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Shannon Reinke
Ben Henderson
CAS 137H
10/29/14
The Changing Views of Concussions
Injuries are a part of sports. They are inevitable, and they impact
athletes in a wide variety of sports. The concussion in particular has been
gaining attention in the last decade. Concussive injuries in sports have
become a major issue that is currently being addressed by sports leagues.
Even Congress has entered the debate. Evidence has emerged since 1933
that shows how concussions can have long term effects on those who sustain
them. A paradigm shift has occurred in American society; head injuries are
no longer brushed off. Through the suicides of former players, the
emergence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and the NFL players
lawsuit, concussions are now viewed as a serious issue in our society.
As early as 1933, the treatment for concussions was written in the
NCAAs handbook. It stated that concussions should not be treated lightly. It
warned that players who were concussed should rest for at least 48 hours. If
their symptoms persisted, they were to not play for at least 21 days (A
Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial). In 1937, the American
Football Coaches Association declared that concussed players should be
immediately taken out of the game. A study in the New England Journal of
Medicine in 1952 urged players who have suffered three concussions to
discontinue with football forever. A condition named the Second Impact

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Syndrome was identified in 1973. This condition was said to occur when an
athlete receives a concussion while still suffering from a previous one. In
2013 the Journal of Neurosurgery stated that this condition carried a 90
percent mortality rate (A Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial).
Even with the wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated since
1933, it wasnt until 1994 that the NFL acknowledged that danger of
concussions. With that acknowledgement, they formed the Mild JuTraumatic
Brain Injury Committee. Dr. Elliot Pellman was named a co-chair of this
committee. He also was the Jets team doctor and the commissioners
personal doctor. His appointment as co-chair and as the Jets doctor came
with controversy. Dr. Pellman had lied about receiving a degree from Stony
Brook when his degree had come from Mexico. (A Timeline of Concussion
Science and NFL Denial). By having an extremely questionable doctor as a
head for concussion treatment, it gave off the impression that the NFL wasnt
taking the concussion crisis seriously.
The NFL took 61 years to acknowledge the dangers of concussions (A
Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial). The main question that
has been raised is why it took so long for the NFL to address the problem?
Also, why was one of the NFLs chairs for their Brain Injury Committee
seemingly illegitimate? The answer to these questions can be can be found
in how Dr. Pellman treated Boomer Esiason in 1995. In his attempt to speed
up Esiasons return from a concussion, he used an unproven system that
involved the quarterback sitting in front of a computer and concentrating on

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the screen (A Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial). Trying to

get Esiason back into the game before he was fully recovered shows how
desperate the NFL could be. They dont like to talk about concussions
because they want their stars to keep playing. They hired a questionable
doctor because he was willing to use unproven systems to get players back
as fast as possible by bypassing legitimate medical testing.
In 1997 the NFL continued to ignore standard medical practices by
rejecting guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Neurology. The
AAN recommended removing players knocked unconscious from a game.
The NFL responded by saying, We see people all the time that get knocked
out briefly and have no symptoms. But in 1999, the NFL quietly began giving
out millions in disability payments to former players suffering from brain
issues (A Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial). The League had
paid two million dollars to at least three former players while they were
simultaneously denying links between football and concussions (Fainaru).
This information was a key factor in the NFL lawsuits that have recently
occurred, and it was a key piece for the paradigm shift. The information that
was discovered about the payments was used in future lawsuits against the
league.
An effect of information being revealed in the 1990s led to the
invention of a concussion program called the imPACT that is still used today.
The ImPACT test was first put into use in 1997, and it was created in
response to requests for neurocognitive testing from the NFL (ImPACT

