Brain Injury: The Impact Of Concussions In Football

The Impact of Concussions During Football

Concussions have become a major problem in athletics throughout the entire world. Head injuries can impact many athletes lives in a negative way. Hard contact to the head of a player can damage the brain and the way he goes about life. The way football is played, equipment should be better equipped to prevent significant injuries such as concussions. Head injuries drive a player out of the sport earlier than normal, so the NFL has looked into the issue and has gone about bettering technology and equipment to prevent concussions in the future.

Football is a very aggressive and dangerous sport to play, and researchers are studying the brain to better understand how the brain becomes damaged due to a hard

“Long-term effects of concussions are very rare. Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause symptoms similar to a concussion, but individuals with TBIs often experience more severe problems with attention and short-term memory, have difficulty performing daily tasks, and report feeling ‘slower’ overall” (Long-term Effects of Brain Injuries). Brain injuries can always improve, but may never completely go away. “Difficulty making decisions or processing a lot of information, or trouble resolving problems, can have a significant impact on one 's life” (Long-term Effects of Brain Injuries). The matter is very serious and impacting the lives of many athletes around the world. Concussions are nothing to take lightly, brain damage not only sidelines you from the game, but may also sideline you from specific activities, or daily tasks. Researchers are examining equipment in order to find out whether or not they are eligible to design a high quality helmet in order to protect the head from a high speed impact. The more force that the helmet can absorb, the less impact the brain will withstand when the hit is given

Helmets can’t do everything to protect the head, but they sure can play a major role on keeping the brain safe. “In December 2010 a long time auto-racing safety equipment maker named Bill Simpson happened to attend one of the Colts games in which medics helped Austin Collie off the field after a concussion” (Foster). “Simpson saw an opportunity. In auto racing, he 's known as the godfather of safety, and once set himself on fire to demonstrate the efficiency of one of his racing suits. He figured he could make a better football helmet, so he got to work in his Indianapolis warehouse. By 2011, several pros, including Collie, were wearing early experimental versions of Simpson’s helmet” (Foster). “MIPS” mimics the human head’s own protective system, in which a layer of slippery cerebrospinal fluid sits between the brain and the skull. When an impact occurs, the skull can rotate just a bit relative to the brain. With MIPS, the rubber straps allow the helmet to move just a bit relative to the sliding, low-friction head cap, thereby eliminating much of the twisting motion before it reaches the brain”