Today, sports are a common place for many. Everywhere you look children, college students, and adults are playing some type of sport. Whether that be for competition or just a relaxing game of golf, everyone can relate to sports in one way or another. But the real sport I’m focused on is those of contact, specifically football. Football, that practically owns Saturday with NCAA football and Sunday with the NFL. A sport many Americans love to watch and play. A sport where fans and players go crazy after a huge hit. But have you ever stopped to think about what hit after hit does to the brain later in life? Or what the effects of concussions are? Through many research studies and examinations of desist former NFL players brains, one can conclude that football has a direct correlation to head injuries such as concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). One could even say that the sport of football could be considered dangerous. 

For one to understand this, they might want to know what a concussion is and how it effects the brain and a person themselves. Author Jeffery Feden states himself “Concussion is defined as a complex pathophysiologic process resulting in transient neurologic dysfunction following a biomechanical insult to the brain, with or without loss of consciousness (Pg. 23).” Putting this into terms everyone can understand a concussion is where the brain shifts in your head colliding into the skull. This occurs from normally from large collisions like in football but can also happen from things such as a car crash. There are many symptoms to concussions that range from physical, cognitive, and behavioral. Some of the physical signs are headache, nausea/vomiting, fatigue, and sleep disturbance. Cognitive and mental ones being memory loss and confusion. Some behavioral issues could be something along the lines of depression, anxiety, and irritability. Now knowing all about a concussion and rwhat causes them, one can picture in a football game the hundreds of hits to the head every game could do to someone.

 Everyone knows football is a violent sport and that big hits are commonality in the game now. But has one ever thought about the science behind hits and how easy it to sustain a concussion? From a TED Talk presented by Kim Gorgens a Neuropsychologist, she breaks it down for the audience. Gorgens’s presentation has multiple clips of impacts that could occur to someone. She states, “A car accident 40 MPH into a fixed barrier 35 G’s, a heavyweight boxer punches you straight in the face 58 G’s” next she goes on to a clip of a big hit in football, tells the crowed that it was 103 G’s of force. The average concussion impact force is only 95 G’s. One who watches football regularly knows multiple violent/big hits could happen in a single game. That penitently could be multiple concussions a game and there’s nothing to stop that because its physics, you can’t stop gravitation force. It’s part of life.  

Like I mentioned earlier through studies doctors have been able to gain important information on what happens from repeated concussions. A study from the medical team at UCLA conducted test on 5 former NFL players who have had multiple concessions on the field. Through this research of the 5 players doctors noticed in the brain with protein deposits that have been observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. You can see that these former NFL players who are still living today have developing brain issues directly because of their time on the football field. The most deadly and dangerous of the head conditions out there though is one named Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). It the worst because it can only be detected from an autopsy on the brain, so obviously the person has died. In the UCLA research according to Dr. Jorge R. Barrio “The FDDNP binding patterns in the players' scans were consistent with the tau deposit patterns that have been observed at autopsy in CTE cases.” These players in the study are still living so this could be a break through on detecting CTE before death. 

When you think of football you think the NFL, a company who practically owns a day of the week, and makes billions of dollars a year. Something you might not have heard with them though is the recent story that broke in July of 2017, stating that in a study of 110 out of 111 studied brains of dead NFL players tested positive for CTE. That is not 50%, not 75%, and not 89%, that’s 99% of studied brains tested positive for this disease. If one doesn’t think that football and CTE and head trauma are related, I don’t know how you could argue with this study. Author Michael McCann states “Such numbers add to the mounting evidence of the long-term danger of playing football, intensifying the questions surrounding the game and its future: Is football in danger? Can it ever be made sufficiently safe? Will young people begin turning away?” He states in the quote “danger of playing football”, has the game off football become so violent and bone rattling that we have to consider it dangerous? Football is fun while it lasts but the effects in the long run could outweigh the fun. 

