Concussions are mild to severe brain injuries caused by a blunt hit to the head. Symptoms of a concussion could be headaches, confusion, nausea, dizziness, sleepiness, and lack of coordination; all of which would negatively impact the life of a player. The National Football League (NFL) and other sports organizations should take concussions more seriously due to their possible life-threatening repercussions. It is known that after receiving a concussion, sports players should refrain from playing in games, practicing, and returning once the player is fully recovered. Putting excess stress on the brain after receiving a concussion could cause even more damage to the brain and could even be life threatening. The most devastating outcome from repeated concussions is the contraction of the disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy also known as CTE, which is a degenerative disease that attacks the brain.  The NFL and other sports organizations tend to push aside news of concussions pertaining to their star players to give their team the best chance to win. While coaches and managers may think this is a good idea, if you look at what is in the best interest of the player, keeping them from any further trauma until they recover is a much better option in the long run. A couple of extra victories means nothing when the future of a player's life is on the line.

Concussions are a factor of sports that will always be prevalent as long as sports are played. Concussions can occur in most sports, including baseball, soccer, hockey, and especially football. The sport of football and the NFL have been on the hot seat recently regarding the number and severity of concussions that have been occurring.  The way football is played has evolved from much more dangerous tendencies, however, there is still room for potential adjustment to ensure the safety of the players. "Football was a very different game in the early 1900s than it is today, with frequent pile-ups and scrambles for the ball punctuated by players kicking opponents in the gut or the head. At least 45 players died between 1900 and 1905" (Piazza). Since then the unnecessary violence has been eliminated, leaving injuries that are solely from the game of football. Unfortunately, one of the main injuries is a concussion, which is a very serious risk to the players of the game of football. They are a factor in any sport that involves contact or has objects that move at fast speeds, certain sports are more high risk, such as hockey or football. In the 2015 pro football season there were "271 reported concussions during pre-season and regular season practices and games combined" (NFL Concussions). That is a very large number that does not even take into account all of the concussions that occur but go unreported. A player may simply be uninformed on the signs of a concussion, causing greater risk to the player risking a second concussion. This can easily be avoided by informing players of warning signs that they have a concussion, allowing them to realize when their health and body are in danger.

 Part of the reason that it is so hard to prevent concussions is because of the way that the game is played, which is fast and aggressive. In order to be the best football player that you can be in most cases results in running faster and hitting harder, this consequently leads to injuries, specifically concussions.  The behavior of the players also can correlate with the response of the fans watching the games, one of the most positive reactions come from a big hit laid on an opponent. While it is very unlikely for the fans and supporters of football organizations such as the NFL to change the way they view the game, the next most likely solution is to attempt finding a better functioning helmet.  The helmet currently has a design that consists of a hard outer-shell with a soft cushioned inside.  Leading a hit with the crown of the helmet is the leading reason of concussions. In a recent study on 449 high school and college football players, "nearly 300,000 impacts occurred while helmet accelerations were being monitored; 17 of the impacts produced a concussion. Nearly half of the concussions took place when the impact occurred at the front of the head" (Piazza). Hines Ward, a wide receiver for the Pittsburg Steelers, recently suffered a concussion where he got hit with helmet to helmet contact. Ward had an interesting take on the helmet and how it affects the behavior of the players. "If you want to prevent concussions, take the helmet off: Play old-school football with the leather helmets, no face-mask. When you put a helmet on you're going to use it as a weapon" (Piazza). He suggests that players currently use the helmet to their advantage as they make a big hit on another player. This type of behavior suggests risk compensation among players, which means the use of helmets makes a player feel safer, resulting in taking more risks which puts the player at a greater risk.

The effects of concussions are numerous and consists of many dangerous repercussions, involving dizziness, confusion, headaches, mood changes, and depression. These symptoms are all unwanted and should be avoided at all costs, however it still can be worse for those who suffer from repeated concussions. The most dangerous impact of a concussion has only recently been brought to light, yet it still has not made the public awareness that it deserves. This dangerous symptom is dubbed CTE a degenerative disease that affects the brain. "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic sub concussive hits to the head. CTE" (Piazza). The discovery of this disease has helped bring concussions into the main stream so people will know the true dangers of repeated head trauma. This disease has been found in many former NFL players who had evidence of repeated blows to the head. The symptoms that come along with CTE are similar to those of concussions, but has more extreme symptoms. "The initial symptoms are typically insidious, consisting of irritability, impulsivity, aggression, depression, short-term memory loss and heightened suicidality. The symptoms progress slowly over decades to include cognitive deficits and dementia" (Stein, Alvarez, Mckee). The scariest part of CTE is the correlation of it with the amount of suicides of former NFL players. The link between suicides of former NFL players and concussions should not be overlooked as it is becoming more and more common. "Three former players who committed suicide in the past four years  --  Dave Duerson, Ray Easterling and Junior Seau  --  were all found to have CTE" (Breech). The question of morals is attacked when the correlation of suicides is examined. Is it worth putting the players' life in jeopardy in the preceding years for short term entertainment, while mental illness would not only affect the player but also those around them? It is time for the NFL to start looking into this and to make serious contributions to the research and development of finding a cure to this disease. "With this work, Omalu introduced the finding that suicidality was a prominent clinical feature of CTE. This conclusion appears to be based on the fact that suicide was the cause of death of two of the three cases examined by Omalu; however, the extent to which it was influenced by the extraordinary media coverage of all of the case studies during that period is unknown. In recent years, it has been asserted that suicide is a common clinical feature of CTE" (Carlson). Recently, a film was produced named Concussion, starring Will Smith. This film does a great job in representing the discovery of this disease CTE and the struggle for the people affected to make noise about it.  Since the disease can only be discovered after the person has passed away, it makes it very difficult to tell when a person has CTE, however studies have been done that shows the prevalence of the disease. "Research conducted on almost 100 deceased NFL players revealed that over 95 percent of them tested positive for the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)"(Breech). This study is a prime example that shows how common the disease is amongst football players. With the commonalities of this disease among retired football players, the push for change to ensure safety should be just as common among sports organizations.

