Athlete’s careers are often plagued by injuries. A tweak here or knock there is a common occurrence.
The biggest injuries competitors can suffer are often considered to be broken bones and dislocations.
Concussions on the other hand, have been historically viewed as minor injuries that regularly go untreated.
But recent research suggests that the long term effects of concussion possess deadly side effects.
What is Concussion?
Concussion is defined as a traumatic injury of the brain that is caused by impact on or affecting the head. This impact moves the skull and brain back and forth, resulting in temporary or permanent damage.
The severity of a concussion will depend on the amount of head trauma suffered during the incident.
Symptoms include vomiting after the incident, being knocked out and waking up shortly afterwards, a headache that cannot be relieved by painkillers, and memory issues.
A clear and simple definition right? So why is it so hard to recognise and so difficult to treat?
To put it simply, widespread confusion and misconception has led to the majority of the population not understanding what constitutes a concussion.
A lack of technology and ability to detect symptoms has built up a long history of difficulties with concussion, particularly in sport.
Unlike other injuries, an untrained eye can’t see the effects of a concussion. It’s easy to spot a leg bending the wrong way, but no one can spot a brain moving back and forth.
And until recent years, concussion diagnosis was more of a guessing game than medical advice.
Doctors would be weighing up the severity of the issue to determine not only if a patient was concussed, but how severe the incident was.
This makes it understandable as to why concussions have not been considered as a major issue in the past.
But advances in technology has allowed scientists to examine brain injuries and gain improved knowledge on issues such as concussion.
From this research has emerged a more detailed definition of concussion and the debunking of common misconceptions that surround it.
For example, a common myth is that a person with concussion needs to stay awake in order to avoid losing consciousness and internal bleeding.
However, internal bleeding is rarely a consequence of concussion and sleep has actually been found to be beneficial for those suffering a concussion.
Some more misconceptions include concussions only occurring with blows to the head or after losing consciousness and that it only takes a few days to recover.
Myths like these often results in the incorrect treatment of concussion.
This may not be too dangerous in the short-term, but the impact of concussions can gradually build over time.
If multiple or severe concussions are not treated correctly, it can damage motor functions or lead to conditions such as CTE.
CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – formerly known as ‘punch-drunk’ syndrome- is a degenerative disease that severely effects cognitive function and is caused by repeated incidents of concussion or impact to the head.
Due to their nature, CTE is mainly associated with athletes that participate in contact sports such as boxing, rugby, and American football.
The disease can be caused by a combination of various events or previous conditions, but suffering multiple concussions is the most common cause.
Repeated blows to the head gradually weakens the brain, leading to a slow deterioration of tissue and irreversible damage to essential elements for cognitive function.
For Example, the carpus callosum is the section of the brain that connects the left and right side of the brain together.
Impact on the brain has been linked with tearing and shredding of the carpus callosum which is likely to reduce memory and learning capabilities.
Damaging the brain does not only lead to permanent alterations, but it can also create life-long consequences.
Whilst the effects of CTE differ depending on the individual, the symptoms share similarities with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Common symptoms of CTE includes memory loss, increasing confusion, lack of emotional stability, and learning difficulties.
More severe cases can also result in tremors, limited movement, and difficulty eating.
CTE is a serious issue -particularly in sport- that has life-changing effects and needs to be monitored closely.
However, similarly to concussions, the gradual development of symptoms and a lack of a clear diagnosis method makes monitoring CTE an almost impossible task.
These complications with CTE treatment and prevention are a major problem within sport.
Especially for contact sports, CTE is the talking point for multiple ethical concerns and considerations.
The Impact on Athletes
When talking about contact sports like rugby or boxing to a sports fan, the conversation is bound to lead to concussions and the concerns around them.
The presence of concussions has become a major discussion point in recent years, with mixed opinions from those within the sporting landscape.
Conversations on the ethics of contact sports present a whole new discussion, but it is hard to argue that CTE does not have an impact on the athletes involved.
As the truths of concussion have slowly been discovered and exposed, more findings have been released to indicate the dangers of concussion in sport.
Earlier this year, the Australian Brain Bank released a report that examined the brains of 21 sportspeople that had been donated to the centre.
Every participant had played in a sport that possessed the risk of repeated head injuries but varied in age and had passed away in various circumstances.
The report showed that 12 of the 21 brains had indicators of CTE present, and only one brain had no signs of any trauma.
Results also suggested no correlation with age as three of the athletes who had brains with CTE were under the age of 35.
An even scarier result showed that half of the participants with CTE had committed suicide compared to just one of the nine participants without CTE.
This suggests that CTE could make athletes more likely to commit suicide.
Results like these are a huge discovery that emphasises the need to reduce the impact of head trauma in athletes.
Whilst it is still difficult to detect CTE at this stage, continuing research and taking the symptoms into consideration during player monitoring could have life-saving benefits.
