Dangers of playing football

Dangers of playing football

C.T.E. condition has affected football players for the past 50 years, and this condition happens when a player sustains much concussion, which later leads to early-onset of dementia and severe depression. Lastly, C.T.E. People with C.T.E. are mostly associated with repeated concussions. The shock is a result of the formation of a natural protein called Tau protein, which forms in a triangular shape in the brain, and this leads to depression, confusion, memory loss, impaired judgment, and aggression, problems with impulse control, and at last progressive dementia. Since there is no way to keep the footballers safe from damages, rules, and regulations are put in place to minimize the number of injuries. Football being a violent game, it is hard to prevent concussion 100 percent. The football game has more risks than benefits since most of the players end up being affected by C.T.E, which led to death; this condition affects every one of participating in the game regardless of the sex or age.

Besides the players wearing a helmet with a paddled inside, well fitted in terms of size at end, the brain will crash since it will hit on the skull, which will cause the concussion if the player hits it hard enough. The only way to avoid this condition is changing the way the game is played and make sure where there is significant hit the player is prevented to prevent concussion. Footballers know the risk of playing football, but due to the benefits they get from the game, they take part in it. One of these is the passion they have for the game, and they enjoy playing it. It is their profession, meaning they usually get their cash to cater for their needs. In the current world, players are better, smarter, bigger, and faster since the game has become more physical. In the past, sports were not as competitive as they are today. The competition has become popular, and it has reached to its peak in nations like London, England.

The players are injured mostly when they are playing, and these injuries primarily cause C.T.E. C.T.E. is a condition of the brain which is usually found in persons with head trauma, this kind of situation is mostly detected from the players who have numerous concussions. In the past, this condition could be identified from the deceased, But UCLA staff working in conjunction with Dr. Bale have got ways to detect C.T.E. symptoms from a player who is alive (Abreu et al., 2016). C.T.E.’s condition causes loss of memory, suicidal thoughts, emotional difficulties, cognitive, depression, and dementia. Most of the players lose their life as a result of this condition.

Between the years 2012- 2013, 145 players had C.T.E. condition when examinations were done have they had concussions. In the season of 2013-2014, the report was presented at N.F.L. that 88 players suffered the same situation. (Golden et al., 2019) The number of players with this condition differs from seasons to seasons. Regardless of this, many children, youths in universities, high school plays football. There are investigations still ongoing examining all the groups to get a rough estimation of the players affected by the C.T.E. condition so legitimate treatment can be applied, this will help in management as well as curing of C.T.E. condition.

New rules were applied when playing the game, and this has led to a reduction in the number of concussions. In the year 2013, the number of affected players was 109, which was lower than that of 2008, which was 145 players. Since five years ago, picking up concussion took place, and N.F.L. incorporated main rules, which make the game safer than before, and this reduces concussion (Horstemeyer et al., 2019). These are some of the laws which were incorporated that made the game to be a bit safer, and they include; No targeting this means it is wrong to hit a player who is not in defense above the shoulders pads or on the head if any player does this the team will be penalized. Secondly, the player should avoid playing while the crown of the helmet is leading since concussion mainly results from it.

The research was conduct at Buffalo with 21 sampled men who were professionals in playing football and those who have been playing hockey, and these men were between 30 years to 70 years. These men were examined intensively in all their health aspects, and there was a comparison between men who have never be involved in cycling, swimming, or running. The result has shown that these men who were footballers had high levels of anxiety since they are apprehensive of their minds. The players were aware of the condition called C.T.E. since most of N.F.L. players resulted positive from the test of this condition.  It was caused by hitting the head, which used to happen to them when they were playing, and this increased anxiety as they were waiting for the result to be out. The result has shown the players were not prone to early dementia, and this makes them not worse than those who were involved in non-contact games.

Football is one of the most violent games since it is known once the bell blows the probability of head whacks is very high and in case it happens it results to traumatic damage of brain or even T.B.I.s and this has a permanent impairment to a person, the person may get into Coma or a person may be worse. In the early nineties, this condition was not taken seriously, but later on, the Doctors learned it was a severe condition. In 1928, a case of a boxer who had a “punch drunk syndrome ”. This could have lead the fighter to have dementia pugilistica, which could be characterized by slurred speech, mental deterioration, tremors, and unsteady gait, and this could be taken usually. Still, with repetition, it becomes a severe condition (VanItallie, 2019). A British neurologist in 1949 published an article called “punch –drunk syndromes” this condition was mainly found in boxers. The problem affected even professional players, but it was not as expected from the way people expected it for the fighters and the footballers. The playing is dangerous, but not as it was expected.

The results of the investigations were out people who knew the dangers of the game sat on one side of the field, and they were after criticizing people who read who had read the newspaper stating the dangers awaiting for the football players. People started to square off on twitter, and the fun has begun tweeting that similar results have been obtained from another study. In 2002, Bennet Omalu, who was a Neuropathologist, examined the body of a player called Mike Webster, who did of mental illness, which resulted from a mysterious spiral and homelessness (McCarthy, 2017).