There are many valid points out there that suggest concussions are just a part of sports and that there are not actions that need to be taken regarding concussions. These views support keeping sports the way they are and that they are as safe as they need to be. Football has been on the top of the list recently regarding concussions, in response, the pro-football supporters have responded with answers to the concussion crisis. One of the claims is that football is now safer than it has ever been, Daniel Flynn attests to this in his book The War on Football. "Take Barney's claim of a deadlier game. When he won Rookie of the Year in 1967, twenty-four players at all levels of competition died from on-field collisions. Last season, two players died as a result of hits. Over the course of the defensive back's illustrious eleven-year career with the Lions, hits killed an average of twenty-one football players per season. Over the last eleven seasons, violent collisions have claimed the lives of less than four players per year. Football, a sport played by roughly four million Americans, has grown dramatically, and demonstrably, safer since Barney retired" (Flynn). Daniel Flynn supports the idea that football is as safe as it has ever been, and other sports are as safe as possible with the current technology and advancements on safety. Flynn also points out how concussions are going to be a part of the game of football as long as the sport is around. He goes on to suggest that to do what would be necessary to fully prevent concussions would result in defacing the sport entirely. Radio host Rush Limbaugh has a similar view on the subject, in a response to a research plan of installing impact sensors in helmets to record data he states "It's being chickified," Limbaugh said at the end of a long rant last week. "The whole thing. Everything in our culture is being chickified" (Waldron). This ties in the effect that society has on sports involving concussions. Society as a whole has become more sensitive, responding to actions that have never been questioned in the past.

Sports as a whole, especially football, have become safer throughout the years thanks to the advancement of technology and research. Even though sports are considered safer than what they used to be, that does not mean that there are not still extreme dangers in some sports. Football in the past was a much different sport, the number of people who died on the field was much higher than the number today. However, the advancement of technology and research has also lead to discoveries such as CTE, and it has uncovered the long term effects of concussions, which can be considered just as dangerous in the long run as the instantaneous dangers from the past.  The concussion is now better understood and players are more aware of the injury. "CDC reports show that the amount of reported concussions has doubled in the last 10 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that emergency room visits for concussions in kids ages 8 to 13 years old has doubled, and concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14 to 19 in the last decade"(Sports Concussion Statistics). The alarming increasing rates of reported concussions should be a red flag to scientists and researchers that extensively study head trauma injuries and concussions. Considering the massive support system for organizations like the NFL and sports that include concussions such as football, it would need extremely valid reasons for the sport to be changed to the point that it does not look like football anymore. There has been rules and regulations installed that have made an apparent change in concussion rates. One of the rules involved making it against the rules to hit a defenseless player above the shoulders. This rule made an impact on the 2014 season, "The report states that concussions in regular-season games dropped to 112 reported cases in 2014, down from 148 the previous year and 173 in 2012. Additionally, concussions resulting from helmet-to-helmet hits were down 43% to 52 reported cases after 72 occurred in 2013 and 91 in 2012" (Reyes). This is a very promising move in the right direction and leaves much room for improvement. Organizations such as the NFL need to keep addressing these issues and creating ways to further reduce the issue. There are ways to alter the way the game is played without completely changing the game play. Society may be becoming more sensitized, but this does not play a role in the way football is played. The safety of the players is the driving cause to changes made in the sport.

Concussions and head trauma are a factor in many sports and have been since these sports were created. The effects that concussions have on players have been exposed and the research will continue to be carried out to fully understand concussions. The public and everyone involved in these sports need to be aware of the consequences of such injuries. Most importantly the players involved in these sports need to be as well informed as possible on the signs of a concussion. The prevalence and dangers of CTE are very threatening to the well-being of players involved and the family members that also may be affected. The repercussions of avoiding these issues are potentially devastating for many sports players, potentially putting themselves in physical and worst of all, mental danger. It is time for concussions to be in the mainstream until the issue is solved or substantially improved.

