Concussions are a growing and relevant topic, in today’s sports and health. Information from research found in recent studies, has caused more players, doctors, trainers, and parents to worry and be cautious. This led to my question, should parents of athletes stop their child from playing in contact sports? In this paper, I will show that due to the harmful short term effects studies have shown, regulations that have been put in place from legal cases, and first person experiences that describe the horrors of concussions, the best decision for parents would be to prevent their child from participating in violent contact sports. Non-contact sports could be used as a safer alternative, while still giving the same benefits as contact sports. Although it may not be the most popular, or favored answer, it is still the safest option. The consequences that have been discovered in recent research, are too serious for a child’s health to put at risk. Until new technology is created, that can guarantee the safety of an athlete, parents need to keep their child away from such violent sports.  

When talking of contact sports, this mainly includes any sport that has possible collisions that could cause head trauma. Obviously, there are multiple sports, even non-contact, that could involve an injury to the head, but there is higher cause for injury in these contact sports. These sports mainly include football, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, or any sport that involves intentional collision. For this paper, the focus will be directed on more popular sports in the U.S. such as football and soccer, so that the audience will be able to relate better. For example, many believe that soccer is a “non-violent” and soft sport, but research shows a large increase in the rate of concussions in the sport of soccer (Cornstock, Dawn, etc.). A study done by three scientists, in 2015, was completed to observe the trends over time in boys and girls high school soccer concussions, and identify the reasons that commonly lead to the injury. Results from the study showed that an overall rate of concussions increased over the time of the study, and the main reasons were due to athlete-athlete contact, and heading (using your head to hit the ball) (Cornstock, Dawn, etc.). I personally played soccer on a high school varsity team for four years. During my four years of playing, I received three concussions from heading the ball, and head to head contact from a challenge on the ball. I spent two weeks recovering from each accident, due to the complications of receiving the concussion. Using the results from this experiment, and personal experience, you can see how common and easy it is for an athlete to sustain a concussion during the game of a sport, even one that isn’t considered as dangerous as others. It also may come to surprise, but bike riding is also a leading cause in sports related concussions (Camarillo, David), adding on the variety of ways a concussion could be sustained. In addition to experiments, there is also plenty of science behind the harmful effects of a concussion. The Rhode Island Medical Journal defines a concussion as “...a complex pathophysiologic process resulting in transient neurologic dysfunction following a biomechanical insult to the brain, with or without loss of consciousness. Falling on the mild end of a traumatic brain injury spectrum.” (Feden, Jefferey P).  In sport concussion are usually caused by collision of the head to another athlete, ground, or ball. Whenever the skull contacts the surface of another hard object, the brain catches up with the skull and then makes a collision with the bone, causing the swelling and damage of the brain (Camarillo, David).  Once an athlete sustains head trauma, they may experience any of twenty different symptoms of a concussion, ranging from a headache to nausea, or irritability (Feden, Jefferey P).  However, these symptoms are not always easy to recognize by an athletic trainer or medic, which is a possible explanation to why so many concussions can go unnoticed (Feden, Jefferey P).  Athletes could possibly hide their symptoms to continue playing, or just may not realize the severity of the symptom until later. As many know, rest is always required for an injury to the head to ensure a safe and complete recovery. Without a rest or break from physical activity, more trauma can be sustained to the patient. There were phenomena presented in the mid 1980’s that supports this idea, called second impact syndrome, which refers to a second impact to the head prior to a full recovery of an initial concussion. If this syndrome were to occur, it could possibly lead to serious cerebral cortex injury of the brain, and permanent neurologic disability or death (Feden, Jefferey P). This syndrome shows very serious and deadly short term causes, however there is not a whole lot of evidence to support, and seems to be incredibly rare.  With all the information presented, it seems as if scientist have only scratched the surface behind the research of concussions. There are plenty of red flags, and dangers of putting an athlete in risk of such injuries. 

