The Importance Of Football Helmet For Concussions Protection

Concussions should be taken more seriously in youth football leagues, which should provide protection so decrease the number of players currently suffering head injuries.

In this research paper, I’m making a stand for the improvement of helmets to decrease the number of concussions. Ken Belson believes that according to the Institute of Medicine, high school football players are almost twice as likely as college football players and high school athletes in other sports to sustain concussions and up to 20% of athletes who sustain a concussion experience symptoms that last longer than two weeks. Just by that is High school players don’t have the next level of helmet protection like college athletes, and pro football athletes. The institute's recent update on peer-reviewed clinical findings is likely to intensify demands for further testing on the impact of brain injuries in youth athletics, a field that has mostly gone unstudied. It could also raise pressure on helmet makers, who have indicated that their devices mitigate the likelihood of concussions in the past. In that statement, I see that kids or youth athletes have been impacted by taking a shoot to the head, it will still affect the players during their adulthood, we need to have more advanced technology to see who has a concussion, and who is having head trauma effects. Research conducted by researchers at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences indicated that football players as young as 7 experience head hit similar in severity to those absorbed by high school and adult players, with the bulk of the hits happening during workouts rather than games.

Many parents are worried about the danger of concussions to their young football players, so there is a good reason why the parents are worried about their child playing a physical sport. 

A recent study undertaken by Virginia Tech researchers evaluated where on the spectrum youth football falls in terms of concussion risk. The study found that while young players do not suffer as many concussions as their older players, they are more likely to be hospitalized after taking a less forceful blow. The researchers clarified that a hit of around 62 g could cause a concussion in a young football player, while an older player would need a hit of about 102 g. About 100 children wore special helmets fitted with sensors that tracked the child's head and neck movement for four years. This was helpful because the researchers were able to calculate the effect of the hit and cross-reference the detail with the formal medical history where and when the child was struck in the head. Youth football players must wear safety gear to remain healthy during workouts and games. Researchers' efforts have resulted in the creation of standards for youth helmets to ensure the equipment is as safe as possible.  I see and believe that the parents should be worried for their children because they are more likely to get a concussion quicker than older athletes. I also think that helmets should be improved with new and protective helmets. “No one has ever developed a ranking system tailored to youth helmets, in part because the evidence did not exist,” Kristen  explained, “We will now assess helmets based on the actual risks that young athletes face, and brands can use this information to build models that are uniquely suited to this large group of players.”

Mrs. DeNisco claims that brain injuries are causing major frustration in youth contact sports such as football: According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention, between 1.6 and 3.8 million young players experience head injuries per year. Those that tend to be hit in the head are more likely to have brain illnesses and diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease. Since high school sports began, a staggering 53 percent of students have had a concussion, and 36 percent of college players have a history of multiple concussions. According to the Sports Concussion Institute, about half of all players do not report any symptoms following a crash that results in a concussion.

Jonathan Gang believes that the effects of repeated head trauma are serious for everyone, but they could be more severe for young people whose brains are still developing. Pop Warner, the country's leading organized football association, offers tackle football opportunities to children as young as five. Youth football organizations have made several efforts to minimize the likelihood of concussions by improving the way young people play the game. USA Football, the sport's official governing body, has developed an initiative dubbed Heads Up Football to encourage player welfare. To further decrease the rate of head injuries, the initiative aims to combine correct footwear fitting, instruction on how to diagnose and handle concussions for referees and coaches, and better-tackling activities. According to Jonathan Gang, USA Football's head of Marketing, these activities have been adopted by over 6,300 developmental teams and 1,100 high school leagues. However, with over 15,000 high school leagues in the United States, the association already has a long way to go before these activities become normal. “Heads Up tackling is based on the premise that if we can tackle correctly, we can make the game safer,” Jonathan Gang states. “The issue is that it's never really worked, and there's no evidence that it helps minimize concussions. Every 20 years or so, the football community embraces the notion that we can fix the head injury issue by tackling differently. 

Jacqueline Howard believes that the rates of football practice concussions and chronic concussions have declined in recent years across all sports. The bad news is that concussion rates in football games have risen. The research discovered trends in concussion rates not only for football but also for more than a dozen other sports, including basketball, ice hockey, and cheerleading, which were among the sports with the highest frequency of concussions. She believes the study also discovered that only one sport had a higher concussion risk during practice than during competition. Mrs. Howard also learned that the report contained information on 9,542 concussions sustained in 20 high school athletics between the 2013-2014 and 2017-2018 school years. Football, wrestling, soccer, basketball, baseball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, and track and field are examples of boys' sports; volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, and track and field are examples of girls' sports. Even though youth football has grown in popularity, these types of injuries have become more worrying, and research has also shown that repeated hits to the head, such as those incurred when playing football or heading a soccer ball, may result in long-term memory loss, dementia, and other serious health issues. She admired the report for throwing light on the public health problem of concussions, which she claims receives greater coverage in college and professional athletics than in high school sports. Jacqueline Howard believes According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 800,000 brain injury injury-related emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and deaths occur in children in the United States per year. Mrs. Howard believes that football has the most concussions and head traumas but it’s not the only sport that deals with concussions.

 According to David Trilling that football players are not the only athletes who face risk. Head trauma can also occur in hockey, lacrosse, and other sports. However, tackle football remains the most common high school sport in the United States.  David Trilling believes that repeated concussions can go to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that can only be diagnosed and has been attributed to memory loss and depression in retired football players. Trauma (severe concussion) and post-concussion syndrome are symptoms that are related.  According to a 2017 David report in the Journal of Physical Fitness, football players experience more concussions than any other high school student. Football players are 16 times more likely than baseball players to sustain a concussion during a game, and four times more likely than male basketball players. (The report considered soccer to be the most risky high school sport for children, followed by lacrosse.)  This increase in speed will cause the brain to move around or turn in your head, causing chemical changes. At times, it can even stretch and damage brain cells. David announced in the Annals of Neurology in 2017 that a concussion in adulthood is associated with an elevated chance of developing multiple sclerosis later in life. Many questions are yet to be resolved. Can the risks of football continue to rise? However, today's safety clothing is more advanced (though a poorly fitting helmet can increase the severity of concussions).  However, some experts believe that improved equipment is altering how the game is played, allowing players to "lead with their heads," raising their chances of a concussion. The CDC has also expressed concern.