Research Essay

Mauricio Uribe
Research Techniques & Technology
Leslie Drake
11/14/16

Abstract
Since the beginning of organized sports and competitions injuries have been a part of the
process. Some injuries are much greater in severity than others and some require more attention
than others but all affect the athletes performance. One sport that has a multitude of injury forms
is football and players have become bigger, faster and stronger which has drastically changed the
game into a more vicious and violent game. Overtime with research and studies, treatments to
these injuries have helped athletes recover quicker and even prevent them but some have not
received as much attention as they should until now, the concussion is one of those. This injury is
one that happens when the brain is smashed against the inside of the skull causing it to swell and
on occasions bleed and this can lead to devastating health risks. This injury can result from direct
impact to the head or from a whiplash effect when the body obtains a hit. The concussion injury
is one that has recently been receiving much attention because of the findings in studies about the
long term and short term effects. These studies have raised awareness about the scary truth on the
effects of this injury but what happens if we can eliminate this risk? Can we fully and effectively
prevent concussions in the sports world and especially in football? There are steps one can take
to protect oneself or players participating but total prevention is yet to be determined.

Mauricio Uribe
Research Tech
Leslie Drake
11/14/16
Can Concussions in Football be prevented?
Introduction
When one thinks of football the thoughts that come to mind may include: long
touchdown runs, spectacular one handed catches, amazing trick plays, bone crushing hits and so
forth. Now what if one of the aspects of the game that is arguably one of the most appealing to
the public is jeopardizing the very existence of the game? Those big hits that have made the
game fun to watch are now jeopardizing the game and how people are reacting to it, but why?
Simply put, those big hits drastically increase the possibilities for an athlete to obtain a
concussion, an injury to the brain, which can have severe consequences if an athlete receives too
many and in some cases just one can be enough. When an athlete receives a big hit to the head or
big blows to the body the chances for them to obtain a concussion goes up. Upon a player
receiving a concussion, the brain is slammed up against the inside walls of the skull causing it to
swell and disrupt the brains ability to perform tasks properly. Concussions can have many
detrimental effects on the brain and can endanger the health of the athlete and until recently has
not been given the attention it deserves. But what if we could prevent the concussion? Would this
save the sport and bring peace of mind to athletes? Is complete prevention attainable? And if so
what must be done to achieve this, that is what I intend to find out and bring to you.

Effects of Concussions
To better understand why concussion injuries have received so much attention lately and
why prevention has become a topic of interest, we must first dig a little deeper into the
consequences of receiving an injury of this sort. There has been much research done to analyze
and discover what happens to the brain when a concussion injury is obtained and what the
symptoms of this injury are. In previous years players who obtained concussions were just told to
shake it off or man up and return to play it could have been that back then team physicians
or coaches did not know what to symptoms to look for when it came to a brain injury or it could
have been that they just didnt care. Now days this injury is not taken lightly and team
physicians, coaches as well as players are trained and instructed on what to look for when a
player has obtained a big hit to the head. There are many symptoms that one can notice when a
player has received a concussion, some of the more noticeable include confusion, headaches,
memory loss, dizziness, nausea, lack of balance and coordination as well as a ringing noise in the
ears. (McGuire, 2011) These symptoms are directly related to a concussion and must not be
bypassed as minor effects and the athlete must be examined by a physician to determine his or
her state of health. This must be done to limit the possibilities of obtaining the long and short
term effects that can come up with multiple and sometimes even just one concussion.
The short term and long term effects can sometimes be very similar in nature but there
are some differences that set them apart. For starters, both include memory loss and delayed
muscle coordination but only long term poses the greatest danger in the form of Chronic
Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE. (McGuire, 2011) Short term effects are
somewhat less severe than long term but still in no way should be taken lightly. Short term
effects include many of the same symptoms found just after a concussion is obtained but the

symptoms last longer and can pose difficulties for the person affected. These effects can include
loss of coordination, headaches, dizziness and ringing in the ear. These effects can last anywhere
from a few days to a week or in some cases two weeks. (Bonds, 2016) The short term effects are
much easier to spot and diagnose than the long term and that is because you are able to see the
symptoms shortly after the injury is obtained but with the long term effects it could take months
and sometimes years to realize something is wrong.
The most common long term effects are memory loss and delayed cognitive abilities but
recent discoveries have added another effect to the list and this one poses the greatest threat to
the well-being of the athlete. (Piazza, 2014) Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy has recently
been receiving a lot of attention and for good reasons as it is a progressive degenerative brain
disorder that has been linked to football players and concussions. (Drysdale, 2013) But what
makes CTE so dangerous? Simply put, the disease can go undiagnosed for years and the athlete
may not even know what is going on until it is too late. Athletes who have received multiple
concussions and repeated hits to the head are at greatest risk for CTE and may not even be aware
of it. The symptoms that come with CTE have similarities to those of found in a post concussive
injury but they are delayed and the magnitude of the symptoms is much greater. These symptoms
include agonizing headaches, severe memory loss, depression and suicidal tendencies as well as
mood swings. (Drysdale, 2013) There have been former NFL players that have committed
suicide for no apparent reason and this raised questions as to why it was happening. This is
where CTE was discovered and was brought forward to the NFL as the main reason for these
deaths. (Roberts, 2015) That being said, once might ask what has the NFL done to address this
growing issue? Or what is the plan of action to prevent concussions in their organization?

