Alzheimer’s is a horrible experience for everyone: the diagnosed person and the family members now turned caregivers. For the latter of these some have described it as worse than being the one who has the incurable disease. This is because the person with Alzheimer’s forgets and does not know what they are doing, that they are changing, whereas the family experiences the slow excruciating pain of seeing a loved one go through this disease and knowing that there is nothing you can do to restore what they once were. While watching The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s I witnessed many families and their experiences with Alzheimer's. The most heart wrenching scenes were where the family caregivers said things like ‘I hate him sometimes……
According to Ken Belson of The New York Times (2014) one in three NFL players is affected by brain trauma. The New York Times has also stated that NFL players are eight times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s or dementia than the general population. The NFL has come across a rise in concussions over the past decade. Over the past three seasons there have been over 690 recorded concussions throughout the league. Not only are current players being affected, but so are retired players. 87 of 91 deceased NFL players were found to have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, after years of concussions and hits to the head during their NFL careers. CTE is a brain disease with symptoms of memory loss, aggression, confusion,…
High impact sports can cause concussions. The article stated, ”Research has shown that kids who began playing tackle football before the age of 12 are more likely to develop thinking and memory problems as adults.”(17) All over our country there are many schools that have football teams and I know there are schools that have kids under the age…
Last year, the NFL revealed that it expects nearly a third of retired players to develop permanent brain impairments.” While other games may be dangerous in some aspects football is known for specifically the concussions it causes.We need to take this seriously because many kids are eager to get back and play again even after having gotten a concussion, so they can help their team. However they don’t realize that the injuries sustained when playing football can later lead to long term issues. Also ⅓ of the retired NFL players having to develop permanent brain impairments is a lot of people.Just think of all the football players in the NFL you knew, almost 33% of them needed to get impairments simply so tehri brain can actually work fine and they can live. Imagine having to live a life where you everyday you wake up to possibly find your head throbbing or suddenly getting disoriented. All because of football. Is it really worth it?In the video "Concussion Hazards in Youth Football" (Dr. Drew interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta,HLN/CNN) two men discuss the effects concussions have on the brain and explain, “Their brains are developing…
The concussions, fractures, and blackouts. Sport injuries range from minor ,such as a sprain ankle, to major ones, like concussions, and in some cases even death. Studies have shown that playing contact football before 12 is associated with an increased risk of developing memory lost and thinking problems in middle age. This means that children that have played contact football before the age 12 have shown these signs later in life. Boston University School of Medicine took 42 retired NFL players with memory and thinking problems and half of them had begun before te 12. So, the impact that football has on the brain of an individual, even at that age, is a huge effect and it continues to affect them throughout their life.…
The seriousness of sports-related concussions will have harsh repercussions where the impact of being hit forcibly repeatedly can lead to severe bodily harm where quality of life is affected. Although the topic of concussions related to sport injuries has garnered much attention in today’s era where safety is promoted to protect the athlete’s health. However; this was not the case in the early 20th Century for athletes who suffered brain damage from the result of playing football. (Harrision, 2014) stated “years before the first medical study of football injury was published, it was obvious that this new American game was dangerous. Even though the players and public knew of the dangers of football, unfortunately; some athletes did not report…
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) also known as a concussion is a serious health problem to athletes, especially to football players. The brain controls the body and gives a person personality and defines every aspect of his or her life. A brain injury can disrupt a person’s life in an instance and like broken bones or bruises; TBI can limit or prevent normal body functions. A brain injury, unlike common injuries can damage mental abilities to include memory and speech. There are only two classifications in TBI; mild and severe. Mild TBI is classified as loss of consciousness and or confusion and disorientation for less than thirty minutes. Severe TBI is thirty or more minutes and with memory loss. A person classified with severe TBI has limited functions of legs and arms, abnormal speech and emotional problems. When a person experiences a brain injury they often do not realize that one has occurred. TBI often leads to Alzheimer or Parkinson’s or Lou Gehrig’s diseases, and other forms of dementia and brain tumors. No two brains are alike and no two brains injuries are the same makes treatment and recovery a complex and challenging task. In football players, TBI is a serious concern because players do not know or don’t let somebody know about the injury and continually play in fear of losing a spot on the team roster. No player wants to let down the team. Football players only want the respect of other players and get the win at the end of the day. The effects of the injury compounds and clouds their judgment and growth until it is too late to correct problems.…
