As football season approaches, fans begin wearing their favorite jerseys, hosting football parties and tuning into the stats of their favorite team. Part of the reason football is so enjoyable to watch is because of the risk factors. Will they win? Will they lose? Will they get hurt? Many people do not realize how dangerous the sport actual is. Concussions in the NFL have become a huge epidemic since the popularity of the sport is increasing. More and more people are watching and playing football and do not know how unsafe it is.
When signing up for football, whether it is at the high
school level or at the professional level, participants should know the risks. With
the tremendous amount of physical contact in mind, football is a very strenuous
sport. Running, tackling, ramming, jumping and falling are all common things
to see in a football game. Even though players wear a great amount of
protective gear, it will not protect everything.
Concussions are a very threatening injury to have. They can affect your visual field, your mental capacity and your stamina. How do you know if you have a concussion? Well, some symptoms can include headaches, memory loss, lack of coordination, and vomiting. Let’s put this into perspective — you are playing on the field, your team is winning, and you make head-to-head contact with another player. You feel a little pain, but you think you are fine. You go home, and you can’t even think of how bad your headache is and you keep vomiting. After that one hit, you can’t play football for however many games. You can’t focus in school, you have throbbing pain, all because you thought you were fine after you got hit, and you kept playing. A couple of weeks later you are feeling better. You are eventually allowed to go back on the field. A few years later you suffer from memory loss and maybe some other traumatic brain injuries. It is not worth the risk to play and suffer from a concussion. If you play, be aware of you head. You only have one brain so protect it!
Many NFL players such as Anthony Davis from the 49ers had to retire early to let his body recover from all the head injuries he encountered while playing. I know it is difficult to grasp the idea that he left his career, but your body and health should always come first. Taking care of yourself is very important even if it means leaving your career. Traumatic brain injuries can prevent a person from living a successful life because their brain is not functioning properly. In recent studies, there has been a correlation between football-created brain injuries and traumatic brain diseases. A 2013 lawsuit against the NFL regarding concussions forced the league to treat concussions and brain injuries more seriously. We can only hope that in years to come concussions will decrease in the NFL world.
NFL players are more likely to face serious brain injuries because of their constant physical contact on the field. Even though the NFL states that football has never been safer, some people think otherwise.
