on San Diego's only Super Bowl team, he was later inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame and the team retired his number 55. In May of 2012, Junior Seau committed suicide. According to ESPN, “Seau's brain had tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression.” It was all too easy to identify there was something wrong with him. According to wired.com, “After retirement, he told neighbor Taylor Twellman, an MLS soccer player, that he sustained many concussions and had been suffering from a headache “for years.” He also battled insomnia and was prone to uncharacteristic aggression.” This uncharacteristic aggression included domestic violence among other things. This was noticeably different from his normal behavior, and should have been an immediate indicator of the disease. The reasoning for the chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, he had developed was that, after too many head-to-head collisions over the years, his mental state deteriorated, as did his ability to think logically. Seau was 43 years old. Many people misconceive CTE as something that develops in only very few football players. However, 29 former NFL players whose brains were examined post-mortem were confirmed to have CTE, and 33 living players are confirmed to have CTE or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. And this is just in the time we have had the technology to identify CTE, with the first documented case being recorded in 2005. Of the 29 players who had a confirmed CTE diagnosis, 6 of them, including Seau, committed suicide. For more solid comparative statistics, according to the Kansas City Star, “The grim list of football players with CTE continues to grow. In a study released in October, 87 of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science tested positive for the disease.” Now, doing the math, that’s 96 PERCENT! That’s a frighteningly high number. That’s like percentage of people who dislike Iggy Azalea numbers! Is Iggy still relevant? Regardless, that percent should not be the overwhelming majority, let alone be that high. So what are we doing about it?
Well, currently the NFL has put in place a concussion protocol, which sets standards to protect players from playing with concussions. However, two things are wrong with this. First of all, concussion protocol was not enacted until 2009, far too late for the likes of players like Seau. Second of all, that does not protect players from sustaining concussions in the first place. In fact, there have already been fourteen players suffering concussions this season in the NFL, and 44 players with suspected concussion, with diagnoses that have not yet been disclosed. However, there have been advancements in reducing concussions, such as mandatory removal from the game and required concussion protocol. But still, 96 percent of players should not have this disease. So what further advancements can be made to ensure player safety? Perhaps we need to start thinking outside the box. A professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, who doesn’t actually have an NCAA football team, Ray Colello, has developed rudimentary plans, and has run tests, using magnets to prevent concussions. Yes, magnets. Measured in G-Forces, football hits can range from 5 Gs to up to 200 Gs. To give a point of comparison, a fighter pilot experiences, at most, about 9 Gs when doing a barrell roll. Concussions start to occur at 100 Gs. Colello has found a way to, using the repulsive forces of magnets, lower these forces, and according to an article by VCU News, “What he found was that, in the absence of magnets, a 10-pound weight dropped at 24 inches could generate 65 Gs upon impact. With magnets, the impact was reduced to 17 Gs. Similarly, the same weight dropped from 48 inches produced 120 Gs in the absence of magnets, but only 88 Gs in the presence of magnets, which is well below the threshold for concussions. The G-force is reduced because the time of the collision is increased by milliseconds.” It is these kind of out-of-the-box ideas that are needed to reduce the health risks that come with playing football.
With all of the previously mentioned factors in mind, I advocate that the United States Federal Government put in place a committee to regulate concussion protocol in the NSFL. This committee would help regulate by developing standards for determining how to ensure players are ready to return to the field. On top of this, the United States can use the violent nature of the sport as a reason to require the NFL to pay 750 million of its nearly $7.5 billion revenue per year to put towards medical research. More specifically, using that money to continue and find new research. Research among the likes of Ray Colello's work with magnets, that type of out-of-the-box thinking that can bring more safety to the sport of football.
In conclusion, the sad reality behind concussions doesn’t have to be a reality, if we just look ahead into the future. While it is obvious that we will never fully eradicate the concussion or prevent the loss of lives, I just hope that, by using out of the box solutions, one day I can sit down and watch at ease my Patriots make a 25-point comeback in the 4th quarter, with the knowledge that they aren’t risking their lives to make a living, and entertain the American sports fan.
(1553 words, I have removed things that were called out for plagarism, that was not intended. Now ready for grading, plagarism free)
Let’s first address the main question we need to know the answer to in order to grasp this concept. What exactly is a concussion? It’s a brain injury, sure, but what does that actually mean? What may help us understand it further is that it is referred to as an MTBI, a mild-traumatic brain injury. And this illustrates one of the main problems and relative dangers of these injuries. People tend to make a mild-traumatic brain injury by giving them a name that makes them sound more mild than they actually are and doesn’t address what is actually occurring. The name “concussion” brings much less legitimacy to the problem than the name “mild-traumatic brain injury.” But even when referring to this phenomenon as a “concussion,” it is still important to develop a better understanding of what it is. According to WebMD, “A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull.” Now, your brain is a soft organ that is surrounded by spinal fluid and protected by your hard skull. Normally, the fluid around your brain acts like a cushion that keeps your brain from banging into your skull. But if your head or your body is hit hard enough, your brain can crash into your skull and incur injury, and these injuries can lead to complications down the line. Now the question is, why does this harm people other than the fact that it causes long-term brain damage? Well, short term effects come in the form of symptoms, which may include, according to Mayo Clinic, “headache, confusion, lack of coordination, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, ringing in the ears, sleepiness, excessive fatigue, and mild depression.” And these are just short-term effects. Now, we must look at the sad reality behind concussions and brain injury that occurs in high school football, as well as college and the NFL, and how this can affect the game of football.
