By Johnny Inama
Some of the most common injuries in high school athletes are to the head. As many as one in four high school athletes had suffered the most common head injury, the concussion, as a study taken in 2020 by the US News reported. Concussions are defined as a mild form of a traumatic brain injury caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clearing concussion protocol can take up to a week, but the sustained injuries can last much longer.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a very serious result of a concussion. There are four stages of CTE, as said by the CTE Society. In stage one, CTE is mostly unnoticeable, and the worst symptoms that can come from it include headaches or loss of concentration. Following that, in stage two comes effects such as depression, memory loss, and even suicidal thoughts. Then in stage three, more extreme memory loss, depression, and aggression is very common. In the final stage, stage four, severe cognition problems, dementia, paranoia, and parkinsonism is common to have as a result of the disease.
“… more extreme memory loss, depression, and aggression is very common”
The main problem with CTE is that it is not diagnosable until after the death of a person, following an autopsy. Many football players were found to have CTE following their death. Very famous former NFL players like Vincent Jackson and Junior Seau were found dead, and later found to have CTE. The CTE cases are only expected to rise, as up to one in five former high school football players are found to have some stage of CTE during their lives.
Many believe that concussions are only a problem in high school sports for football. However, almost all sports have a concerning concussion rate. Among football, soccer, wrestling, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, baseball, and softball are sports that experience high concussion rates in their sport. A recent study from the Henry Ford Sports Medicine Research team says concussions are not taken seriously enough and may need a longer recovery time before athletes return to their sport. Even with more research and attempts to make sports safer, concussions have slowly rose for decades, now standing at nearly 300,000 concussions per year throughout all high school sports. Sophomore Emme Warwick suffered a concussion last year while playing volleyball. She was confused about what happened right after suffering her injury. She said she dealt with constant headaches for up to two whole weeks before she could return to school. Some are completely unaware of suffering a concussion, as the number could be even higher, as up to half of concussions go unreported or undetected, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. At Ponte Vedra High School, concussions are a “concerning problem” according to Athletic Director Michael Harris. PVHS follows the FHSAA concussion protocols, a six-step procedure taking up to a week to pass. Mr. Harris believes the best way to prevent these potentially detrimental head injuries is to “teach the players the correct way to play.”
Overall, concussions are a growing issue in high school sports, with numbers rising yearly. Compared to other body injuries, it has much longer worsening effects, often leading to multiple different stages of CTE.
