Carter Melrose
Every year, students take hard hits to the head while playing high school sports. Each hit that causes a concussion and is not diagnosed correctly sends the athlete back in the game too soon. Fifty percent of athletes that come back too soon and endure Second Impact Syndrome die. Second Impact Syndrome returning from a concussion too soon. Parents have now started to ask the question “Should I let my son play football?” This question is valid seeing the health risks that are a direct correlation to the football field. Yes they should allow them to play, but the parents and children should be football educated about the risks and consequences there are while strapping on a helmet. A program just like this has surfaced on the internet recently.
Now what am I proposing? A feature of the CDC website is called, “Heads Up Concussion Training.” The program first shows an introductory video, then a video about how to recognize a concussion. You then learn how to respond to those concussions, how to get back in the game, and how to prevent a concussion. The website then prints a certificate out to flash the persona that you have indeed finished the course and is educated in the “Heads Up Concussion”. This should be implemented in the CCHS and should be done once, or every year of a student athletes career starting in pewi ball. Commercials have been shown during NFL and college football games alike, begging the audience to ask your coach about getting your team involved. This is my effort.
The program integrated in CCHS today is a type of assessment to track your concussions over a two year period. After two years, they have you retake the test and compare the data to the last time, to track your brain activity. This helps the school and coaches know your concussion history and this can keep a player from participating in a sport. However this does have its flaws though. Knowing an athletes concussion history over a two year gap, could yield results too late. A concussion could be misdiagnosed because of the lack of knowledge about concussions that is necessary and could lead to dementia, depression, or even Alzheimer’s latter in the athletes life.
Let me use this simile: When preparing for your career you need be first educated on how to do it safely and efficiently. That is what college and on the job training is for. Why would you not treat your sports like an occupation when there is so much at stake? You shouldn’t. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is also dangerous and shouldn’t have any freedom in anyones sports career.
Millions of sports related concussions happen every year and some players play through it. Some even don’t know they are concussed. The CCHS process as it is today involves a test to track your brain activity and concussion history. This is helpful but without, “Heads Up Concussion” testing implemented in our programs, concussions will still be diagnosed too late, and the result could one day be a tragedy story, told about our school decades later.
Every year, students take hard hits to the head while playing high school sports. Each hit that causes a concussion and is not diagnosed correctly sends the athlete back in the game too soon. Fifty percent of athletes that come back too soon and endure Second Impact Syndrome die. Second Impact Syndrome returning from a concussion too soon. Parents have now started to ask the question “Should I let my son play football?” This question is valid seeing the health risks that are a direct correlation to the football field. Yes they should allow them to play, but the parents and children should be football educated about the risks and consequences there are while strapping on a helmet. A program just like this has surfaced on the internet recently.
Now what am I proposing? A feature of the CDC website is called, “Heads Up Concussion Training.” The program first shows an introductory video, then a video about how to recognize a concussion. You then learn how to respond to those concussions, how to get back in the game, and how to prevent a concussion. The website then prints a certificate out to flash the persona that you have indeed finished the course and is educated in the “Heads Up Concussion”. This should be implemented in the CCHS and should be done once, or every year of a student athletes career starting in pewi ball. Commercials have been shown during NFL and college football games alike, begging the audience to ask your coach about getting your team involved. This is my effort.
The program integrated in CCHS today is a type of assessment to track your concussions over a two year period. After two years, they have you retake the test and compare the data to the last time, to track your brain activity. This helps the school and coaches know your concussion history and this can keep a player from participating in a sport. However this does have its flaws though. Knowing an athletes concussion history over a two year gap, could yield results too late. A concussion could be misdiagnosed because of the lack of knowledge about concussions that is necessary and could lead to dementia, depression, or even Alzheimer’s latter in the athletes life.
Let me use this simile: When preparing for your career you need be first educated on how to do it safely and efficiently. That is what college and on the job training is for. Why would you not treat your sports like an occupation when there is so much at stake? You shouldn’t. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is also dangerous and shouldn’t have any freedom in anyones sports career.
Millions of sports related concussions happen every year and some players play through it. Some even don’t know they are concussed. The CCHS process as it is today involves a test to track your brain activity and concussion history. This is helpful but without, “Heads Up Concussion” testing implemented in our programs, concussions will still be diagnosed too late, and the result could one day be a tragedy story, told about our school decades later.