Concussions: The Main Cause, Research Being Done, and Recovery Phase
Each year there is an estimated 3.8 million concussions. The number one cause of concussions is in sport related activities and the sport that is most often associated with concussions is football. This is all do to the fact that football players have become much bigger, faster, and stronger over the past couple of years. However, luckily there is lots of research being done on concussions, plus the implementation of state of the art technology to help diagnose concussions faster. Because half of all concussions go unreported; by raising awareness to athletes about the increasing number of concussions in football, the severity of them, and the recovery phase can make the game much safer.
“Football players have become freakish beast” said Mark Hall an analysis for Yahoo’s Rivals in a radio conversation with ESPN. Football players have become much bigger and faster in all levels of the game. When you look back 25 years ago, the average weight of a football player was 280lbs in the NFL, and at the high school level it was unheard of a player weighing 200lbs. Today top high school football players can weigh anywhere from 260-300lbs, and in the NFL they could weigh up to 370lbs. when you look at how a concussion is received it is from a rapid movement of the brain that is caused from a hard force to the head, and Force = Matter x Speed. So as the matter (weight) of a player increases, the more force there is, the easier it is to receive a concussion.
Although a common misconception of a concussion is that you need a hard hit to the head. That is not always necessarily true. Recent studies have shown that by receiving constant hits to the head, but have less force can be just as bad, if not worse. The problem is when you receive the big hit you are automatically tested for a concussion, but when you are receiving constant hits to the head the injury remains under the radar and no further testing is being done. This is worse because your brain becomes weaker and is then more vulnerable to injury. This has already happened to two athletes playing the game that they love.
Nathaniel Tre Newton and Nolan Brewster both played football for the University of Texas. Nathaniel played running back, and Nolan played defensive back. In both their cases they were forced to stop playing due to concussions. In a game against Kansas State University Nathaniel was taking a kickoff back. When he was on the sideline after the play he told his trainer he could not remember parts of the game so he was then tested, and was diagnosed with a concussion. When trainers were reviewing the game film they noticed a small helmet to helmet impact that they believed was the cause of it.
Nolan just like Nathaniel was in a small impact in a game against UCLA. What made his case slightly different was that he had never received a concussion in his football career. He did however have a history of migraine pains and after further testing it was concluded that they were being triggered from the impacts, and each time they were being triggered with less and less force. “I was flabbergasted on how both athletes received there concussion, with no significant amount of force” said Dr. Andrea Pana the teams dr. at University of Texas. To make matters worse was the fact that she recommended that they both stop entirely playing football because this was going to lead to extremely serious health risk for both of them in the future.
As a result of these two cases is the reason there is so much research being done on concussions. They have developed several tests to determine if an athlete has a concussion. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) is a test that is mandatory for all high school football players before the season starts; it is a computerized test that asks the players a series of questions and the computer records your answers, and records how long you take to answer each question. The Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) have been developed to help athletic trainers determine a players’ ability to return to play. The Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) has been employed to see the trauma that the brain has taken. With the development of test like these concussion numbers have gone down, and can prevent future one from occurring.
What has also come with all the research is the development of a recovery plan to ensure the athlete can be safe when he returns to play. “The most important phase of a concussion is the recovery” said Dr. Steven P. Broglio the director of the Neurotrauma research laboratory at the University of Illinois. When it comes to recovery of a concussion the athlete must stop all forms of physical exertion. By doing so you are allowing the glucose to flow to the brain which is the key to the healing process.
Although another key part of the recovery from a concussion is something not many people know about. This is not only to stop physical exertion, but also you need to stop all mental activity which includes reading, doing homework, and solving mathematical equations. All these task require the brain to work while it is still in a delicate state. “The best thing you can do is just sleep, and eat lots of fruits” said Dr. Broglio. “After a week or so you will return to your pre-concussion abilities and go back to your normal routine.”
Another key part to the recovery is the transition into game play. By doing it properly you are ensuring a safe return with no further consequences in the future. “When you twist an ankle do you just go out and sprint on after recovery? So why would you that with a concussion” said Dr. Broglio. He recommends a 5 step plan before returning to the game. After you have completed the no activity, and have returned to pre-concussion abilities you may begin a light aerobic exercise. It includes walking, swimming, or riding a stationary bike while maintaining the intensity under 70 percent, the key here is to just increase your heart rate. After you may begin some sport specific exercise such as running drills. Then you may begin the training drills such as passing and catching drills, or kicking. After you have completed all the steps and feel good you may begin a full contact practice, the main goal here is to simulate game like situations. Once you have done every step of the recovery phase you may return into game situations. If at any point you feel any headache, or other symptoms you must stop all exercise for 24 hours and then begin from step one.
On the contrary, if you don’t want to deal with any concussions, or symptoms; researchers have found ways that can help prevent one by strengthening your brains capability. By doing so the chances if you receiving any head injuries while playing sports is nearly cut in half, plus can decrease the chances of having any form of dementia at an older age. It is very simple, all you need to do is just memorize a song, a movie or just a list of anything, you can put together puzzles, or just by attempting to guess the number of marbles in a jar. This may sound ridiculous but recent studies show that the control group, on average was receiving much less head injuries of any form.
As you can see a concussion is not something you can take lightly. It can be extremely severe if not properly taken care of. By taking the proper time to heal and completing each step of the recovery process you are ensuring a safe return to the game; plus making sure you won’t have any further health complications in the future, and you may continue to play the game that you love. Through awareness on concussions athletes are more informed of what a concussion truly is, and what their recovery options are, plus were making the game much safer for everybody.