Bobby Babson II

Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
12 April 2016
The Repercussions of Concussions
I would not be surprised if football is not around in twenty to twenty-five years former
National Football League wide receiver, Antwaan Randle El told a Washington Post journalist.
He is referring to the fact that football has become such a dangerous sport, in terms of traumatic
brain injuries and future health conditions, that the sport of football may end up being gone
forever. Based on some information that I have found through the research process, it would not
surprise me if they got rid of collision sports such as hockey, football, and lacrosse until a certain
age, if not banish it completely. There are a lot of people that would back Mr. Randle Els
proclamation (Concussions). In 2010 alone, millions of people died from what many would
call, a bad headache, but doctors see it as a traumatic brain injury (Traumatic Brain Injury &
Treatment). Many argue that concussions lead to future brain conditions such as chronic
traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) based off of findings done in the autopsy room. There are many
people trying to prevent traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, from occurring so often,
especially in sports.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a traumatic brain
injury, or concussion, is defined as a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury
that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Some of the effects of a traumatic brain injury are
drowsiness, impaired movement, sensation such as touch, and loss of consciousness. Those are
just the physical symptoms though. Doctors have found a lot of evidence that concussions can
lead to future emotional health conditions such as depression, personality changes, and CTE,
which is a disease very similar early-onset Alzheimers. Most of the time these injuries are

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caused by falls but other common causes include car accidents, getting hit by an object (sports),
and physical assault. As stated above, people are dying all the time and by the time you read this
paper, in the United States alone, two people will have died from a traumatic brain injury. At that
rate, approximately fifty thousand people die every year in the United States from injuries that
include traumatic brain injuries (Traumatic Brain Injury & Treatment). This is not acceptable
and something has to be done not only in the United States, but all over the globe.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been linked to concussions in sports and is
potentially fatal, but some people get lucky and their death is not always caused by this disease.
Dr. Ann Mckee of Boston University preformed a study on ninety-four former NFL athletes who
are now deceased and found that in ninety of them, CTE was present. The problem with this
disease though is that it can only be detected after death. No one has found a way to reveal this
condition while a person is still alive which limits the ability to tell whether or not an athlete
needs to stop playing their respected sport. CTE is a condition that can get worse with more
concussions but if you cannot identify if an athlete suffers from it, how can you possibly tell
someone to stop playing the sport they are so passionate about. As Steve Fainaru stated in his
article, the problem the NFL is finding themselves in now is lawsuits. Many former NFL players
and their families are starting to sue the NFL for not forewarning athletes that there is a chance
of this disease when they sign their contracts. The bigger problem the NFL is facing is that they
have no way of notifying athletes of this possibility because of lack of evidence according to
some doctors (Fainaru).
As expected, there are people who are going to be on the opposing side of things, and that
is no different for this situation. According to Dr. Randolph of Loyola University and Dr. Stella
Karantzoulis of New York University, there is not enough evidence to support the claim that

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concussions lead to conditions such as depression and CTE. They have come to the conclusion
that the evidence that has been found to support the claim of future health conditions is biased
and non-random. The two doctors state that almost all of the brains that have been donated of
deceased players, all came from relatives who were concerned about their relatives health
towards the end of their life. The relatives of these athletes noticed similar symptoms to
Alzhiemers and they were curious as to what was going oneThis proves that the studies were not
random because only concerned families donated brains, not all families. The findings that you
would get from this study would be biased because of the nonrandom experimentation. Dr.
Randolph did his own study of brains from former NFL athletes and just everyday people and in
his study he found that the rate of CTE symptoms were virtually the same in both sets of people
which further proves that NFL athletes truly do not have that much of a higher chance of
suffering from CTE. Whether or not Dr. Randolph and Dr. Karantzoulis are right, concussions
are still impacting the world in a very negative way and things need to be done in order to
prevent the occurrence of future brain injuries. Luckily, there are some organizations out there
trying to help this cause. (Loyola University Health System)
USA Football is an organization that is trying to help prevent the occurrence of brain
injuries or concussions in sports, specifically football. Their big campaign is called Heads Up
Football. Many football players will drop their head/neck to try to lay a bigger or flashier hit on
another player. Unfortunately, this action dramatically increases the chance of either the giver or
the receiver of the hit to suffer from a concussion. The whole point of USA Footballs campaign
of Heads Up Football is to raise awareness of this potentially fatal action of dropping your
head to coaches, players, and parents all across the country. USA Football sends people all over
the country in order to do this. They have meetings with schools and sports associations to teach

