The Current Landscape of Concussions in SportNick Vandelogt: University of North Florida

Introduction

Social Responsibility

What Professional Sports

Leagues are Doing

ConclusionIt is quite simple to see all the different avenues one can take

when discussing the topic of concussions and other such head

injuries in sports. There exists numerous ways to go about the

conversation with areas such as which leagues experience an

increased risk of concussions, the short and the long term

affects to athletes who sustain a concussion in sport, what

different leagues and organizations are doing about the issue,

as well as the new advancements in concussion prevention

and diagnosis related technology. The fact that concussions

and other head injuries in sport has been a hot topic of late is

certainly beneficial. Concussions in sport coming up more

frequently speaks to everyone’s increased awareness of the

issue. The more people who are aware of the issue the more

likely the culture of not reporting concussions and playing after

having sustained one is to cease. In all actuality, there is most

likely no way to completely cut out the totality of concussion

risk in sport, but the more funding and research that is done in

the area the more likely we are to be able to drastically reduce

the risk of concussions. Hopefully, this reduced risk, as well as

a positive change to the culture of playing after having

sustained a concussion, will become a reality sooner rather

than later.

As one can imagine, professional sports leagues and major

sporting organizations that experience a high frequency of

concussions are funding a lot of research and studies into

concussions in an attempt to learn more about them. They are

also increasing awareness about concussions so as to create a

greater number of individuals who know what they are, know to be

on the lookout for them in places and events where they are likely

to occur, and know of the symptoms in the case that they are not

self-reported, which will happen often. More and more prevention

measures are in existence today than there have ever been in the

past due to increased awareness and research and, if followed

correctly, can cut down on a lot of occurrences of concussions in

sports. Areas that are receiving a great deal of funding and

attention are those of advancements in helmet technology and

sideline diagnosis equipment. It comes as no surprise that

helmets are receiving so much attention for funding and research

as it has been reported that “helmets have shown to be very

effective in a range of sports and in preventing specific head injury

risks, especially moderate to severe head injury” (McIntosh at al.,

2011). Hopefully, with even more advancements, we may be able

to produce improved helmets as well as a reliable sideline

concussion detection system that does not come with such a high

price tag so as to ensure that they may be used at all levels of

sporting events across the globe.

Those who are employed as team doctors, trainers, or even

coaches in professional, as well as collegiate, sport have a social

responsibility to the athletes on their respective teams. The

coaches are heavily incentivized to win. Repercussions to the

coach for too many losses results in said coaches termination,

therefore, they tend to wish to keep their best players in the game,

so as to maintain a higher chance of winning the game, even if that

player has recently sustained a concussion. Players will choose to

go back into the game if allowed, because in major professional

and collegiate sports, there is usually an understanding that if a

player is not playing, or otherwise reaching playing expectations,

even if injured, they could very well lose their spot on the team’s

roster. This can, many times, lead to a player failing to “self-report”

when they have sustained a concussion. The athletes may also be

exhibiting a form of deviance known as over-conformity to the team

and sport ethic. This means that they usually have no problem with

playing while injured. Coaches have a social responsibility to

attempt to make sure that this is not the type of culture in existence

in their locker rooms and team trainers and doctors have a social

responsibility to the athletes to keep an eye out for concussion-like

symptoms and to ensure that they are not allowed to return to the

game, even with the game on the line. By doing this, the coaches

and team doctors can ensure that the athletes health is held as a

high priority and can prove that it is of the utmost importance.

Finally, the athletes themselves have a social responsibility to the

youth of the world who are participating in their respective sports.

Kids look up to the professionals of the sport and see them as role

models; the kids will attempt to emulate their actions at every turn.

When they play after sustaining a concussion it shows to the

children the “importance” of playing for the “team” even immediately

after sustaining a concussion. The children, who most likely won’t

know much, if anything at all, about concussions or the fact that

there is an increased chance of sustaining additional concussions

after the initial one has been incurred, will most likely gladly re-

enter the game, just like their favorite professional.

Concussions are defined as a “traumatically induced transient

disturbance of brain function and involves a complex

pathophysiological process” (Harmon et al., 2013).

Concussions occur quite frequently on the field, in the rink, and

in the ring during many different types of sporting events all

around the world. They can occur as a result of a single blow,

or repeated blows, to the head. There certainly is not only one

type of action that can cause a concussion, which makes them

so difficult to prevent and defend against. Concussions mostly

occur when suffering hard or repeated blows to the head, and

therefore, are experienced at a high frequency in sports such

as boxing, football, and hockey. Concussions, especially

multiple concussions to the same individual, cause both short

and long term damage to the brain. Long term effects,

especially in the case of repeated concussions, can result in

very serious health situations, such as Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE’s presence can only be

confirmed by the performance of an autopsy on the affected

individual and, therefore, CTE is difficult to diagnose or treat

while said individual is still alive (Advancements in Concussion

Prevention, 2014).

ReferencesHarmon, K. G., Drezner, J. A., Gammons, M., Guskiewicz, K. M.,

Halstead, M., Herring, S. A., & ... Roberts, W. O. (2013). American Medical Society for Sports Medicine position statement: concussion in sport. British Journal Of Sports Medicine, 47(1), 15-26.

McIntosh, A. S., Andersen, T. E., Bahr, R., Greenwald, R., Svein, K., Turner, M., & ... McCrory, P. (2011). Sports helmets now and in the future. British Journal Of Sports Medicine, 45(16), 1258-1265.

Moser, A., & Miller, J. J. (2014). Mismanaging Concussions in Intercollegiate Football. JOPERD: The Journal Of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(2), 38-40.

Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment. (2014). Sport Journal, 1.