Say “No” To Concussion Among Young Athletes

By Farhan Huszaimi

Most concussions happen
in contact sports like
Football.
(Image from
www.northcentralsurgical.com)

            Adolescents and children grow at an extremely fast rate, but they are not considered to be fully developed until around the age of 21. During the Adolescent and children stages, which are ages between 4 to 21 years old, the brain plays a crucial part in the emotional, social, and physical growth of an individual. A person could have a big life problem, such as memory problems, in their future if they have a horrible injury with the brain during the teenager stage and childhood stage. What would happen if an airplane does not function as normal while the plane was at the altitude of 25,000 feet and had a cruising speed of a thousand miles per hour? Everybody on board would think that they have chances to die. The same goes to young athletes with concussions among adolescents and children. Concussions are common among young athletes nowadays; unfortunately, people are not taking this issue seriously. Most people do not know that they are having a concussion, and some may not have even heard of the word concussion before. The issues of concussions have become popular since 2009, because there was “a middle school football player who suffered a severe brain injury after returning to a game following an earlier concussion” (Lowrey and Morain 290). According to Aaron, a football helmet researcher and a businessman, “There are [three] million concussion[s] per year.” (qtd in Kram, 3). This clearly shows that concussion is getting familiar in our culture. Every problem must have a solution, and the same goes to concussion. There are several possible solutions to prevent concussion among young athletes, such as having a better sports equipment, diagnosed by a physician, and altering certain game rules. However, the most effective way to prevent concussion among young athletes would be to have the sport administrators regulate the rules better, the physicians play an important role in diagnosing the athletes before, during, and after games; and the coaches teach their athletes the correct skills and techniques of how to be safe in games.

            A concussion is considered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (Lowrey and Morain 290). “Concussion occurs when a blow to the head or body jars the soft brain, causing a temporary disturbance in brain function. The injury can trigger a wide range of symptoms, including headache, nausea, and dizziness.” (Sander). A concussion happens when a person’s brain is hit with a strong force. A concussion happens when a person’s head is hit strongly by a force causing the brain to shake inside the skull. When the brain is shaking, it collides with the wall of the skull which causes serious brain damage, swelling, or bleeding. It could get worse if the athlete forces himself to

Brain hit with skull during concussion
cause brain damages.
(image by www.sciencebuddies.com)

continue playing because it could tear the neuron (brain) cell. The brain can collide with the wall of skull repeatedly until the hit can kill the neuron cells (brain cell) and cause brain swelling, bleeding, or dying. When some part of the brain, such as the frontal lobe located in front of the brain and the occipital lobe located behind the brain, do not work as normal, it can affect the person’s way of thinking. For instance, the frontal lobe is for reasoning and critical thinking. If the frontal lobe hits the wall of the skull, its cells can die. This may cause confusion and depression. Some of the concussion symptoms are depression, memory loss (amnesia), confusion, double vision and many other disorders (Rosenbaum and Arnett). “From 2001 to 2009, the annual number of concussion climbed from 153,375 to 248,414, an increase of 62[%]” (Lowrey and Morain, 290). Why must we be concerned about concussion? What will the problem be if the concussion is not solved? There are some terrible effects if we let young athletes get a concussion.

            What is concussion? “Concussions are a part of the new sporting reality” (Saxon). Many people might not have heard the term “concussion” in their life or may not think it is a serious issue because many people think athletes must be tough emotionally and physically. They might look at concussion as a small non-threatening problem that all athletes will encounter in the course of their spors activities. Most of the concussed young athletes actually have a ‘nightmare’ life story to tell. They could suffer from depression and some of them are not able to walk or do daily activities due to severe multiple concussions. Recent research shows that even subconcussive hits, which is a strong hit at head that not cause a concussion, in children and adolescents may result in longer-term health effects such as decreased cognitive functioning, increased rates of depression, memory problems, and mild cognitive impairment, also known as Alzheimer’s condition (Lowrey and Morain, 290). This is because subconcussive hits might speed up the aging of the brain (Barton). One example of this

