The truth about concussions

The brain, one of the most important organs in the human body, could be greatly injured with one small blow to the head. Think about it, a person is playing soccer and someone kicks the ball, and their teammate isn’t looking, so it hits them right on top of their head. They may sit out for a few minutes, feel a little dizzy and nauseas, and that’s it, but during that time the victim’s brain is in for a ride. It begins to move rapidly within the skull, and that is the start of a concussion.

According to the Sports Concussion Institute, there are two frequent scenarios in which concussions occur. The first is when the impact rapidly accelerates in the head so the brain hits the inner skull, and then the head decelerates and stops, the brain strikes the opposite side of the inner skull. The second scenario is called a rotational concussion. This is when the head quickly rotates from one area to another resulting in the shearing and straining of various tissues in the brain. Regardless of which type of concussion occurs in one’s brain, they both cause severe damages to the neural pathways in one’s brain, and neurological disturbances occur.

This may seem like nothing. Okay, a person gets a couple of concussions, so what? It’s not like they’re going to die. But contrary to this belief, if a person gets one too many concussions, it could lead to serious neurological damage.

“There is not a limit of concussions that a person can have before they can’t play, at least not yet, there may be in the future,” trainer Emily Huss said. “I explain to [the athletes with concussions] the risks and that they are at an easier risk of getting another concussion if they’ve already gotten one. In the end it’s a family decision [if an athlete continues to play their sport] and whether it’s worth it or not.”

When an athlete gets a serious hit to the head, sports trainers have to give an on-field examination. Huss once had to give an examination to an injured athlete. She gave them five words to remember and had them repeat the words three times in any order. Two to three minutes later, she went back to quiz them to see if they remembered the words, and the athlete couldn’t even remember Huss giving them any words to remember.

Many high school students have either died or have been seriously injured due to too many concussions all over the country this year. They all have the same story—they get hit in the head, they don’t think much of it. Later on they feel dizzy, they collapse, and they never get up. Some examples are Tyrell Cameron, Ben Hamm, Evan Murray and Kevin Bui. All were football players, and all died the same way—a brain injury.

Bui was an athlete who died after a second hit to the head. In September he had a concussion but was cleared a few weeks later and was able to play football again. In the beginning of October when he came back, Bui got hit in the head again and died later on in the hospital.

Concussions are not a simple thing to dismiss and forget about. There are a serious consequence of getting hit on the head, and require a lot of attention. They have multiple side effects, and other than that can lead to future neurological problems such as Second Impact Syndrome and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. These aren’t conditions that can easily be solved, and they cause serious damage to one’s life.