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them about the severity of a concussion and how to detect if a player may have suffered from
one. They also teach them the proper technique of preforming a safe form of tackle on an
opponent. USA Football has gone as far as creating a companion app for phones and tablets to
help coaches and trainers to detect a possible concussion by asking a series of questions. They
encourage the proper fitting of a helmet too because according to PBS FRONTLINE, a properly
fitted helmet can reduce the risk of a traumatic brain injury tremendously (Breslow). Although
USA Football is doing a lot to bring awareness to concussions in sports, they are not the only
organization to shed light on the topic (Concussion Awareness).
As a Pop Warner, middle school, and high school official, I have seen first hand that they
have changed the rules, not only at the middle/high school and Pop Warner level, but also in
college and professional football. You can no longer use your head/helmet to hit/tackle an
opponent or you will be flagged for spearing. A player also cannot directly aim for an
opponents head when trying to hit/tackle them. This is a fifteen-yard penalty for targeting.
Another rule change that has been recently instated is called hitting a defenseless player which
means exactly what is says. If a player is facing one way and another player comes and hits them
from the blindside while they are defenseless, they will incur a fifteen-yard penalty. The
defenseless players head or neck could whip around and possibly cause a concussion or even
paralysis if the neck snaps. All of these are personal fouls and if you receive two personal fouls
in one game you are ejected. These three penalties have been established, specifically, for the
safety of players heads/brains. The punishment is so severe because sports authorities have
realized the possible dangers of suffering from traumatic brain injuries. Not only are rules
changing in sports, but they are even changing in the prevention and treatment of concussions in
North Carolina public schools.

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From suffering multiple concussions throughout all life, I have seen the concussion

protocol change in order to reduce the risk of second-impact syndrome. Second-impact

syndrome is where someone suffers from a concussion but may not know, and then goes out and
gets hit in the head or some other event to disrupt the natural state of the brain and they suffer
from another concussion. This is a very serious condition because it can lead to many health
problems such as major brain damage and even death.
When I suffered my first concussion in Pop Warner football I did not know I had a
concussion and thought I just got my brain rattled so I stayed in the game. Looking back on it
now, with everything I have learned about concussions, I could have potentially killed myself by
telling my coach I was fine and going back into the game. I eventually went to the doctor and got
diagnosed with a concussion and that is when I found out the news of what could have happened.
If we fast forward ten years to last year in my senior season of basketball, I got hit in the head in
basketball and was knocked unconscious for a few seconds but I played it off well enough to
where my coaches or the trainers did not know. Fortunately, they could definitely tell I was not
acting right so they did some simple concussion protocol tests and deemed me to be concussed.
As I said, ten years prior, that would not have happened and I could have possibly hurt myself
even worse again. New protocol that is also in effect in sports is the new concussion meetings
that all parents and athletes have to attend in North Carolina schools. Basically it is just an
overview of what a concussion is and how to detect and treat a brain injury case. If you do not
attend a concussion meeting, you will not be able to play sports that year at that school. Although
these are big changes that are impacting the sports world, they are just a little step in defeating
the traumatic brain injury problem in the world.

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As one can see, concussions are a very dangerous condition that people have been

suffering from for many years and have mistaken them for getting their bell rung. USA
Football and states sports officials are doing everything they can to bring awareness to this
subject and to help protect not only the players, but the whole game of football(Concussion
Awareness) Although football is not the only sport where concussions are prevalent and there
are many other sports with the risk of suffering a concussion. I would have to agree with Mr.
Randel El when he says that he would not be surprised if football is not around in twenty to
twenty-five years if nothing is done rather quickly to affect the rate of traumatic brain injuries.
(Concussions).

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Works Cited
Breslow, Jason M. "High School Football Players Face Bigger Concussion Risk." PBS.
FRONTLINE, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
"Concussion Awareness." Heads Up Football. USA Football, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
"Concussions, Memory Problems and Depression: It's Clear That Football Must Change."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2016. Web. 2 Mar. 2016
Fainaru, Steve. "NFL Acknowledges, for First Time, Link between Football, Brain Disease."
ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Loyola University Health System. "Do sports concussions really cause chronic traumatic
encephalopathy?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 December 2013. 09 March 2016
"Traumatic Brain Injury & Treatment." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.