Due to the severity of concussions and the possible dangers they present, there have been many legal cases that have been brought forward to make safe regulations. In the Marquette Sports Law Review, the author mentions how younger athletes are more vulnerable to concussions than adults. They require a longer recovery period, and are more sustainable to deal with the effects. (Wilson, Marie-France) Due to the vulnerability and dangers of these young athletes, this article presents a variety of legal regulations put in high schools, and required by the state to abide to, regarding a high school in sport concussion. One of the most important, and known regulation that has been put in place is the RTP (return to play) guidelines presented from the 2008 Zurich Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport. The outline of this legal consensus, requires an athlete who has a concussion must not return to any activity until the patient participates in light aerobic exercises without any symptoms arising (Wilson, Marie-France). It also discourages any athlete from returning to the sport, within twenty-four hours to ensure the safety of the player. RTP guidelines have served as a major safety concern through the nation. The Zackery Lystedt Law in Washington State in 2009, required all fifty states to enact some form of concussion legislation, to increase awareness and improve athlete safety across the nation (Feden, Jefferey P). Although adults are less susceptible of receiving concussions, the NFL has created rules to secure the safety of the players, such as the act of removing a player from the game if their helmet comes off during a play (Fainaru-Wada, Mark., and Fainaru). RTP decisions are usually made by coaches, parents, or doctors, but as mentioned earlier, most concussions can go unnoticed due to various reasons. With such a concern, undiagnosed concussions have caused many legal cases which have also produced laws to protect young athletes. For example, in the Serrell v. Connetquot Central High School District case, a student athlete claimed that his high school athletic association failed to promote the guidelines found in the RTP rules (Wilson, Marie-France). The court ruled that the association is only responsible for scheduling games, however the schools and school district were responsible to provide the medical personnel who should make RTP decisions (Wilson, Marie-France). The result of this case, caused several states to require a concussion management program with RTP guidelines in their schools (Wilson, Marie-France). By having these programs, it allows for medical personnel to closely monitor any student athlete with possible symptoms of a concussion. Another example, comes from a family in Seattle. The son of this family, received a concussion during a high school football game. The high school did a poor job of ensuring his health, by sending him back to play too early. In response, the family took the issue to court, which created a state law that made requirements for an injured athlete to complete, before returning to play. This case supports the RTP guidelines, and shows the danger of negligence in schools regarding the health of a student athlete.  These legal cases, and laws that have been put in place show the concern across the nation of concussions in student athletes. Due to the dangers and cautions of multiple contact sports, many laws and regulations have been required to protect the health of athletes. 

The short-term effects have been known to be severe and possibly deadly, but concussions also give terrible long term effects. The second impact syndrome was mentioned before as a short-term caution from one of the three major concerns after a concussion, the other main concerns are post-concussion syndrome, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Feden, Jefferey P). Post- concussion syndrome is understood in many ways in the medical field, but is generalized to be persistent cognitive, physical, or emotional issues that are present well after a concussion time frame of recovery (Feden, Jefferey P). Some signs of prolonged symptoms include, migraines or headaches, difficulty learning in a classroom, or any sleeping problems occurring about eight to ten weeks after a concussion (Feden, Jefferey P). There’s reason that RTP laws have been passed, to allow an athlete to have enough time to completely heal after a concussion. If an athlete sustains another hit to the head before they are fully healed, it can exacerbate the symptoms or possibly worsen the process of recovering (Feden, Jefferey P).  The other concern of a concussion is the possibility of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which describes the cumulative repeated hits to the head (Feden, Jefferey P).  With the repetitive head trauma incidents, this theory is suggesting that there are some harmful long term causes associated with the damage that is caused to the brain. Research supports that neurological functions may decrease with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), like the same effects that disease’s such as Alzheimer's, or dementia may cause (Feden, Jefferey P).  Although there is not strong research behind these claims yet, the repercussions are too serious to put at risk. The authors of League of Denial The NFL, Concussions, and The Battle for Truth, interview a brain surgeon who was once a professional football player, to show how his opinion of contact sports completely changed after all his research was done. He talks about how head trauma is inevitable is football, despite all the pads, and how much the NFL has hidden regulations of player safety just to improve ratings (Fainaru-Wada, Mark., and Fainaru). More from this book shows how possible brain trauma from football had a correlation to multiple early deaths of former NFL players. This is terrible news to come across, but needs to be shown to warn all current athletes of the dangers they are putting their body in. For example, the book talks about former linebacker, Junior Seau, who committed suicide at an early of age of 43 due to possible brain damage from football. The brain scan of Junior, showed very dark colors and distortion compared to an average brain scan (Fainaru-Wada, Mark., and Fainaru). Once again this is hard and terrifying evidence to see, but the information needs to be known by any current participating athlete. In addition, Bo Jackson, a hall of famer in the NFL, recently came out to the media to say he would’ve never played football if he knows what he does now (Chari, Mike).  This also has a lot of meaning behind it. One of the most famous and athletic players of all time is saying he would’ve never played due to the terrible repercussions of concussions and, hits to the head. Bo went on to describe how his life is harder now, because of all the hits he sustained during his career. Claiming that it’s hard for him to even remember what he walks into the room for, along with simple tasks (Chari, Mike). All these claims of a post concussive symptoms are serious, but evidence presented by David Camarillo shows us that damage in the brain does show overtime. His research of players who are involved in head-on-head contact significantly decrease the size of the corpus coliseum in the brain (Camarillo, David).  This information supports all the claims of long term symptoms from a concussion. With all these negative effects, it shows that concussions can seriously cause complications throughout life.    