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Test). The ImPACT Tests use has been expanded beyond the NFL to the
collegiate and high school level in order to better diagnose concussions.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, is a degenerative
neurological disease. Dr. Bennet Omalu found this disease in the brain of a
former football player in 2002. CTE shows a direct link between head trauma
and the development of dementia. A study done a year later showed that
multiple concussions in football players can lead to a doubled risk of
developing depression. The NFLs committee rebuffed the results by saying
that concussions have no long term effects. Wayne Chrebet, a wide receiver
for the New York Jets, had sustained a concussion during a game and was
told by Dr. Pellman, This is very important for your career, and sent him
back in to play. Chrebet ended up being put on the injured reserve and
never stepped back on the field that season (A Timeline of Concussion
Science and NFL Denial).
None of the research provided throughout a 70 year period seemed to
have an effect on the NFL. The NFL was hoarding information given to them
so that neither the players nor the public would hear. Football is Americas
favorite sport. Our society places these players on pedal stools because in
our societal view, football players are to be worshipped. America loves this
game, but they often forget that the NFL is a business. Their priority is to
make money. If players start leaving the sport early, or if stars have to stay
on injured reserve for extended periods of time, the NFL would lose money.
One way to protect their investment is to keep everyone ignorant about what

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is occurring with head injuries. The NFL has fed into the environment of
playing through injuries. When Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburghs Steelers
quarterback, couldnt play a game against the Baltimore Ravens because of
concussion symptoms, Hines Ward, a Pittsburgh receiver, made the
comments expressing his belief that Roethlisberger should play, Ive been
out there dinged up; the following week, got right back out there. Ward
later apologized about his statements by saying that concussions arent to
be messed with (Jost). The shift that occurred with concussions was that
knowledge began to spread among players. The ones to bring attention to
the issues that plagued the league were the stars that America had watched
and admired for years.
Through the tragic deaths of Justin Strezelcyk, Terry Long, Andre
Waters, Chris Henry, and Junior Seau, the public became aware of the serious
effects that head trauma can have on athletes. Each of these athletes were
diagnosed with CTE after their deaths. The death of Andre Waters prompted
ESPN to discontinue their show Jacked Up! It was a show that highlighted
the hardest hits in football during that week (A Timeline of Concussion
Science and NFL Denial). Waters death began to start a shift away from
viewing hits as entertaining.
The NFL finally acknowledged the effects of head trauma in 2009 when
they admitted that concussions could lead to long-term problems (A
Timeline of Concussion Science and NFL Denial). After the NFL made their
announcement, the lawsuits began. Nearly 250 cases and 5,000 plaintiffs

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were involved. The lawsuits against the NFL were the aspect that really
shifted views toward concussions. The NFL had begun to put up posters in
the locker rooms warning players about concussions. This is the first time
that the NFL showed that it was properly informing players about the risks
that were involved with football. They also created penalties and fines for
tackles that targeted the head of a player (A Timeline of Concussion Science
and NFL Denial).
Concussions in todays sports world and in our society as a whole are
viewed with much more gravity than ever before. The lawsuits and deaths of
former players had a significant impact on Americans. Parents especially are
taking a more serious view on concussions with their children. People no
longer say that someone got their bell rung when sustaining a hit. A
seriousness has evolved throughout head trauma treatment. Trainers and
doctors are better trained to see the effects of concussions and are also
equipped with the knowledge to prescribe the appropriate treatment. Each
year new protective equipment is being introduced with improved
technology to protect against the impact of hits.
A paradigm shift has truly occurred within the treatment of concussions
in the sports world, as well as how they are viewed in our society. Even
though the information about concussions has been around since the 1930s,
the knowledge had been kept from both the public and players by the NFL in
order to protect their business. People and players both had a dismissive
attitude toward concussions for decades. Football players played through

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concussions because of the pressure to be strong and tough. It wasnt until

former players started committing suicides that people started to pay
attention. No one wanted to see their former heroes and stars end their lives
that way. By discovering that concussions from football contributed to their
failing cognitive functions, it awakened people to the severity of this issue.
When former players began to sue the NFL, the public truly had their eyes
opened to what football, our countrys favorite sport, could do to these men
thus shifting our views completely on the issue of concussions.
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Works Cited
Fainaru, Steve. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

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"ImPACT Test." ImPACT Founders. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Jost, Kenneth. "Professional Football." CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press, 29 Jan. 2010. Web.
Petchesky, Barry. "A Timeline Of Concussion Science And NFL Denial." Deadspin. N.p., n.d.
Web. 22 Oct. 2014.