All sports involve some type of risk to the participants body. Injuries can range from mild to severe and can involve any part of the body. When choosing a sport to participate in, many people consider the safety involved in the sport. The sport of football has become heavily scrutinized in regard to the protection of players brains and concussions. Such analysis of the sport has caused football participation to drop and popularity to decline (Draper).  Being a participant in the sport of football at the collegiate level, I take great interest in gaining as much knowledge as possible about concussions and thus the risk involved in football. Because of the concern for my own brain I have sustained, I developed the question, what is being done to combat concussions in football? The concern for football players safety and concussions should not cause the participation and popularity of the sport to drop because of the increased safety measures taken by football leagues all across the world. Football is a contact sport meaning injuries are part of the game; however, extra safety precautions have been implemented to make the game safer including rule changes, making trainers more educated, new technology to diagnose concussions and changes to the way football teams practice.

Over the past decade, concussions have developed a health danger in many sports because of the complexity and importance of the human brain. Football has been among the sports most heavily impacted in regard to popularity and participation because of the sports combative nature causing, in many cases, heavy blows to the head. The crisis technically began in 1997 when former NFL football player Mike Webster gave a slurred and incoherent Hall of Fame induction ceremony speech leading former teammates and coaches to be concerned about his overall well-being. Webster was later diagnosed with CTE or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which is a degenerative brain disease (Fainaru-Wada). Over a 10-year period, numerous former players committed suicide and researches who later studied the players brains reached the conclusion that they committed suicide because of the degenerative brain disease known as CTE (Ezell). In an effort to make the game safer and reduce the number of concussions, in 2011, the NFL began to change certain rules to protect players brains and bodies. The media’s coverage of the concussion crisis was never a hot topic until around 2012 when stories broke about legendary linebacker, Junior Seau committing suicide because of his CTE and short after the NFL noticing a 12% increase in concussions from the prior season (Ezell).  Then in 2013, the NFL agreed to fund a $100 million study by Harvard Medical School regarding head trauma relating to football (Ezell). Later in 2013, the NFL reached a settlement worth $765 million with retired players who suffer from CTE and other concussion related diseases (Ezell). Many rule changes and new technologies have continued to emerge to combat concussions but researchers still are trying to figure out one key component of information. What causes a concussion in football?

Doctors, researches, coaches, players, trainers and more all want to know the answer to the question what causes a concussion in football? If they find the answer to this question they will be able to create safer technology, better treatment options and more rule changes to protect players from concussions. The medical definition for the cause of a concussion is “a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull (Concussion - Topic Overview)”. In football, a player can receive “a blow to the head or body (Concussion - Topic Overview)” in multiple ways. The first way a player can receive a concussion based on the definition above is through head to head contact with another player. This type of hit has been almost completely eliminated in football through several rule changes and education of coaches about proper tackling form but on certain plays there are still accidental head to head contacts. Another way a player can receive a concussion in football based on the definition above is difficult to find a solution to. The player can be tackled legally but land on their head or have their head hit the ground, in the process of being tackled hard, at such a speed that not even the helmet would be able to absorb the entire force of the collision between the head and the ground. Helmets are a very effective way to protect the head during the physical play of a football game. However, many helmet manufactures claim they have produced a helmet that will protect the head completely during head to head hits or hard tackles to the ground but the truth is, at this point in time, no helmet can completely protect a player against concussions. The only ways to truly protect players against concussions is through rule changes, educating coaches and trainers, new technology to diagnose and treat concussions and changes in the way teams practice. 

