Contact sports today, such as hockey have had serious effects on the health of athletes. One of the common injury concerns throughout all ages of contact sports is the concussion. The fact of the matter is, although concussions are a serious issue, people claim that certain changes could be ruining the overall enjoyment of a game. The differing views on this issue come from the several perspectives, the players, doctors, parents, and spectators. How are the recent changes in contact rules affecting the game of hockey? The history of the concussion and how it may be changing the game has become of great concern. Hockey has always been a dangerous, high contact game. In 1979, the National Hockey League took their first action on concussions by requiring the players to wear helmets. In …show more content…
In Brian W. Benson’s article, he states, “Concussion results in a graded set of clinical symptoms that may or may not involve loss of consciousness or memory dysfunction.” Major injuries are always an issue when it comes to contact sports among all ages. Due to this, changes have been made to the physical rules of the game. For example, in all levels, there is now a penalty for head contact. Hockey is a fast-paced game and it can be difficult to perform a clean body check. Therefore, this new penalty has been issued so players can do whatever they can to avoid the head. In John Branch’s book, Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard, the novel talks about a kid growing up suffered a serious concussion due to a dirty hit in one of his hockey games. The concussion was so serious and not properly treated, which ended in his passing. Derek isn’t the only one with such a story. Other tragic injuries like the concussion has occurred in sports other than hockey. After this book was published, the hockey world realized how serious this injury