The Importance Of Concussions In High School Football

In 2012 there were 3,800,000 reported concussions, 47% of those reports took place in high school football. 1 in 5 athletes will experience a concussion in each sport season and 33% of those athletes will experience at least one more before their high school graduation. Together as high school athletes, we need to stand up for our neurological safety in high school football by learning how to identify, treat and prevent a concussion. Now many people have no idea what a concussion even is. “A concussion is a traumatic brain injury after an impact to the head shakes the brain, which may cause neurological pathways in the brain to be permanently damaged” (Head Case Company). The most common reason for a miss diagnosed concussion is that the athlete did not lose consciousness. However, 90% of all diagnosed concussions report
One way to prevent a concussion is to make sure your child or athlete is wearing the proper headgear. If the protective headgear is secure and the coaches monitor the athlete’s better concussions can and will be reduced. We need to step up the monitoring of our children and athletes by making sure that their helmets are fully functional and are being used properly under the right condition. In football the athlete must wear a helmet with the chin strap buckled and his/her mouthpiece in to play, but that doesn’t guarantee that the athlete will stay concussion free. Now here’s the part every athlete must understand, even with a helmet on you aren’t safe from concussions and you should avoid all blows to the head. The helmet must fit properly; too loose and the head has room to move which raises the risk for a concussion. If the helmet is too tight, then the helmet won’t absorb the impact which also raises the risk for a concussion. The helmet must fit right, and this isn’t monitored enough in football and we wonder why American high schooler suffers almost 4 million concussions each