SPORTS CONCUSSIONS

Sports Concussions

Sports Concussions

Introduction

Head wounds are the premier cause of death in sports. An average of eight football players a year dies from head injuries. (Cantu, 1997) renowned historically as a high-risk games, football is to blame for the majority of sports-related concussions today. However, there has also been a growing awareness of head injuries in other sports such as soccer and hockey. (cdc.gov, Nov. 6, 2002) The following will talk about definitions affiliated with head concussions, determinants of head concussions, avoidance of concussions, and return to play guidelines.

Biomechanics/Pathomechanics

Aconcussion is a syndrome involving an immediate and transient impairment in the ability of the mind to function properly. (Booher and Thibodeau, 2000) There is no general agreement as to the exact delineation of a concussion. Retrograde amnesia is the decrease of recollection for events that appeared before the injury. Anterograde amnesia is the decrease of recollection for events occurring directly after awakening. (Booher and Thibodeau, 2000) A subdural hematoma is a pooling of body-fluid under the dura and this status is the most common origin of death from trauma in athletics. An epidural hematoma is a hematoma out-of-doors the dura, which is generally affiliated with a skull fracture. An intracerebral hematoma develops when body-fluid vessels within the brain are damaged. Second influence syndrome is an unexplained occurrence, which happens when an athlete maintains a second head wound before symptoms associated with a previous wound have cleared. (Booher and Thibodeau, 2000) The athlete obtains a second minor head trauma that results in fast mind enlarging and the primary anxiety with the syndrome is death. (McCrea, Kelly, and Kluge, 1997)

There are some ways to prevent concussions. These include criteria for come back to play, learning to coaches and players, and the implementation of physician and certified athletic trainers. Presently, a entire understanding of the pathobiology of brain injury is still lacking. There furthermore is no treatment to help in recovery from a concussion. The best administration continues early acknowledgement and prevention of additional concussion injury. (Cantu, 1997)

Evaluation Techniques

Concussions can be initiated by some distinct mechanisms. These include coup and contracoup means, recurring subconcussive forces, and a direct assault to the head. Acoup injury results when a somewhat stationary skull is hit by an object traveling at a high velocity. This kind of means normally outcomes in trauma on the edge that was struck. Acontracoup mechanism is an wound producing from a blow on the converse side, such as an intracranial injury. (Booher and Thibodeau, 2000) The fluid inside the skull fails to decline the brain's momentum proportional to that of the skull, initating the mind to hit the skull on the edge converse the impact. This means encompasses forces that are transmitted up the length of the spinal column, for demonstration when falling and landing on the buttocks. (Proctor and Cantu, 2000) Athletes obtaining repeated nontraumatic assaults to the head have a higher degree of degenerative alterations within the centered tense system. (Gaetz, Goodman, and Weinberg, 2000)

Other variables which influence ...