While there are so many negative aspects to contact sports, others can argue of multiple pros that these sports can give. For example, many believe that participating in community sports can build strong social skills for athletes, along with the chance to work as a team with peers. Physical exercise is also an important factor for a developing child to get. Carol Gerber, a sports medicine scientist, writes about how all these different types of exercises such as, cardio, resistance, flexibility, and neuromata training, improves the mental and physical health in adults and adolescents (Garber, Carol Ewing). There is an obvious correlation with continuous exercise and a good health. By allowing athletes to participate in physical activity, it can better their health and have a fun time while doing it. However, my point is show that these athletes can receive all the benefits listed before but in a much safer way. Flag football for example is a great way for a child to have just as much fun and physical activity as contact football, but not have to worry about injury as much. Obviously, there is always a possibility for injury while partaking in physical movement, but using flags to “tackle” a player is much safer than continuous head-on-head collisions. It’s just common sense for an athlete to engage in a safer activity, while maintaining every benefit as the dangerous option. Even though all logic points to a non-contact sport option, there’s no way that sports such as football, soccer, or lacrosse will just disappear from the American culture. Therefore, there needs to be possible ways to improve the safety of athletes, to prevent any complications from injuries. In addition to all the RTP cases that were passed, there have also been improvements to the test used to diagnose a concussion. In an experiment done by multiple scientist, two popular test were compared to each other to tell which one does a better job of truly recognizing concussion (Gabriel R. Furman, etc.). The two test that were compared were the BAM (Balance Accelerometer Measure) and the BESS (Balance Error Scoring System). After testing 43 patients with a concussion, and 27 without, it was shown that the BAM could not separate the healthy and concussed patients whereas the BESS could (Gabriel R. Furman, etc.). Looking at the information from the experiment, it shows us how more technology and test are being produced to recognize concussions. With better technology, it creates a safer option for contact sports by ensuring the athletes are properly protected. To continue, an improvement to the equipment used in sports could also make a drastic change. David Camarillo completed research to show how helmets used in the NFL are mainly designed only to prevent skull fractures (Camarillo, David). While it is a good thing to prevent skull fractures, the brain is still vulnerable to collision with the skull. Camarillo proposes a new type of helmet, not only for football but biking or any other sport that requires headwear. This new idea is designed to limit the movement of the brain while the skull thrashes around, causing no contact between the bone and brain (Camarillo, David). This idea would make a big decrease in the overall rate of concussions in sports. The technology is not complete, but improving every day. I personally worse a padded headband during soccer games while in high school. After sustaining a few concussions, I found this device and never had a serious head injury again. Just having that small headband made a big difference for me, which shows how new technology and improvements to equipment used in sports will make a big change in the overall rate of concussions. 

From viewing all the research and studies that have been done, it’s clear that concussions are not only dangerous but possibly deadly. The surface has only been scratched of the true hazards of concussions. Harmful short term side effects have been shown in studies to injure athletes. Because of these short-term repercussions and an area of worry, there have been laws passed in every single state of the nation to improve the safety and awareness of sport related concussions. Not only are concussions a serious concern legally, they also have taken spotlight in media. With the harmful long term effects showing in older professional football players, there is a big worry of current players. It’s obvious why concussions are such a big topic in today’s sports and health. Too many complications come from concussions, proving that it’s far too dangerous for a young athlete to undergo the risk of receiving one. With more non-contact sports becoming popular in the American culture, it provides a safe option with the same benefits as most contact sports. Even if athletes still want to participate in contact sports, technology needs to improve a long way before it’s considered safe. As a parent of an athlete, you must consider these cons to contact sports and realize that all the pros can be replaced by non-contact sports. It simply is not safe for an athlete to sustain constant head trauma. 
