1. The Current Landscape of Concussions in Sport
Nick Vandelogt: University of North Florida
Introduction
Social Responsibility
What Professional Sports
Leagues are Doing
Conclusion
It 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).
References
Harmon, 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:
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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
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Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(2), 38-40.
Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and
Treatment. (2014). Sport Journal, 1.