During the examination, he realized an abnormal clumps protein in nature called tau, and this gave a proof that the player died of concussion and was later concluded that he was suffering from C.T.E. it was realized that he died of shocking suicide. Not only the football players who are at risk of getting concussion, other players who play rugby, soccer, and hockey are at the same risk, but the risk of football is higher than that of other games. After the examination, they realized that he had the trauma of the brain, later the study shown that the C.T.E. condition has spread like smoke or cancer (Schwab et al., 2019). Although sports are dangerous for children, football places them at a higher risk than any other game. So parents need to very keen on their children when it comes to the games they wish to join since some sports like football increases the risk of getting C.T.E., even players and couches need to be very cautious when playing this game since there are risks involved.

In the Midwest, some years back wanted their child to participate in football and employed for him a couch to help out practice to play football. The couple was aware that this game was a body-brushing sport as well as helmet-clashing, but they thought since it was the school that offering it, the child could be safe. The couple thought since the boy was playing with his age mate, he could not be injured, and if so, it could be minimal injuries. One day the parent realized the couch used to urge the boys towards barreling to each other forcefully.

One day as the children were playing, her mother heard a splitting crack, it was her son who had destroyed with a higher opponent, and he bounced back, he struck the ground with his head, and this was the second time he had a helmet – to- helmet practice. The couch hauled the boy to stand, but the boy was in great pain; he could be unable to walk out of the field. No one offered medical assistance to the boy, so for weeks the boy suffered fatigue and a severe headache, he used to be bothered by a loud sound when he closed his eyes the ground swayed, and the bright light was a problem to him (Naeser et al., 2019). The boy’s performance changed; he struggled when making calculations as well as reading. He continued with this condition for a whole month before the symptoms were apparent as his mother read about concussions, he realized other children who had this condition and sight issues as well as lack of good progress in education. Using tweeter, she was able to relate with other people who had children with sports-related brain trauma.  Her son later left football, but he already had a head-injury problem. The child had to undergo some examination, and then it was realized the boy had a concussion.

Regardless of football game risking a person to have this dangerous condition, it is beneficial to the players (Severino et al., 2019). Those who play football as professionals get finance to pay their bills. It also helps in exercise of the body; most of the play involved in playing this game is durable, looks younger and healthy (Reddy et al.,2017). The game consists of a lot of walking, which has cognitive benefits as well as good for someone’s health. It is not a must for the player to be involved in a situation that can risk them in getting C.T.E, so this gives the reasons why the game should be played regardless of the risk of getting C.T.E.

In conclusion, the football game has advantages that are earning a living for the players who do it as a profession, and they are well paid, especially those playing national leagues. They live a prestigious life since they are wealthy. On the other hand, the players are at risk of getting C.T.E., which led to death, and this risk is too high. The danger involved in playing football is more than the benefit of getting cash while risking death.

References

Abreu, M. A., Cromartie, F. J., & Spradley, B. D. (2016). Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.) and former national football league player suicides. Sport Journal, 1-12.

Golden, C. J., & Zusman, M. R. (2019). Prologue and Introduction to C.T.E. and Aggression. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (C.T.E.) (pp. 1-10). Springer, Cham.

Horstemeyer, M. F., Berthelson, P. R., Moore, J., Persons, A. K., Dobbins, A., & Prabhu, R. K. (2019). A mechanical brain damage framework used to model abnormal brain tau protein accumulations of National Football League players. Annals of biomedical engineering, 47(9), 1873-1888.

McCarthy, M. (2017). Large case series documents chronic brain damage in players of American football.

Naeser, M., Martin, P., Ho, M., Krengel, M., Bogdanova, Y., Knight, J., … & Koo, B. B. (2019, May). Transcranial, Near-infrared Photobiomodulation to Improve Cognition in Two, Retired Professional Football Players Possibly Developing C.T.E. In BRAIN INJURY (Vol. 33, pp. 134-135). 2-4 PARK SQUARE, MILTON PARK, ABINGDON OR14 4RN, OXON, ENGLAND: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD.

Reddy, P., Dias, I., Holland, C., Campbell, N., Nagar, I., Connolly, L., … & Hubball, H. (2017). Walking football as a sustainable exercise for older adults–A pilot investigation. European journal of sports science, 17(5), 638-645.

Schwab, N., Tator, C., & Hazrati, L. N. (2019). D.N.A. damage as a marker of brain damage in individuals with a history of concussions. Laboratory Investigation, 99(7), 1008.

Severino, N. C., Cassese, F. P., Ceciliani, A., D’Elia, F., & Di Tore, A. P. (2019). Psychophysical benefits of recreational five-a-side football.

VanItallie, T. B. (2019). Traumatic brain injury (T.B.I.) in collision sports: Possible mechanisms of transformation into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.). Metabolism, 100, 153943.