First, we look towards HLN, a branch of CNN and I quote, “From 1966 to 2014, 46 college-level and eight pro-level players lost their lives as a direct result of on-field play. The number for high school level players -- 343.” That’s an average of 7 to 8 high-schoolers per year, ages 14 to 18, losing their life on the field, playing….a game…... While that may not seem like a big number, in the case of a supposedly “well-protected” sport, this number should, ideally be 0, or, at worst, a freak accident case of 1. Returning to the wording of these statistics, it says “lost their lives as a DIRECT result of on field play.” This does not mention anything about players who had sustained injuries that took them out of football, or players who had their clock cleaned one too many times, which would lead to dire consequences. One such player is former NFL Linebacker for the Chargers, and a beloved San Diego icon, Junior Seau. Seau retired from pro football after the 2009 season. A standout on San Diego's only Super Bowl team, he was later inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame and the team retired his number 55. In May of 2012, Junior Seau committed suicide. According to ESPN, “Seau's brain had tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression.” It was all too easy to identify there was something wrong with him. According to wired.com, “After retirement, he told neighbor Taylor Twellman, an MLS soccer player, that he sustained many concussions and had been suffering from a headache “for years.” He also battled insomnia and was prone to uncharacteristic aggression.” This uncharacteristic aggression included domestic violence among other things. This was noticeably different from his normal behavior, and should have been an immediate indicator of the disease. The reasoning for the chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, he had developed was that, after too many head-to-head collisions over the years, his mental state deteriorated, as did his ability to think logically. Seau was 43 years old. Many people misconceive CTE as something that develops in only very few football players. However, 29 former NFL players whose brains were examined post-mortem were confirmed to have CTE, and 33 living players are confirmed to have CTE or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. And this is just in the time we have had the technology to identify CTE, with the first documented case being recorded in 2005. Of the 29 players who had a confirmed CTE diagnosis, 6 of them, including Seau, committed suicide. For more solid comparative statistics, according to the Kansas City Star, “The grim list of football players with CTE continues to grow. In a study released in October, 87 of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science tested positive for the disease.” Now, doing the math, that’s 96 PERCENT! That’s a frighteningly high number. That’s like percentage of people who dislike Iggy Azalea numbers! Is Iggy still relevant? Regardless, that percent should not be the overwhelming majority, let alone be that high. So what are we doing about it?
Well, currently the NFL has put in place a concussion protocol, which sets standards to protect players from playing with concussions. However, two things are wrong with this. First of all, concussion protocol was not enacted until 2009, far too late for the likes of players like Seau. Second of all, that does not protect players from sustaining concussions in the first place. In fact, there have already been fourteen players suffering concussions this season in the NFL, and 44 players with suspected concussion, with diagnoses that have not yet been disclosed. However, there have been advancements in reducing concussions, such as mandatory removal from the game and required concussion protocol. But still, 96 percent of players should not have this disease. So what further advancements can be made to ensure player safety? Perhaps we need to start thinking outside the box. A professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, who doesn’t actually have an NCAA football team, Ray Colello, has developed rudimentary plans, and has run tests, using magnets to prevent concussions. Yes, magnets. Measured in G-Forces, football hits can range from 5 Gs to up to 200 Gs. To give a point of comparison, a fighter pilot experiences, at most, about 9 Gs when doing a barrell roll. Concussions start to occur at 100 Gs. Colello has found a way to, using the repulsive forces of magnets, lower these forces, and according to an article by VCU News, “What he found was that, in the absence of magnets, a 10-pound weight dropped at 24 inches could generate 65 Gs upon impact. With magnets, the impact was reduced to 17 Gs. Similarly, the same weight dropped from 48 inches produced 120 Gs in the absence of magnets, but only 88 Gs in the presence of magnets, which is well below the threshold for concussions. The G-force is reduced because the time of the collision is increased by milliseconds.” It is these kind of out-of-the-box ideas that are needed to reduce the health risks that come with playing football.
With all of the previously mentioned factors in mind, I advocate that the United States Federal Government put in place a committee to regulate concussion protocol in the NSFL. This committee would help regulate by developing standards for determining how to ensure players are ready to return to the field. On top of this, the United States can use the violent nature of the sport as a reason to require the NFL to pay 750 million of its nearly $7.5 billion revenue per year to put towards medical research. More specifically, using that money to continue and find new research. Research among the likes of Ray Colello's work with magnets, that type of out-of-the-box thinking that can bring more safety to the sport of football.
In conclusion, the sad reality behind concussions doesn’t have to be a reality, if we just look ahead into the future. While it is obvious that we will never fully eradicate the concussion or prevent the loss of lives, I just hope that, by using out of the box solutions, one day I can sit down and watch at ease my Patriots make a 25-point comeback in the 4th quarter, with the knowledge that they aren’t risking their lives to make a living, and entertain the American sports fan.
(1553 words, I have removed things that were called out for plagarism, that was not intended. Now ready for grading, plagarism free)
[center][img src="https://i.imgur.com/8TovWce.png "width="450"]
[div align=center][SELECT style="background-color:Red; color:black; font-family:Times; font-size: 15px; width: 260px; "][br][OPTION]|| Chase Osborn || RB || S17 Draftee ||
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[div align=center][SELECT style="background-color:Red; color:black; font-family:Times; font-size: 15px; width: 260px; "][br][OPTION]|| Chase Osborn || RB || S17 Draftee ||
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