Research Paper Concussions
Research Paper Concussions
Magdalena V. Ambriz
RWS 1301
Introduction
Concussions are something I know all too well, having two of them and almost having a third!
Is not the best experience? Throughout high school I played soccer all four years and none of
my injuries that I had are as worse than a concussion, I got my first concussion my sophomore
year, in all honesty I didn’t even know I had one I got hit in the head through the first half and
got a little dizzy but still played. The next day I couldn’t even look at any lights they hurt so bad I
later went to the trainers and found out I had a concussion. I went to the hospital and was
taken in for a MRI, they looked at my brain and saw my brain was bruised and ruled it a
concussion and a contusion. My senior I got my second concussion from hitting a pole from the
goal post. To this day, I have major headaches and migraines from my concussions.
A concussion is a when you get hit in the head really hard and
soon have symptoms after the blow. The symptoms after are
than usual. You will notice the symptoms soon after maybe
concussion but other you can lose consciousness. When losing consciousness blacking out is
common for a certain amount of time, also not knowing where you may be at the time has also
been reported. Where can concussions happen? They can happen anywhere at any time, even
soccer, they have the most recorded blows to the head and are the closest range to hitting each
other. Although a concussion does not mean that you need to lose consciousness (Ted Talk,
protecting the brain on concussion). In some cases, mostly high school when getting hit and
getting a concussion some people don’t even need to go to a hospital or seek medical attention
Concussions start as small things that you would never think will hurt you in the future but in
reality, they do they come back in different ways one ways being CTE or also known as chronic
traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is caused by having too many blows to the head during a long
period of time, this is mostly seen in boxers, football players, soccer players its even been seen
in people who were in the military. CTE is a detrition of the brain, it slowly goes away, and you
may never know it. Pathologists such as Bennet Omalu who is a neuropathologist found the
first form of CTE in a professional football players brain. The football player was Mike Webster
he played for the Pittsburg Steelers, Mike had been dealing with CTE by himself no one to help
The pathologist Omalu was made famous for his discovery through Mike Webster’s brain, CTE
was never easy to find he had to go through so much to find it. It is not something that is visible
to the eye when you look at the brain, there were test that were run just to find this disease.
Looking under a microscope to find this disease, they discovered that they aren’t blood clots,
but they are small forms of detrition. Mike Webster was the first of many to have this disease,
the New York Times had an article of how many were found with this disease there were 202
football players who passed away. Out of those 202 football players
more than half had CTE 110 football players were diagnosed with CTE.
(The New York Times, 110 NFL Brains Joe Ward). In the picture below, it
was taken from a news article it shows CTE and where it is in the brain
and what it looks like. The tiny miniscule dots are what cause so many
Figure 1 CTE in the brain of a
football player. Retrieved issues and what is known as CTE.
from the New York Times.
Not seeking Medical Attention After a Concussion?
In high school sports there are athletic trainers and they are well certified to understand
when a child has a concussion or not. Do they really make the right call, some kids after a blow
to the head don’t have any symptoms and say they “feel fine” when in reality some symptoms
hit after and the trainers say “you are good to go back in” the child goes back into the game not
knowing they have a concussion? Then soon after might getting hit again or just continue
playing, when getting hit in the head there should be more regulations before a child can go
There should be more precautions and actions taken to ensure that people do not have a
concussion. If a child has a concussion during the game and an athletic trainer says you have a
concussion and you have to follow the concussion protocol, the concussion protocol is two
weeks and one week is getting back into training before you go back into the game. This is all
they get before they go back out on to the field, none in which is going to a doctor to seek
better help. After the blow has happened, the athletic trainer says “you have a concussion”
immediately they should be taken to the emergency room or just in general the hospital. With
an actual certified doctor or Neurosurgeon to check and run a head CT or MRI to be sure or just
Concussion conclusion
In conclusion to this more should be done to ensure safety to athletes everywhere from
professional to colligate athletes. More safety measures such as protocols and equipment
should be worn to make it safer to play the game they love. Soccer has concussion headbands
they are padded so they do not hit the ball to hard when they head it or so that there are no
head to head collisions in the game. Football are soon working on a new helmet, but it has yet
to be released. There can be more done all that is needed is the right research and to be well
aware of what is going on in sports today. Athletes are getting bigger and stronger every day
Concussions are not meant to be played around with because in football or in soccer they may
seem like nothing. But soon they add up the brain get damaged more and more after everyone
you get, soon after you can develop multiple brain diseases after multiple blows to the head.
One in this case is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopthy which is a brain degenerative disease in
this disease it causes many issues such as Bi polar disorder you can have many moods and many
different personalities. It can also cause you too see things that aren’t there, which isn’t good
because it can cause sleep depreviation. Concussions are not something to be playing around
with medical attention is needed for a concussion, not severe medical attention but just
medical attention is needed for it. Just to be looked at and making sure it couldn’t be
Key words:
#CTE #Concussions
Sources
Gorgens, K. (Speaker). (2010, May) Protecting the brain against concussion. TED talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion/up-next
Yi, June young MD1; Padalino, David J. MD; Chin, Lawrence S. MD, FACS1; Montenegro, Philip
BS; Cantu, Robert C. MD. January/ February 2013. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Current
sports medicine report, Volume 12 - issue 1- p 28-32. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-
csmr/Fulltext/2013/01000/Chronic_Traumatic_Encephalopathy.10.aspx
Joe Ward, Josh Williams and Sam Manchester (2017, July 25) 110 N.F.L. Brains. The New York
Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html