Concussions in Football
It comes with little to no surprise that the NFL is the leading sport with the most
concussion injuries and recently they have invested $20 million in research for concussion
prevention. (Faloyin, 2016) This may seem like the NFL is all about protecting its players but it
wasnt until they were exposed that they decided to do something about it. The NFL knew that its
players were suffering due to the head injuries they were receiving but decided to sweep
everything under the rug. It was not until a forensic neuropathologist named Bennet Omalu
discovered that CTE was present in a majority of deceased former NFL Players brains and spoke
out about it that this issue started receiving attention. (Vrentas, 2015) This forced the NFL to
address the fact that a lot of their players were receiving concussions and that they needed to find
new ways to protect the players health. The NFL implemented new rules and regulations in order
to attempt to protect their players, some of these examples include: moving the kickoff starting
point up in order to prevent kickoff returns and full speed collisions, defenseless player rules that
limit the possibilities of athletes being hit in midair, head to head contact is heavily penalized and
teams must have independent physicians to examine players that have received a concussion.
(Vrentas, 2015) The are a few examples of the rules and protocols the NFL has established in an
effort to reduce the amount of concussions obtained. There have been thirty-nine total rule
changes that the NFL has established in the past five years with the goal of concussion
prevention and the wellbeing of the players (Vrentas, 2015) That being said, one is left to wonder
if total prevention of this injury can be obtained and if so how do we make this possible and
would prevention come at a cost.

Can the injury be prevented?

There have been many studies and research done in the hopes that a method of prevention
will be obtained. Along with the NFL rule changes, some of these efforts have included trying to
reinvent the helmet to provide more protection for the brain of an athlete as well as developing
new pieces of equipment that could reduce the chances of players obtaining a concussion. VICIS
is a helmet company that has invented a new helmet that protects the brain better than most
helmets on the market right now but still is not fully able to claim total and complete protection
from concussions. (Quinn, 2016) Their helmet is better able to absorb impacts and disperse the
forces more efficiently which in turn helps protect the brain but still does not completely dismiss
the possibilities for a concussion to occur. There are other ways an athlete can take steps to
prevention, these include: knowing the rules to the game, practicing good technique, not leading
with the head as well as neck exercises to strengthen muscles around the neck. (Cdc.Gov, 2015)
These are simple steps one can take to lower their risk of obtaining a concussion and be able
prepare their body to better handled the impacts sustained during a football game. Some
researchers have recommended that parents should not allow their children to play football at a
young age and should wait until they have matured and are physically more able to withstand the
demands of the game. This includes eliminating Pee Wee football as well as Pop Warner from the
activities that a young athlete may participate in. (Abreu, 2016) With all this being said, there is
still no known method that has been discovered for complete concussion prevention in the game
of football. Simply put if one does not want to put themselves at risk of receiving a concussion
the best method is to simply not play. But what effects will this have on the game of football?
What if players all around the nation just decided not to play? Could this eliminate the game as a
whole?

Can prevention change the game?

If you follow the game of football you have most likely heard about the rule changes and
new protocols revolving around the prevention of concussions. As stated before the rule changes
have affected the game drastically in the aspect that big hits have been reduced and players are
now penalized for plays of this sort. The kickoffs have been altered to prevent players from
colliding full speed and talks about eliminating the kickoff portion of the game as a whole have
come up.(Vrentas, 2015) All this has come from the attempts to make the game safer to play as
well as eliminating the risk of players obtaining head injuries that have detrimental health effects.
There is no denying the fact that attempts at prevention have changed the game but it has been
done to protect the athletes and make the game safer to play so that the game is not eliminated as
a whole. Changes to the game are a better option than eliminating the game completely.
Conclusion
The sport of football has changed over the time and players have become bigger, faster
and stronger making the game more aggressive and more violent. This has increased the amount
of injuries and expanded the variety of injuries found in the game but none have received more
attention recently than the concussion and for good reason. The concussion injury poses a serious
threat to both the players and the sport of football as a whole, that is why researchers are trying
to comprehend and determine a way to prevent the injury completely but this is proving to be
more difficult than expected. Up to this date a method for complete prevention is yet to be
discovered and the more time that passes the greater the demand for an answer is needed.

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