Athletes who are not fully recovered from their first initial concussion are significantly vulnerable for a recurrent cumulative second concussion. (www.neurosurgery.pitt.edu/centers-excellence/brain-and-spine-injury/concussions).…
Although many activities and sports may be enjoyable, some may cause long-term consequences specifically to the brain. There have been several reports of brain trauma and head injuries due to certain sports, such as football. Research shows many individuals who have experienced the dangers of brain damage because of physical infliction during a game of football. The movie Concussion shows a forensic pathologist who discovers chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, while performing an autopsy on deceased former football players. An article by New York Times also discusses the risks of football and the company, Pop Warner, that disregarded the harm of brain trauma. Some dangerous activities that could potentially harm the brain by repeated injuries to the head should be prevented to protect certain individuals, such as athletes, from CTE because some companies are ignoring the long-term consequences.…
Only recently have doctors and researchers, such as Dr. Bennet Omalu found relationships between suicide, memory loss and vision impairments and concussions in professional football players. Football games are widely appreciated and followed by millions of Americans and as more people watch, more games are played and more football players are becoming injured. The severity of concussions in football players is often overlooked which is putting many people at risk for damaging head injuries. Research and information on concussions in athletes needs to grow in order to protect and prevent players from the harmful effects of…
The game of football, especially at the higher levels, is becoming increasingly dangerous as athletes keep getting bigger, faster, and stronger. The rate at which concussions are occurring is alarming and player safety has become the topic of conversation in the sports community. Since the symptoms and signs of a concussion don't always appear immediately or appear to be mild at first, the sports community originally assumed that the head injuries weren't serious. Besides the risk of suffering another concussion, a growing body of research has linked sports concussions with serious long-term effects like depression and memory problems. To make matters worse, researchers documented that high school and collegiate athletes do not report concussions sustained during football play because they were not aware of the signs and symptoms of a concussion. Furthermore, although the National Football League injury report has shown a decrease of head injuries since 2012, PBS Frontline's Concussion Watch project reported that one-third of all concussions sustained during that time were left off the injury report. As research continues to expose the serious nature of sports concussion, league officials are facing constant scrutiny to change the rules and regulations that govern the game of football. (Michael,…
The injury facts.According to momsteam.com there are 60 concussions in highschool football for about 100,000 player games or practice.Football players also have the most brain injuries.The injury rate has increased 8% over an 11 year period from 1997 to 2008.That is not good.…
As stated in a medical journal developed by a Rhode Island medical journal, these head injuries are now being looked at closer. The statistics from the article say that they’re over 100,000 reported concussion cases in student athletes ranging from high school to college football, along with a lengthy paragraph stating what the outcomes happen due to the effects of a concussion. Stating that frontal lobe development might slow down or stop entirely making simple problem solving skills and emotional control a lot harder on for the individual in life, due to this…
Concussions in Sports By: Brent McClure Many people believe that concussions and head injuries are just a part of sports, but research shows other wise. A lot of doctors and neuropsychologists (doctors who specialize in understanding a relationship between the physical brain and behavior) believe that this is false, and these problems can be prevented. The prevention of traumatic head injuries is very possible by learning the correct way to wear equipment, knowing what equipment is required, and lastly knowing the signs of a head injury.…
137 of the 396 concussions reported happened during practice and the remaining 259 occurred during competition (Gessel,L. M., Fields, S. K., Collins, C. L., Dick, R. W., & Comstock, R.). The numbers for student athletes getting concussed is very high all around the world especially those playing football, rugby, soccer, ice hockey, boxing and any other contact sport(Covassin, T., Stearne, D., & Elbin III, R.). As a student athlete, conducting a research paper on how high school and collegiate athletes respond to a post-concussion will determine whether or not if their athletic performance is unchanged. The hypothesis for the question “Can Post-Concussions Affect Student Athlete’s Athletic Performance?” is that a student athlete who is concussed will be very likely to become disheartened and when they return to play; they won’t perform the same prior to the concussion due to the fear of getting hit…
