Aaron Hernandez was a pro-football player playing for the New Egland Patriots in 2012. On June 17, 2013 Hernandez killed semi pro linebacker Odin Lloyd. He was convicted in 2015 and 2017. He was sentenced to life in prison and committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell (CNN Library 2017). After his body was analyzed by doctors they found the most amount of Cronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in a person’s body his age. CTE is a deteriorative disease that presides in the brain that is caused by repetitive hits to the head and can lead to many short and long term mental effects (Neumann 2011). Concussions have been on the rise and is not planning on stopping. People need to create new rules and new technology to make sports safer, and make the public more knowledgeable about concussions. Some studies show that the age of players doesn’t affect recovery of severity of concussions. Concussions need to be reduced and sports need to be safer for all ages, and the knowledge of concussions needs to be expanded to the public more efficiently
Concussions have become more common as sports and technology evolve. This doesn’t mean that they are any less sever or negatively life changing. On average there are approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occurring every year. Many of these concussions are coming from contact sports such as football, ice hockey, and boxing. Many concussions can occur from military duties from explosions and training (Tarazi et al., 2017). This text shows how common concussions are and the many different activities can cause them. According to the research of (Didehbani, Cullum, Mansinghani, Conover & Hart Jr, 2013), many individuals that suffer from concussions that have passed the normal recovery time have continuing somatic, cognitive and/or mood changes. Even though concussion victims can go through the motions and recover like many others, they may have lingering effects that can affect them in short or long term spans. This also shows that concussions are more than just a short term injury to the head. If concussions have lingering effects, then students and pro players alike are at risk of causing many life changes with one injury. Before the 2007 season of the NFL (National Football League), players and their families were required to be more informed on the dangers of concussions. Afterward, before the 2009 season rules were implied that kept players from returning to the game once they had concussion symptoms after a hit, and players who caused a “helmet to helmet” hit are fined for causing unnecessary danger. When a player receives a hit they must go to a non-biased neurological physician to be checked for concussion symptoms. Many retired NFL players did not get the luxury of getting these safety benefits (Didehbani, Cullum, Mansinghani, Conover & Hart Jr, 2013). This shows how dangerous football was before the added safety benefits. Even with the benefits concussion commonly occur. The NFL has made strides to making the game safer for players but still needs to improve on some aspects of the game and gear. Before the new rules where implemented, some players would not show many prevalent concussion symptoms right away or tell the doctor on the sideline they are fine. By doing this the players were put at more of a risk of repeating concussions before the proper healing time is completed (Didehbani, Cullum, Mansinghani, Conover & Hart Jr, 2013). The dangers are shown in the text; former NFL players could repeat concussions which is a greater danger for the brain than a normal concussion. Because of the repeated and more common head trauma NFL players had many late effects in life including depressive symptoms. Several suicides in former Pro-football players and the autopsy following have shown a buildup of tau protein which has been connected to CTE (Didehbani, Cullum, Mansinghani, Conover & Hart Jr, 2013). This shows the late effects of concussions have led to depressive symptoms and even deaths. Even though these players have been ridded of the actual concussion symptoms, concussions can affect people late in life in ways they may not expect like depression, apathy, irritability, and suicidality. Also in (Didehbani, Cullum, Mansinghani, Conover & Hart Jr, 2013) research it is shown that retired NFL players have a higher chance to show depressive symptoms in comparison to the general population. The national average for white males that showed depressive symptoms is 3%-4%. The average for retired NFL player that has suffered a concussion is 16%. The rate of depressive symptoms is three times more in NFL athletes that suffered concussions in comparison to NFL athletes that had no concussion history. The text shows how dangerous concussions can be to people mental health. In conclusion, the NFL has put some rules and boundaries in place to help stop concussions and CTE but is still far from fixing how severe concussions can be on one’s mental health.
Even though concussions and their effects are knowledge people can access. Spectators, players, and coaches alike can be uninformed of the dangers that surround concussions. Concussion symptoms include but are not limited to, consciousness, confusion, gaps in memory, persistent dizziness, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Also any changes in behavior seen in the player following a hit to the head can be classified as a sign of a concussion (Neumann, 2011). This shows all of the symptoms one must remember and know in order to diagnose and recognize a concussion in an athlete or person. Only three states have passed legislation that deals with the issue of concussions in high school sports. Two of the states, Texas and Oregon mandate that the player be removed from play if they show any concussion symptoms. While in Washington it is up to the coach to decide if the player is going to be removed. In all other states, concussion protocol is merely a suggestion and not an enforced law. Players if they are conscious and the symptoms of a concussion reside within 15 minutes, they are allowed to play again the same day. In (Neumann, 2017) paper, he elaborates that fifty-three percent of public schools and ninety-three percent of private schools don’t have a full time trainer within their staff.