Rule changes have been a part of football leagues of all levels in attempts to make the game safer since around 2002 but many of the concussion related protective rules in place today were not implemented until 2010 and on (NFL Health and Safety). The explanation for why leagues like the NFL (founded in 1920), have not changed rules sooner is because of the lack of technology to diagnose concussions and the recent emergence of knowledge of concussions in all sports and the effects of them on the human brain. In the NFL, there have been 47 rule changes dealing with protecting players head and neck areas since 2002 (NFL Health and Safety). The major rule changes involve protecting defenseless players which is a very broad subject as a defenseless player can range from a quarterback after throwing a pass to a wide receiver catching a ball to a kicker kicking a field goal. The rules make it illegal to hit so called “defenseless players” in the head or neck area. The foul can result in a 15-yard personal foul penalty. This rule makes it imperative for defensive players to tackle the offensive player with correct form which in turn will protect the defensive player because they will not risk any type of concussion when they use proper form. Another important rule change in the NFL was moving the kickoffs up 5 yards. The NFL noticed a great number of concussions and other head injuries from kickoffs and players running full speed into each other. The goal of this rule was to increase the number of touchbacks which reduces the number of full speed, head on collisions between opposing players. 

Being a college football player, I was interested in the rules that protect college football players from receiving devastating blows to the head which causes concussions. I came across arguably the most hated rule by fans and media of college football which is the targeting penalty. The targeting penalty, which was implemented in 2013, is a very confusing rule. Basically, if a player intentionally hits another player in the head or neck area, a 15-yard penalty is enforced and the player who delivered the hit is ejected for 4 quarters. The definition from the NCAA rulebook states, “No player shall target and make forcible contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. This foul requires that there be at least one indicator of targeting. When in question, it is a foul (Kirk).” The key phrase in the statement above is “forcible contact” and officials and fans (depending on the team they associate themselves with) have an exceedingly different opinion about what forcible contact actually is. The penalty in college results in an ejection which is more severe compared to the NFL mainly because college players are not being paid millions of dollars to put their bodies on the line like NFL players.  The bottom line is that the targeting rule is in place to protect college football players from receiving hard hits to the head or neck area which results in concussions and possibly further brain damage depending on the harshness of the hit.

One of the most important aspects of dealing with concussions in football is the realization of trainers on the field that a concussion has been suffered and the player is not allowed to go back in until further treatment. If the player goes back in they are subject to further brain damage and in some cases death because of the physical nature the sport of football entails. Because of the complexity of the concussion injury, there is no correct and accurate way to diagnose a concussion. Most of the time, the trainer will have to go off of what the patient is feeling which requires the patient to articulate their exact symptoms. Symptoms of a concussion include not thinking clearly, feeling slowed down, not being able to concentrate, nausea, headache, dizziness, sensitivity to light or noise and sleeping more than usual (Concussion - Topic Overview). Obviously, there is a wide variety of symptoms which can make it hard for doctors and trainers to justify if the patient actually has a concussion. In some cases, the patient may not want to miss an extended period of time and may lie to the trainer or doctor about their symptoms in order to keep playing the game they love. For this reason, and many other reasons, other treatment technologies have been or are being developed to further assist with diagnosing and treating concussions.

There is a great number of treatment options for concussions but the question is whether or not the treatment options work. Ironically, during my initial research on concussions, I was selected to take part in a concussion study with the University of South Carolina and Brain Scope and I found the technology they were testing on me very interesting. I was a control in the experiment so they ran multiple tests on me involving my brain waves and memory and they compared my results with a person who has a concussion. The goal is to use the device that Brain Scope invented to immediately diagnose concussions in an accurate manner. This is just one treatment option that I physically encountered and there are multiple other options. 

One of the commonly used diagnostic tests for concussions is called the Impact Test. The tests require the participant to fill out a survey of symptoms they are currently experiencing. Then, the participant goes through a series of memory tests using various shapes, colors, numbers and symbols. Based on the results of the concussed test and a test that must be recorded when the patient does not have a concussion, the trainers and doctors will make the decision on whether or not the patient has a concussion. Being a college football player at the University of South Carolina, I have taken this test to establish a baseline score. The baseline score is used in comparison to a concussion that I may suffer sometime in the future. The Impact Test serves as one treatment option to better diagnose a concussion.