We cannot see concussion because
it happens inside our skull
(Image by drcaram.com)

condition is the case of a 21-year-old football player at the University of Pennsylvania who committed suicide after showing early signs of a progressive brain disease previously associated with former professional football players who had suffered multiple concussions (Sander). Besides that, concussions are getting common in our culture. “About 300,000 sports-related concussions occur each year in United States” (Preidt). Concussion cases have been increasing in recent years. Medical journal Paediatrics confirms that “concussions among children have increased sharply in recent years and that head injuries related to basketball, the most popular young sport, are on the rise” (qtd. in Sander). Solutions are clearly and desperately needed to reduce the quantity because all children deserve a bright and healthy future. Furthermore, research also suggests that younger people, especially girls, are more likely to get concussion (Lowrey and Morain). Young children are just too young to understand what will happen to them if they make certain mistakes. If they fall from a bicycle, for instance, they could break their arm and it might heal after one or two months, but if they get a concussion, their life could change forever. For example, the person is a cheerful person before concussion, but he or she may be depressed every day after concussion if the person does not get treatment. It is disheartening to think about how the children will live their life in the future if they cannot walk, talk, or even eat by themselves, for severe concussion cases. Imagine that is happening to our children, wife, father, or anybody that we love. How will it feels like? Concussion problems need solutions, otherwise children who play sports and have high possibility to be a concussed person will continue to be susceptible to the consequential suicide attempts, depression, and confusion. The possibility of multiple concussions will only make the situation worse.

            One of the common ways to prevent concussion is by having better sports equipment. Businessmen believe that having safe sports equipment that can minimize high-risk impacts on the brain can reduce the chance of concussion (Preidt). Preidt states that school students need to wear proper safety gear to reduce their risk of injuries. Radley also believes that athletes need to wear better sports equipment to prevent from a concussion. “Adding some extra soft padding to compensate for the lack of hard shell… leaves a net zero in protection for the wearer” (Radley). The advantage of having better equipment is that it can reduce the chance of getting a concussion of about 30% (Fitzpatrick). Besides that, having better equipment is highly practical and easy to do. It does not require high education or an expert to buy better sports equipment because everybody even athletes themselves know what they should buy for safety. However, Mr. Guskiewicz says, “It [is] not always the big hits that result in the greatest impairment” (qtd. in Sander) and Aaron believes that “there has to be a way to come up with a better helmet” (qtd. in Kram). To these perceptions, Lovell adds, “You could build a super helmet, and the brain is still going to be sloshing around up there” (qtd. in Fitzpatrick). Based on these quotes, they indicate that better equipment is not helping to reduce concussion very much. Despite this finding, Aaron still tries to use “some energy-absorbing and dissipating system” on helmets to reduce concussion up to 48% (qtd. in Kram). That means if a player does not wear a helmet, he or she will have almost half the chance of getting a concussion. Inevitably, money will be the main issue with better sports equipment. It will cost a lot to change the equipment every year. We know that not everyone can afford to buy new sports equipment every year. Furthermore, there might be businessmen who are only concerned with profit and not the customers’ safety. “Concussion have created new opportunities for equipment manufacturers like Unequal, [software] companies, countless universities researchers, and for several medical and

Sports equipment?
maybe not enough to prevent
concussion.
(image by scrippsmedia.com)

academic facilities [to] contend with sports’ most pressing issue” (Fitzpatrick). This shoes that some businessmen do not care about the quality of the sport equipment products, they just care about money. Then, they do not care about lowering the chance of getting concussion among athletes. Thus, despite only offering a small reduction of chance in getting concussed, better sports equipment might still be an effective solution to concussion problems.

            Another possible solution is players should be diagnosed by a physician prior to the game and coaches, parents or sports administrators should work together to prevent concussion. Multiple concussions can be prevented if the athletes are properly diagnosed by the physician before the game. This can increase the chance of curing concussion should it occur. “Everybody, from athletes and parents to the medical profession and sports administrators, needs to be part of the solution” (Saxon). In Saxon article, he gives several steps to treat a concussion. “’When in doubt, sit them out’ said Dr. Margo Mountjoy” (qtd. in Saxon). Coaches and parents should understand and know some symptoms of concussion so that they can bench the athletes out if they, the athletes, show concussion symptoms. Parents and coaches should not force young athletes to continue on playing if the young athletes shows some symptoms of concussion. “[T]he laws are organized around three central provisions: education of athletes, parents, and coaches…” (Lowrey and Morain, 291). This clearly shows that coaches and parents play an important role to stop athletes from playing if they see some symptoms

Physician should play an important
role to prevent concussion

of concussion in them. This solution is somewhat logical because athletes will have been diagnosed by an expert before the game starts. Thus, this can reduce concussion very effectively. However, athletes will have to pay a lot of money to the physician, it is far more expensive than just having better equipment.

