Joe Beall

ENGL 1010
Tyler Barnum
3rd of August 2017

Concussions in Football

The sport of football has been recognized as Americas sport for at least the past

decade. But recently, many individuals who participate in the game have found themselves at a

crossroad facing either the game they love, or the health of their brains. Concussions are

running rampant around football, and different levels including high school football, collegiate

football, and even the National Football League have had to deal with this epidemic. The health

of these athletes brains has entered national spotlight most recently, with many former NFL

players admitting to chronic depression, alzheimers, a very dangerous degenerative disease

known as CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), and many more. Many scholarly writers

have made it their mission to shed some light and hopefully open up some eyes with their

discoveries on this topic. In this literature review, these scholarly authors articles will be

analyzed and organized to show a conversation about the progression of concussions in football

over time, symptoms and current relevant diseases associated with the sport, and how our

perspective has changed about the issue.

History of concussions in football

As we know today, football is looked at by many as a very violent and dangerous sport

especially for children, but has this always been the view of football? Or has our perception of

the sport changed dramatically over the course of the century? As mentioned in the scholarly
article 1Buckle Your Chinstrap: Why Youth, High School, and College Football Should Adopt the

NFLs Concussion Management Policies and Procedures, Josh Hunsucker delves into the brief

history of the sport and what the consensus view of it was in the early 1900s. He explains that

in the year 1905, about eighteen college football players had died and the public was furious.

Many were looking to abolish football all together and have it be no more, but President

Theodore Roosevelt had a different viewpoint on the matter. Hunsucker continues with how

President Roosevelt gathered the leaders from Harvard, Yale, and Princetons football teams in

Washington D.C. in order to create rules to make the game safer to play. Hunsucker concludes

that Roosevelt ultimately succeeded in implementing rules to prevent brain injuries in football.

Hunsucker continues our history review on brain injuries in football in 1928, when

medical officials began linking concussions to brain disease. He explains that while medical

officials were making theyre accusations, others outside of the medical field continued to make

their inferences about the subject. Hunsucker then explains about how we view concussions

and brain injuries today, being as detrimental to an athletes health as it can get. Certain

parents are excluding their children from playing football for fear of concussions and potentially

more severe brain damage. Hunsucker then explains that the CDC recently estimated that 1.7

million Americans suffer a brain injury each year, he then explains that of that number,

173,285 youth have suffered sports related concussions. Hunsucker concludes on how recent

studies have shown that the greatest amount of concussions occurs in youth football each year.

1Buckle Your Chinstrap: Why Youth, High School, and College Football Should Adopt the NFLs Concussion
Management Policies and Procedures, By Josh Hunsucker, page 805-806
 To conclude the brief history of concussions in football, Josh Hunsucker is getting to the

fact that thoughts about concussions really havent changed in the past century. Football is still

looked at as a very dangerous and violent sport and even if the mindset of this topic has

changed at all, it has probably trended in the wrong direction.

Symptoms and Signs

As the sport has progressed, so have the way that medical staff members and coaches

identify concussions after a severe collision in football. Nothing should be more important than

player safety in a sport as violent as football, but this is not necessarily the case unanimously.

Many coaches around different leagues in football encourage players to stay in games when

they clearly should not be participating for the risk of a more severe brain injury. While

coaches are most certainly partly responsible for the epidemic, some players need to take

accountability for how they feel and if they are well enough to continue. Many times, these

players or coaches dont truly understand the signs and symptoms of these concussions,

therefore risking the players safety every time he steps back on the field.

The signs and symptoms of concussions are encapsulated beautifully in the scholarly

article entitled, 2The War Against Concussions which was written by the U.S. Sports Academy.

They begin to inform about this topic by discussing how research conducted by the American

Family Physician stated emotional, cognitive, sleep and physical as the categories associated

2 The War Against Concussions, by the U.S. Sports Academy, page 3, 4

with symptoms of concussion. They continue by stating some of the generic concussion

symptoms to look out for such as blurry vision, feeling hazy, confusion, drowsiness, sleep

problems, headache, inability to focus, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, and dizziness

according to the American Academy of Neurology. The Academy continues theyre research by

explaining that even if an athlete hasnt suffered a concussion, after a head collision the frontal

lobe can become damaged which can lead to mood swings or even violence, according to Dr.

Sam Gundy of the NFL Neurological Center. They continue by stating that if an athlete has

suffered a concussion then they should not be allowed to resume play until the medical staff of

the team deems it to be so. Continuing by stating that medical staff members must continue to

track the severity of the injury over a series of medical evaluations to ensure the safety of the

player.