A lot of head-related injuries can go under the radar, but the consequences can be a lot more significant than a grotesque injury such as a leg-break or dislocation.
One competition that has received a lot of attention during research into CTE has been the NFL.
Numerous case studies and reports have indicated that former players are at risk of CTE due to the high number of collisions they are involved in during their career.
A particular report of NFL players stated that an astonishing 99% of participants had suffered from CTE.
Whilst not every hit has a huge impact and despite the use of helmets, the cumulative impact of collisions is suspected to be the cause of head trauma.
Many of these athletes show signs of CTE such as erratic behaviour and memory loss after or during their career too.
A recent example is former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez.
In April 2017, the 27-year-old was found dead in his prison cell in Massachusetts. Despite recently being found not guilty of a double homicide in 2012, he had taken his own life.
The news of the suicide had left many confused due to circumstances in which it occurred. Why would he take his own life after being found not guilty?
A post-mortem scan performed by Dr Ann McKee found that Hernandez had been suffering from CTE.
She also stated that the condition of the brain was unique for his age and only shared similarities with patients that were 20 years older.
Upon this discovery, it was revealed that Hernandez had displayed some typical characteristics of someone with CTE.
During his lifetime, he experienced changes in mood, memory problems, and severe headaches.
When his family challenged both the NFL and Patriots on this information, they revealed that they were aware of the damage that could be caused by repetitive head injuries and had failed to disclose this to Hernandez and other NFL players.
It is impossible to say whether better treatment and awareness of CTE would have saved his life, but addressing this issue has to be a priority in order to avoid others suffering the same fate.
The evidence suggests that the current sporting environment is a dangerous place for those involved in contact sports.
And whilst these discoveries will stop athletes and fans from participating in these sports, it has emphasised the need to prevent or reduce the likelihood of injury.
Prevent and Reduction Strategies
Currently, there is a lack of ability to effectively diagnose CTE within athletes that are still active.
Hopefully this will change in the near future. Medical technology is constantly improving, which could lead to a scan that can identify the effects of CTE.
However, this does not mean that there is nothing that can be done to reduce or prevent injuries to the head.
There are a number of methods that can be adopted to reduce head impact, but preventing these injuries is a lot harder.
Obviously, the easiest way to prevent an injury is to stop playing contact sports and replace it with a non-contact alternative such as tag rugby.
However, getting everyone to agree to this is unrealistic and playing non-contact sports can still result in head trauma.
A more realistic approach would be to limit the amount of contact sports played by athletes.
Restricting player contact for competitions only or to a number of sessions a week would help to suspend the cumulative head impact of athletes.
Though restricting contact may be an unpopular choice, the use of improved equipment would be a possible alternative.
Sports technology is improving at a rapid rate, resulting in better equipment every year.
Keeping up to date with the latest gear can help prevent injuries in multiple ways.
Better quality material or an additional element can make a real difference in protection and puts players one step closer to safety.
For example, products like the Prevent mouthguard have been a recent revelation in monitoring head impacts in rugby.
The electronic mouthguard has technology embedded into it that can track collisions and their impact on the athletes involved.
It then indicates the severity of the damage and notify coaches on dangerous levels of impact.
Using a Prevent mouthguard provides clear advantages over conventional devices for both athletes and coaches by improving the understanding of specific incidents.
Another strategy that can help with understanding the dangers of CTE and concussion is education.
Teaching those within the sporting sphere about the effects and consequences of head injuries will eliminate the misconceptions of concussions and continue to shift the narrative.
In addition, educating players on the techniques and methods that can help reduce impact on the head will make them less likely to place themselves into scenarios that are unnecessarily dangerous.
Similarly, spreading the awareness of CTE will provide a similar outcome that will make more players and coaches consider changing their ways.
If all those involved in sports are aware of the risks, it will make contact sports safer for everyone.
Finally, closely monitoring both the mental and physical health of players as much as possible means that a severe head injury is less likely to go undetected.
Not all incidents of head trauma are identifiable straight away but checking up on players regularly makes spotting signs of injury a lot easier.
Combining these methods is unlikely to prevent all head injuries, but it significantly decreases the chances of athletes experiencing head trauma.
Reducing the amount of head trauma is essential for reduces the chances of developing conditions like CTE.
To put it simply, actions that combat concussion has the potential to save lives.
Conclusion
Overall, the impact of concussion and CTE is still prevalent throughout the world, but sport in particular seems to have a problem with combatting the issue.
Developments and discoveries are slowly being made to improve the understanding and treatment of head trauma.
However, there are still plenty of people within the sports scene that are unaware of the dangers associated with concussion or just don’t understand them.
Because of this, it is important to spread awareness of the issue and educate others to reduce the impact of conditions like CTE.
Methods like education along with using equipment and restricting contact have the ability to save countless lives.
So the next time you see a collision of heads and you feel like yelling ‘get up’ or ‘just run it off’, think twice about the repercussions that could have in the long-term.
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