Helmet technologies are quickly coming up with new helmet technologies to help reduce concussions in football. Recently, several NFL players have volunteered to use the “VICIS Zero1 helmet” (Maese). NFL stars including Alex Smith, Russell Wilson, and Dak Prescott all use the new technology. The helmet is different from other helmets because it uses “engineering principles more commonly seen in the automotive field. (Maese)” According to the Washington Post, “The outer shell is softer and more pliable, made from flexible thermoplastic. Beneath it is a layer of more than 500 small columns, each measuring an inch or so long, which absorb force and also twist and move laterally, lessening the impact of rotational acceleration, a major concussion culprit. (Maese)” Basically the company is reducing the impact forces to the head which in turn will lower the number of concussions and make football safer. 

For years, treatment options for concussions mainly include limiting electronic screen time, dimming the lights in a room and not doing any activities that require an immense amount of concentration or attention (Kilgore). Normally the recovery for a concussion can range from weeks to even months in some cases. However, a new pill is being researched and created that can diagnose and treat concussions in a much faster manner. This pill is called “the concussion pill (Tanier)” and can effectively treat concussions and repair the damage that causes long-term brain damage. The benefit of this innovation would not stop at football players and can range from car accident victims to stroke patients. According to Dr. William Korinek, the CEO of Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, the pill will be ready by around 2025 (Tanier). Although 2025 is a long way away, the progress being show in concussion research is very impressive when looking at the potential in some of the ideas at hand. 

Football teams at both the collegiate level and professional level have changed the way that they practice, reducing the number of concussions on their teams.  NFL pro football players  have been spreading the message across football teams on all platforms that the hard hitting, highlight real plays that most people see on game day is limited to just game day (Healy). This means that practices are becoming less physical reps and more mental reps. NFL teams have changed the way the practiced, limiting the full speed contact drills to game day only. The same strategy can be seen across the college football platform as rule changes have made it so that teams cannot partake in “two-a-day” practices (Healy). As a college football player, I have experienced first-hand the change in practice schedule. As a team, we do not take players to the ground and limit the hard hitting do game days only. This change in practice schedules among football teams greatly reduces the number of concussions suffered in football. 

Many people who do not think football is safe enough to participate in believe that there are consequences at stake for players brains after they retire from football. Challengers of the idea that football is safe enough to play believe that retired players have showed a high amount of cases of CTE, dementia, Alzheimer's, and other memory related brain problems (Durando). People who believe such do have a point because players from recent decades have suffered from such memory problems. However, the players who suffered from such memory related problems played in a time period where helmet technologies were not as well developed as they are today, diagnostic options were almost none existent, and the rules of the football leagues did not have the players brains protected like they do nowadays. Also, the number of players who suffered from such memory disorders is subjective to whether or not players chose to have their brains tested for CTE and other disorders. Thus, because of the media coverage of people who have committed suicide because of CTE and suffer from brain disorders, is actually much lower than what it seems. Another opposing viewpoint is that concussions are only associated in football and not any other sports. This point is misunderstood because of the publicity of the hard hits in football and the excessive amount of media coverage about concussions in football. I found a study done across 12 boys sports and 12 women’s sports in regard to concussion rates and found some interesting data. According to a study found in a scholarly data base, “the collision sports of football and boys’ lacrosse had the highest number of concussions and football the highest concussion rate, concussion occurred in all other sports and was observed in girls’ sports at rates similar to or higher than those of boys’ sports (Lincoln).” Concussions are not just injuries that happen in football, as many opposing viewpoints believe. This means that concussion treatment options should not just be allocated to football teams but all teams because of the great risk involved in playing sports in general. 

The risk involved in playing football and getting a concussion has been significantly lowered through education of trainers and coaches, new technologies in helmets and treatment options, and rule changes protecting players. As with any other sport, there are a great number of risks involved when partaking in the activity. However, football has received a bad rap because of the medias exaggeration of a few stories of football players with brain disorders. Rather, people need to realize the immense amount of changes being made to the game to make it safer. The concussion crisis can be put to sleep because of such rule changes and new technologies making the game of football much safer. 
