Matthew

Riley
Adam Padgett
English 102
14 November 2016
Head Injuries Impacting Football

The world of sports in America has been filled with speculation in controversy. From the

use of steroids to the spread of domestic abuse of the field by certain athletes, there is no
shortage of discussion. However, there is an issue that dominates the most popular sport in
America, and that is the issue of head injuries in the game of football. The documentation of
this topic has spread in the last couple years. These cases of head trauma have become more
accessible to the public. The National Football League, NFL, and other football organizations
have tried to make progress on this issue. However, there are many people who believe the
actions taken have not meet sufficient enough standards to make the game safer. Many
wonder how this controversy will effect the game if this is not solved. The sport of football has
always been prosperous in America. Seeing no signs of slowing down for years, the game now
faces its biggest opponent for prosperity it has ever faced. These injuries are not only heavily
effecting the players themselves, but also the game as a whole. There are steps that need to be
taken to fix this or footballs survival could be at risk.

Football has always been known for its brutality, but until recently we had no idea to

what extent this brutality has effected the players. After studying the brains of former
professional football players. Dr. Bennet Omula was able to site what he called, chronic
traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, in the brains of these former players. These players This

diagnosis set off the further studying of the effects of repeated blows to the head that people
sustain from playing the game. The most publicized incident of this occurring in a former player
is of Hall of Fame, San Diego Chargers Linebacker Junior Seau. On May 2, 2012 Seau was found
dead in his home due to an apparent suicide, he was 43. Before this tragic incident, Seaus
family recounts times after his retirement from football where his behavior had changed. Seau
formed certain behavioral traits that were out of character for him such as, heavy alcohol
consumption, reckless business and financial decisions, and gambling (Azad 2). These
detrimental changes even went as far as him becoming more aggressive and sometimes
violent with his close friends and family, which was reported as uncharacteristic (Azad 2). With
this high profile case, the public got to see how this disease effects the players much deeper
than originally thought. The extent of which this disease as been spread is also staggering.
Going back to the first case present by Dr. Omula, evidence of CTE has been confirmed in
seventy-six of the seventy-nine former professional football players who have been examined
after death (Findler 447). Another case study showed that, of 53 of the subjects who had
played football as their primary sport, 42 demonstrated evidence of CTE on autopsy (Azad 2).
This is a prolific amount of affected player that many could not fathom before the increase of
exposure to this issue occurred.

This rapid increase in awareness of CTE, concern not only for the players but the future

of the game became more prominent. One of the big factors of the future of the game is youth
participation. The youth playing football is the future generation of players and allow the game
to continue on as it has for years. However, since this crisis, participation at the youth level is
very much at risk. Parents have started to ask questions about the safety of football and a much

higher rate than ever before. High profile people such as President Barack Obama and ,NBA
superstar, LeBron James have been on record that they would not let their children play
football. Even high profile football players such as, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, and Adrian
Peterson also say they would not let their sons play the game. The chart below shows what
many parents are concerned about. The chart shows the amount of concussions obtained by
high school and colligate athletes during the 2005-2006 school year, by sport. As you can see
football as an alarming rate of concussions compared to that of which occurred in other sports.
These repeated blows to the head are the main concern when it comes to cause of CTE.

Pop Warner is the largest youth football program in America, allowing it to be a good
measure of the level of participation as a whole. During the time period of 2010-2012, the
organization, saw participation drop 9.5 percent between 2010-12, a sign that the concussion
crisis that began in the NFL is having a dramatic impact at the lowest rungs of the sport
(Fainaru and Fainaru-Wada 1). This is a dramatic drop off of youth players taking part in the

game. The figures of players playing in 2010 (248,899) and 2012 (225,287), shows just how big
of an impact that this issue is having. Pop Warners chief medical officer, Dr. Julian Biles,
confirms this by stating that, concerns about head injuries as the No. 1 cause, (Fainaru and
Fainaru-Wada 1).




Works Cited
Azad, Tej D., et al. Junior Seau: An Illustrative Case Of Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy And Update On Chronic Sports-Related Head Injury. World
Neurosurgery 86.(2016): 515.e11-515.e16. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct.
2016.


Findler, Patrick. "Should Kids Play (American) Football?." Journal Of The Philosophy Of

Sport 42.3 (2015): 443-462. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Forbes, Jonathan, et al. "Biomechanics Of Subdural Hemorrhage In American Football: Review

Of The Literature In Response To Rise In Incidence." Child's Nervous System 30.2 (2014):

197-203. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Furness, Zack. "Reframing Concussions, Masculinity, And NFL Mythology In League Of
Denial." Popular Communication 14.1 (2016): 49-57. Academic Search Complete. Web.
18 Oct. 2016.


Murphy, Austin. "Endgame." Sports Illustrated 125.6/7 (2016): 122-128. Academic Search

Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Smith, Rodney K. Solving The Concussion Problem And Saving Professional Football.
Thomas Jefferson Law Review 35.2 (2013): 127-191. Academic Search Complete. Web.
18 Oct. 2016.