            Other than that, altering certain game rules is also a possible solution to prevent concussion in young athletes. “NFL started handing out suspensions to players who make illegal hits of the sort most likely to cause concussions” (Bercovici). Bercovici proposes to bench those players who break the rule for the remainder of the quarter if they hit or make any illegal contact with the head and neck. This is reasonable and it can be an effective way to reduce concussion among athletes. By this the players can be deterred from breaking the rule as it will give bad effects to their sports career. This is because attitude is also important in athletes if they aspire to play at higher levels in sport such as at the international level. However, some players are willing to sacrifice everything to win a competition even if it means they have to break the rule. For instance, “Guys like James Harrison care deeply about winning and about the respect of their teammates. If anything, a fine is something a James to as an example of personal sacrifice he bore to help the team win” (Bercovici). Other thn that, “The problem is just that a $25,000 fine is a mosquito bite to a guy who makes $5 million a year.” (Bercovici). Moreover, if the athletes are in a big competition, the pressure they have to bear might cause them to not think rationally and they might forget about the rules while playing, and they do not care about the fine that they need to pay. Thus, ignoring the rules and making that illegal contact with the opponent’s head, which in turn can lead to concussion, is of high possibility.

            For me, the most effective ways to prevent concussion among young athletes are sport administrators changing certain game rules, physicians diagnosing athletes before any game, and coaches teaching their athletes the correct method to be safe in games. First of all, “Sports need to change rules to make their games safer.” (Saxon). Sport administrators should also change the game rules because it will make athletes be more careful and at the same time try not to do the mistakes that can cause concussion. Conveniently enough, athletes usually have high level of obedience as their attitude and character are an important determining factor for selection for future games. No matter how good the player is, if the player has a bad attitude, a coach will not choose him or her to play for competition. For instance like Mario Balotelli, a soccer player, he has a really bad attitude because he always skip training and do some silly things such as throw a dart to other people at the bar outside the game. As a result, although he is a talented young soccer player in the world, he is not being chosen as the main player in his teams. As a conclusion, by hook or by crook athletes need to follow the rule for the goodness of their sport career. Thus, by changing certain game rules, concussion can be prevented among young athletes.

             Besides that, the physician diagnosing athletes’ general health condition before any game is one of the best ways to prevent concussion because the physician will make sure the athletes are fit to play the game and this can reduce the risk of concussion and multiple concussions. Although the diagnosing is a little bit expensive, I think it is reasonable to pay because life is priceless. Chance of getting multiple concussion will be reduced of every athletes were diagnosed before, during, and after the games. “[M]edical clearance before returning to play” (Lowrey and Morain, 291). The chance of getting concussion will be lower because physician will detect early symptoms or symptoms of concussion itself among athletes. Moreover, athletes who are playing during the game are those who are healthy and people, especially parents, will not worried about their children’s health condition during the game because physician will only allow healthy athletes to play. Furthermore, coaches should teach their athletes the correct and safe techniques to play the game so that they can minimize the risk of suffering from concussion. I feel this is a reasonable alternative because coaches are paid to do this kind of job, teaching the right way. For instance, most children think that they must start

Coaches also play an important
role to prevent concussion

tackling by using the head in football, which is totally wrong. It is coach responsibility to change the false thinking among young athletes. Besides that, it is also inexpensive and highly practical because coaches technically should know how to prevent injuries, especially head injuries, during a match. Thus, the administrators, physicians, and coaches should all play an important role in preventing concussion among young athletes.

            All in all, an athlete should be a healthy person. Children and young athletes have bright future. We should not let sports ruin our children’s future. We should also be concerned about these young athletes’ education and health alongside their sports performance. “The most important thing for young concussion patients is getting them healthy enough to return to school, not sports.”(Saxon). Last but not least, hopefully this fatal and nightmare disorder will be reduced in the future, if not eradicated, and all young athletes can undergo a normal life and play sports with great performance.

by Mohamad Farhan Huszaimi bin M.Pajar,

AS Biology, AS Natural Science, AS Psychology

Work Cited

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