A few years ago, I was at preseason football practice in high school. I was working with a team on a concussion research project. The players were lined up in two rows facing each other, with little instruction from the coach, and a serious concern crossed my mind: “Hit the man across from you with the whistle.”
Professional sports get a lot of attention, but concussions are a serious medical problem at all levels of play. While about 1,700 athletes play his football professionally each year, he has more than 3 million children and youth playing the same game in the United States. This puts concussion squarely as a serious public health concern in homes from coast to coast.
For decades, athletes, parents, coaches, and medical professionals viewed concussions as temporary injuries with no long-term consequences. played through it in Our thinking about concussions changed around 2005 when the brain histopathology report for retired national football his league player Mike Webster was released. This report is the first to identify chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football players and suggests that the condition is associated with concussions suffered by players on the field. Since then, public attention has focused on this link between brain injuries and blows to the head, with much of that conversation centered around football.
Participation in any sport carries with it the risk of injury, and concussions are always part of the calculation. This is because early in the 2022 season, Miami his Dolphins quarterback Tua his Tagovailoa suffered a concussion during his game against the Cincinnati Bengals, leaving his crooked hand completely broken in front of a national crowd. was not as obvious as shown in Concussion prevention and care is better than ever, but we’re still far from ending all sports. This means better facilities, better training for coaches and players, and better healthcare.
In the early 1900s, football was played without helmets, but in the 1920s serious injuries such as skull fractures led to sporadic use of leather helmets. The plastic shell helmet was invented by him in 1939 and became mandatory a few years later. The first face masks appeared in games in the 1950s, and foam padding was not added until the 1960s. Until recently, all of these changes were aimed at reducing the most serious brain injuries, such as cerebral hemorrhages and skull fractures, and were largely successful. However, as our understanding of concussion has evolved and its significance as an injury has been appreciated, so has the scrutiny of player equipment.
The fundamental problem is that the brain in the skull cannot be stabilized after impact, no matter how much impact force is mitigated by protective gear. Achieving an anti-concussion helmet would likely be an impossible engineering challenge. But that hasn’t stopped helmet improvements. With a new perspective on concussion prevention, Virginia Tech researchers introduced a helmet rating system specifically for concussion risk in 2011. This gives consumers concrete evidence to make informed purchases. In the first year, he had only one helmet with a 5-star rating, but now the latest rankings list over 25 of his 5-star rated helmets. Modern helmets use advanced shell materials that flex on impact, moveable panels to absorb forces, and multi-layered padding for varying impact velocities. Guided by the latest science, the company continues to improve its helmets as new materials become available.
But engineering limitations should not stop us from scrutinizing other factors that can reduce concussion risk. For example, in one study of head impacts and concussions over his five seasons of college football, nearly 50% of his concussions occurred in his four weeks prior to the season. The rest occurred over the next 12 weeks of play during the season. Data like this has led the NCAA to reduce the number of preseason full-contact practice sessions allowed. Reducing the number of high school football practices where contact is allowed has been shown to reduce impacts to the head by as much as 46%. Moving his line forward to his 40-yard line at the kickoff reduced the number of times his back ran the ball by a receiving player. This is one of the most dangerous plays in terms of concussion.
As players get older and start playing contact football, the coaching staff must teach them proper tackling techniques. Learning how to do this properly has the added benefit of more playing time (i.e. injury prevents you from playing). In addition, having medical providers trained in concussion management at practices and competitions helps identify and expedite the removal of injured players.
Injury prevention is the best way to go, but concussions are always part of participating in sports. It’s not just soccer. This injury occurs in all sports and affects athletes regardless of gender. Women, who make up about 45% of college athletes, tend to report more concussions in their gender-matched sports, but make up only 20% of her in the medical literature. Some researchers speculate that women are generally more likely to report health concerns to their health care providers, but the smaller neck muscles compared to the mass of the head may have The ability to stabilize the head is sometimes limited. Some data show an increased risk of concussion at various times during the menstrual cycle. All this suggests that concussions are not unique to soccer, and unless we intend to ban all sports, there is an urgent need to continue working to better understand concussions and how to prevent them.
In the meantime, several medical institutions and organizations have developed concussion guidelines that did not exist in the early 2000s, and every four years a group of international experts meet to review relevant medical literature and promote concussion care. We make recommendations on the best approach to Updated guidelines are expected later this year. As with all medical advances, change is gradual and often difficult to recognize, but concussion prevention and care is better than ever. I will do anything to “get over the pain”. Support athletes, encourage them to step forward when injuries occur, empower them to be their own health advocates, and enable them to protect their overall brain health while playing competitively and safely Creating a culture is essential.
A shift is occurring in how we view sports-related concussions. After 20 years of concussion research, we now take concussion seriously as an injury, better understand the biomechanics of impact and other risk factors, and move toward prevention and the management and recovery process. I can attest to the improvement. Sports are an integral part of American culture, providing much-needed exercise for millions of children. It is imperative that you are able to play safely on
This is an opinion and analysis article and views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily Scientific American.
