The Way Football is Impacting As a Result of Concussions
Concussions tend to be major incidents that can, and do, result in irreversible brain damage. I can demonstrate from a personal experience that a concussion may change someone. My very close friend Mark while participating in Pop-Warner football when he was 12 years old experienced a significant concussion. At the time, 12 years ago, concussion recognition and detection technology was in its early form. The very next evening I was able to recognize a large difference in personality, disposition and temperament which were all noticeable.
Being a viewer and passionate fan of pro football, I check out all the games over the season and post-season. QB Ben Roethelisberger from the Pittsburgh Steelers has rebounded from several concussions experienced in several years in the NFL. He at this time performs at a quite high level and displays little or no after-effects from his numerous concussions. Roethlisberger is just one case, in the NFL there are numerous other people that are really disheartening. Guys being failed in physicals as a result of issues from concussions that happened in college and in many cases high school is a worry of parents.
The college game is making big steps to bring technology on to the football field. Many schools have already integrated G-force computing nodes inside player's football helmets to monitor the amount of hits they take and exactly what forces the brain is being exposed to. In practice, doctors can monitor players, live, acquire information as soon as a player is hit and know if it is perhaps threatening to the participant and/or his brain.
This specific technology seems perfect to put into practice into the NFL, however the players' association has shot down the idea on several occasions citing no comment. A player confidentially mentioned that he would "have trouble letting a computer determine if he can be on the field". This technology could and will in the near future be brought in into all levels of football from little kids to the NFL.
This will not likely stop parents from believing that football is far too dangerous for their child. And yes football is dangerous and not for everybody. But players that are taught the right way and understand how to play the game as safely as possible can decrease the risk of a severe brain injury occurring on the football field.
In case the injury trend is not broken in football on all levels there may be a fast decrease of popularity of currently the most watched and followed sport in the United States.
