Concussions: not just a football problem

The high-impact collisions that occur frequently in football typically cause more than just some initial wooziness. Last March, the NFL finally acknowledged and admitted there is a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The link between head injuries in football and CTE has instilled fear into the many passionate fans of the game. Football has been played in America for over a century. The game has become a major part of our nation’s culture. The NFL is a billion-dollar industry because of the popularity of the sport in America.

For Moses Sherman, the President of Copley football, it’s extremely difficult to picture life without football.

“There is some level of irresponsibility involved with people who assume it (football) eventually won’t exist,” Sherman said. “At the end of the day, there are millions of people walking the earth that have played the game of football who don’t have brain injuries.”

Sherman believes the media coverage of head injuries has led to a spike in the number of concerned parents who are reluctant to let their children play football.

“Television networks and other media outlets just don’t want to talk about those former NFL players who are healthy because it doesn’t go along with the narrative they’re trying to drive home,” Sherman said. “Football is a physical sport, but there are plenty of other physical sports as well.

“The Will Smith film Concussion (2015) really scared a lot of parents,” Sherman said. “The movie made it seem like football is a game of life or death.”

Those who are against football should take into account the recent rule changes that have made the game safer.

“Football is not a game of hitting anymore, it’s a game of tackling,” Sherman said. “They’re continuously changing the game. The sport is changing. When you listen about a guy going down by the legs, the league says if I hit you in the head or if I hit you up high, I’ll be fined. They used to let you head butt people and now you can’t use your head. The NFL and NCAA has done a pretty good job of making those changes to make the game safer.”

The NFL scouts and plucks its talent from a pool of former collegiate football players every April. It’s a two-day, seven-round process – only a slim percentage of former collegiate players are fortunate enough to hear their name called – it’s known as the NFL Draft.

Collegiate athletics prepare athletes for professional careers. It’s how most professional sports leagues go about finding their talent. For many incoming professional players, the draft is proof that their dreams have come true.

“I was ecstatic,” said former Ohio State safety Christian Bryant after finding out he had been drafted by the Rams in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft. “They put me on the phone with coach Jeff Fisher, and he told me I was officially a Ram.

“Words can’t adequately describe that feeling, man,” Bryant said. “It was crazy, it’s just a dream come true.”

Being drafted by an NFL team is a dream come true. Players are fully aware of the risk they take when they step onto the field; it’s their choice to play the sport.

As a society, if we are quick to eliminate football for precautionary reasons, why are the other major sports in America being left out of this discussion?

“Most people think it’s a football problem only,” said Dr. Joseph Congeni, the Director of Sports Medicine at Akron Children’s Hospital.

“The two fastest growing sports are women’s basketball and women’s soccer,” Congeni said. “Soccer and basketball are growing at significant rates of having concussions.”

Congeni hopes that parents become more involved in researching the risks of participating in any sport. He believes if they conduct the proper research they will come to learn that there are potential health-risks involved in all sports.

In a 2010 survey administered by the NCAA to 20,000 random student-athletes enrolled at over 600 NCAA institutions, students were asked whether they had been diagnosed with, or believed that they had experienced, a concussion during their collegiate career.

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The results showed that male student-athletes are 3.4 percent more likely to suffer a concussion than their female counterparts. The numbers proved that men’s wrestling is the sport that concussions are most prevalent in.

Men’s wrestling reported a 19.5 percent chance of a one-time concussion, while football reported a 17.9 percent chance. The only percentage that is alarming for football fans – 9.5 percent of football players experienced more than just one concussion during their playing career.

Both men’s and women’s ice hockey reported a higher percentage of one-time concussions than football. 18.6 percent of male ice hockey players experience at least one concussion, and the number rises to 20.9 percent for women.

These numbers debunk the notion that head injuries are only a concern for football players. Concussions happen in every sport, it’s each league’s responsibility to do the best they can to limit them.

Although the game of football is a violent sport, it’s inaccurate to label it as the only sport that consistently causes concussions. Rule changes have made the game of football safer to play, but some hits just can’t be avoided.

Injuries are part of the downside of sports. No matter the sport – all athletes are at risk for an injury every time they step onto the playing field. If we’re to eliminate one, it’d be counterproductive to ignore the rest.

Concussion Podcast

 

Concussions: Not just a football problem. Story here: https://t.co/m8psfP7gpX #JMCRPP

— Taylor Rosen (@T_Rosen_) December 14, 2016

Concussions continue to change football, read more here: https://t.co/4s83du6wUE #JMCRPP

— Jamie D (@jdillon330) December 14, 2016

Interviewing, Reporting, Writing, Editing done by: Taylor Rosen.

Podcast, & Graphics done by: Jamie Dillon.