Along with the new decade has brought many problems to the NFL. The main problem being concussions. These concussions have triggered an uproar from not only former players but current players as well. Players are concerned about there life after football and how these concussions will effect their short term memory loss. The common concern is that players are looking to have a valuable life after their football career. They want to be functional citizens that are coherent and intelligent. This is tough when concussions have contributed to short term memory loss. The text defines short term memory as the memory system that retains information for limited durations. When a player is exposed to repeated head trauma, the brain loses it's ability to keep memories for a longer period of time, and thus, forgets things faster. Attached is a video of a player receiving a concussion.
Concussions: Dazed and Confused.
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Ouch! Watching that video makes my head hurt. It is unfortunate how common concussions are becoming nowadays and how it can negatively affect that person when repeatedly having head trauma. What I do think is good that the NFL and others are enforcing now is that the players have to go through an extensive process after receiving a concussion before getting the opportunity to play again. It may frustrate the players that they can't play as soon as before, but it will them in the long run.
The video of Reggie getting rocked is absolutely horrific, but it will be really interesting to see how a hit like this alters Bush's life as he grows older. Concussions are a huge deal in the NFL and have turned into something extremely serious, but my question is how concussions like this effect long-term memory, not just short-term. Do you think such severe concussions, such as the one Bush took in this video, will do more than just harm his short-term memory? Perhaps different forms of amnesia, such as retrograde or anterograde, may result from such big hits. Either way, the NFL needs to address such savage hits and product their players.
Yikes that looked extremely painful. Definitely interested in keeping up with his life after the hit and seeing how it affects him in everyday life. I've had a close friend of mine endure a multitude of concussions, and the last time was really the last straw for her. She can never play sports again, and has trouble remembering the simplest of tasks, it's a very sad situation to be put in. Sometimes the consequences of collision sports can stick the rest of a persons life. It would be interesting to see not only the short-term memory loss, but also to see if the long-term was effected.
Being someone who has suffered from two concussions because of soccer, I can definitely sympathize with anyone who has gone through it because it is not only painful in so many ways, but so confusing and frightening knowing what could happen to you. For example, parents are told to check on their child regularly throughout the night because complications could occur that result in more traumatic brain injuries. Also, the loss of information is incredible. I one studied all week for a test and then completely failed it because I apparently still had a concussion. I've even seen a friend lose a scholarship to a school because she had had four concussions. These things are serious! And definitely scary if you've had even one depending on how serious.
Concussions are becoming more and more common as the years progress, especially sports. Physical contact sports are grueling that contains a lot of violence. I am interested to see how these football players are going to be affected in several years from now. When I hear an athlete has received four or five separate concussions, I immediately think his brain has to be mush. Being a professional athlete and getting multiple concussions is not worth putting your health on the line.
Connect a little more to the topics covered recently in class. Do the concussions produce long-term damage to memory? How? Do they only effect short-term memory or do they disrupt long-term memory (which one)? Links?