Overall, this scholarly article is attempting to warn certain individuals about the risks of

this sport, as well as the symptoms that medical staff members must identify in order to

preserve these players health and safety. They also highlight some major symptoms, and how

medical staff members should conduct tracking the severity of the injury post-concussion. As

far as progression goes within the sport regarding concussions, the U.S. Sports academy

explains that no matter how substantial medicine and our awareness of the injury has

advanced since 1905, there is still great room for improvement.

Relevant Diseases Associated with Concussions

Though we have become increasingly more aware of how dangerous concussions can be

in the sport of football and have dramatically altered the way we handle them, recent studies

have revealed that concussions can lead to a more severe brain injury that is affecting an

increasing amount of football players, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. In the

scholarly article 3Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Former National Football

League Player Suicides, Marcos Abreu, Fred Cromartie, and Brandon Spradley discuss if there is

a link between CTE in players and the chronic suicide rates that have occurred amongst these

players. They discuss the results that they acquired and found that the case study research

and testimonial evidence discussed in this study reinforces findings that identified these

psychological and cognitive consequences as key variables associated in suicide death of an

alarming amount of NFL players. These findings are very eye-opening and confirm the fact

that continuous blows to the head do in fact lead to complications of the brain down the road.

CTE is not the only major brain injury to be directly linked to concussions, because of the

recent findings regarding CTE many individuals have begun linking concussions to another

major disease known as alzheimers. Presented in the scholarly article 4From Concussion to

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Review, scholarly authors Roya Saffary, Lawrence Chin,

and Robert Cantu explain that similar to the findings of CTE among football players, cases of

3 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Former National Football League Player Suicides, Marcos Abreu,
Fred Cromartie, and Brandon Spradley
4 From Concussion to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Review, Roya Saffary, Lawrence Chin, and Robert

Cantu
players brains with the alzheimers disease have started to overlap in the neuropathy with CTE.

They also explain that former NFL athletes are almost three times more likely to die from

alzheimers than an average male.

The Changing of Perspective

The perspective about the way our brains can be altered by collision like in a sport such

as football has changed dramatically over the century. As mentioned by the scholarly authors

in this review, because of the fact that medicine has progressed so rapidly over that time

period, the football community is desperately trying to make the game safer for the players. In

the scholarly article 5Concussions: A Sport Ethics Commentary, Brandon Spradley and Rob

Hudson tell the story of a 25-year old young man named Michael Keck, who died of CTE. They

include that Michael started American Football at age six with his first concussion at age eight.

They then state that in College he mentioned that he had symptoms including dizziness and

blurry vision. They conclude with the fact that by the time of his death, it was reported that he

had suffered a total of 10 confirmed concussions. They state that one concussion was enough

and that the system failed this young man. These authors point out these stories because these

are the types of the things that change peoples perspective about this issue. Because of

stories like this that is exactly what is happening.

5 Concussions: A Sport Ethics Commentary, Brandon Spradley, Rob Hudson, page 5/7
Conclusion

In conclusion to this literature review, these authors are making it abundantly clear that

we have an issue today with the game of football. Starting in 1905 with the sport being

abolished, to today with many former NFL players filing lawsuits to the league explaining that

the NFL did not prepare them for the consequences of playing football. The authors are also

attempting to continue the conversation about signs of concussions to prevent these diseases

from taking shape, and also explaining different ways to handle a player who is complaining

about dizziness or blurry vision during a game. The authors all conclude their articles by

attempting to change the perspective of the many who believe that this is not an important

issue. As reported in 6Concussion Knowledge in High School Football Players, Janie Cournoyer

and Brady Tripp include that 25% of football players continued playing their sport after

experiencing symptoms of a concussion. These numbers are quite astonishing and proves

these authors points that the perspective on concussions needs to change, if not all levels of

American Football will suffer the consequences.

6 Concussion Knowledge in High School Football Players, Janie Cournoyer, Brady Tripp, page 656
 Work Cited

Abreu, Marcos A., Edwards Wirt, Spradley Brandon D. The War Against Concussions pp. 3-4

Josh Hunsucker Buckle Your Chinstrap: Why Youth, High School, and College Football Should

Adopt the NFLs Concussion Management Policies and Procedures pp. 805-806

Marcos Abreu, Fred Cromartie, Spradley Brandon D. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

and Former National Football League Player Suicides

Roya Saffary, Lawrence Chin, Robert Cantu From Concussion to Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy: A Review

Spradley Brandon D., Rob Hudson Concussions: A Sport Ethics Commentary pp. 5/7

Janie Cournoyer, Brady Tripp Concussion Knowledge in High School Football Players pp. 656