Concussions have been an issue for decades. Whether endured by high school students or collegiate-level athletes, they have been hidden away from the public and dismissed as an injury so minuscule that athletes do not need to take certain protective measures.
However, the damage concussions do are anything but. Preventing concussions is very plausible, but many view it as an outlandish idea and unnecessary. The stigma surrounding the injury is widespread and incorrect. Concussions have very harsh effects on the brain and can permanently damage athletes’ bodies and careers.
Often, young athletes will avoid reporting an injury out of fear of looking ‘weak’ in front of other players. Letting down other team members is a main factor of concussions not being reported. Another reason concussions go undetected is out of fear of losing positions from the injury. With these concussions not being reported, the injury can worsen and affect all aspects of an athlete’s life. This can have permanent damaging effects on one’s mental and physical health.
There are many ways to prevent concussions. Those in power just need to take action and tear down the stigma surrounding the reporting of concussions, as well as the prevention, to ensure safer environments for athletes of all levels.
Reducing the stigma surrounding protective headgear is a measure that needs to take place in order to ensure safer conditions when playing certain contact sports. For too long, people have been grappling with the problem of the increased amount of concussions happening within certain sports, and the entertainment value of watching these brutal, and in some cases, harmful games.
In the National Football League, they have been implementing protective helmets, which can protect against harmful head injuries, and mouthguards within the teams to ensure safety over entertainment. Wearing the proper protection is crucial to preventing head injuries, and wearing it at all times, even during practice, can be the difference of a lifetime.
Recently, the NFL has given a choice to the players of wearing a guardian cap, which helps to absorb contact and reduce the force and chance of injury. As talk of better protection within football grows, more players are seen wearing protective, padded helmets. The Steelers’ offensive guard James Daniels was seen as the first person sporting the new cap, which stirred controversy online. Other players like the Browns’ linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah were also spotted wearing helmets.
Wearing the protective cap should not have a stigma surrounding it, for this can be a crucial piece of technology that can significantly reduce the amount of head injuries within the NFL. Chief Medical Officer of the NFL Dr. Allen Sills says that they have over two years of data proving that the guardian cap can significantly reduce the amount of concussions and other serious head injuries.
The prevention of concussions has been a slippery slope for years, whether the problem be about the entertainment value diminishing because of new safety protections being implemented, or the stigma surrounding the reporting of concussions being seen as ‘weak’ or ‘selfish.’
Concussions and other head injuries can be extremely dangerous to athletes of all ages, and the need for safer implementations has grown exponentially. People have got to start using protective measures, or the problem will keep growing and seep into the world permanently