Posted by Vanessa Fabrizio, MSIV Drexel University College of Medicine
FOOTBALL: the most popular sport in America. Little boys dream of growing up and playing in high school, then college, then hopefully the NFL. Even little girls dream of dating football players in school or marrying a NFL superstar.
Those who have never played football can pour money into the sport by simply watching it on TV or more drastically via sports betting. With advancements in the sport and the increasing athelticism of the players, the injury risk has drastically increased while the lifetime of a player in the NFL has decreased. More attention is being brought to the media about concussion and their long term sequelae in professional athletes, yet not enough people question how well the helmets are actually working.
What is a concussion?
Concussion: a mild traumatic brain injury that leads to a temporary loss of brain function. Symptoms of a concussion are commonly headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, difficultly on ones feet and balancing, and loss of fine motor coordination. Other symptoms can include light sensitivity, blurry vision, tinnitus, and can even produce seizures. Most individuals who experience a concussion will also experience post-traumatic amnesia and experience difficulty paying attention and disorientation. Post concussive syndrome exists and these symptoms can linger for months affecting lifestyle in many ways.
Treatment for concussion is typically and simply rest. Avoiding head trauma is key to recovery.
Football is not the only sport where its players experience concussions. Boxing is an extremely dangerous sport and many of its victims experience neurological deficits due to their involvement. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball, and baseball to name a few all have increased risks of concussions greater than the general public.
This video demonstrates that not only professional players are at risk as it shows a 12yr old on the wrong end of a “hard hit”.
What do the studies say about helmet protection?
Recently an article in the LA times was published that talked about how the American Academy of Neurology is currently studying the effectiveness of different football helmets on the market today and how well they decrease concussion rates. The research that will be presented is showing that no helmet on the market today is actual effective in preventing concussions. However, it appears that the helmet this study rated as number 1, was rated last in a study at Virginia-Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. Obviously this shows that our testing of how effective helmets work isn’t standardized yet or up to par. As mentioned above, the sport of football itself has advanced so now helmets need to advance and the testing of the efficacy of these new helmets need to advance as well.
Should we encourage children to stop playing football to prevent them harm? As an avid football lover myself, I think that this is not the solution. We need to continue to raise media attention in order to expedite the process of creating these newer, safer helmets. Education about concussions need to be taught to young athletes as well as appropriate tackling measures to ensure safety. The NFL association has been good about updating the rules and regulations of the game to ensure player safety with fines and penalties for unnecessary roughness and hits. Lets hope they continue this way and it continues to trickle down all the way to the peewee leagues.
CLick here to link to the LA times article.
Neurology Update 