There have been things that football and specifically the NFL have done to help prevent injuries and hit likely to cause concussions. NCAA college football and NFL have a strict rule on helmet to helmet contact. If a player is found guilty of that in college football, they are ejected from the game immediately. And in NFL there is a penalty and usually a fine followed from the league. There are always the people out there who have an opposite opinion of many and believe the other side. Former NFL player Marvin Washington who played for 11 years thinks the NFL is safer than it’s ever been. Mr. Washington proclaims 

“Over the last few years, the N.F.L. has made 39 rule changes to enhance player safety. Kickoffs were moved to the 35-yard line from the 30-yard line to increase touchbacks and decrease dangerous kickoff returns. A more rigorous protocol was established for dealing with concussions. Independent medical spotters can now call a timeout if they see that a player may have been concussed. Receivers on a pass that is intercepted are now classified as defenseless players. These are just a few recent changes that have had measurable results” 

Looking at his examples you can see there has been an effort made to help protect the players. Many believe this isn’t enough though or not working. One specific example of this is the recent death of former player and prisoner Aaron Hernandez. 

Aaron Hernandez was convicted of murder in June of 2013. Just this year on April 19th he committed suicide by hanging. Hernandez played football since he was 14, then went on to play four years of football at the University of Florida, finally ending his career with three 3 seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots. After Hernandez’s death doctors did an autopsy on him and examined his brain. What doctors found was quite surprising. Stated in the article “was 27 when he committed suicide in April. Yet a posthumous examination of his brain showed he had such a severe form of the degenerative brain disease C.T.E. that the damage was akin to that of players well into their 60s” (Ken Belson). Hernandez played in the NFL since the rule changes went in place I mentioned earlier. And he still had a case of maybe the worst CTE ever examined in a brain at only the age of 27. What do you think brains of players like Ray Lewis who played in the league for 17 years? Kids who start playing football at young age which most do, then go on to have a successful career in the sport, Could be looking at a dangerous road after their football time is up. 

A pattern of sports related concussions in early ages, mostly high school are where doctors are finding a major problem. The human brain doesn’t stop fully stop developing till the age of 25. Kids in high school range from the age of 15-18, one of the more critical times in brain development. A study from Ryan A. Sprouse, states “visits to emergency departments for sports concussion doubled in the 8–13-year-old group; in 14–19-year olds, the incidence had increased by more than 200%”. this is specific static on football player. Kids who are suffering these concussions are harming the brain worst then an adult playing football because of the undeveloped brain. Parents who have kids that play football should be aware of the risks that go into playing and the effects that it could leave on their kids, not just physically but the mentally. 

There are a few solutions to the “Concussion Crisis” but honestly not very feasible for many. The first being stop the sports completely. This being one of the most unlikely one out there. Sports are a staple in kids and adults lives today. According to Sprouse, “44 million young people participating in sports activities annually”, that amount of people aren’t going to stop playing something they love because of a possible concussion that might not even affect them till later in their live. For me personally I would never stop playing lacrosse just because I could be at risk for a possible injury that may or may not happen. Sports are a way of life for so many. Many teams through high school to the pros have strict protocol on how a player can return to play if they are expected of a concussion. In the NFL they have a doctor who has no affiliation with either team on each sideline that deals with the player who might seem to have a concussion to make sure there fit for play again. Looking for signs such as increased emotion, fatigue, and sensitivity to light. 

This is good because if a concussion is undiagnosed and a second one occurs it can end deadly for the player. From an article called Buckle Your Chinstrap: Why Youth, High School, and College Football Should Adopt the NFL’s Concussion Management Policies and Procedures the author Hunsucker states again “NFL has promulgated, its return-to-play policy is the strongest candidate for adoption by states into their statutes because it is already the most widely adopted. Such an adoption would directly inform the standard of care for concussion management regardless of whether the entity is public or private” (Pg. 821). Many are not sure how to solve this problem without mass disturbances. New helmets have come out every year and concussions still happen regularly. Dr. Frank Webbe states “when athletes engage in rough, physical play there is an inevitability of injury, including head injury” (Pg. 4). Research will have to continue greatly, and players will have to stay focused heavily, but I personally believe concussions in contact sports won’t stop happening till one hangs up their helmets and pads for good and walks away.

Sports are not just an entertainment factor for many today, but a way of life. It’s how people have fun, forget about the things going on in their lives, and how people make friends. Football the one sport that people will be glued to for a whole 12 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Could be the sport many parents might not want their kids to be playing. The concussion crisis is contact sports is at a high right now and needs to be addressed. Many researchers are finding scary facts related to head injuries and CTE with the common denominator being football. As much as people love football and love playing America needs to find a way to limit the brain damage or lives of many will be difficult in their futures. 

 