The concussion rate in the National Football League (NFL) has increased on average, 21 percent each year. Concussions have become a deep concern in the United States, particularly in the NFL. A concussion is when the brain is rapidly accelerating or being rapidly spun inside of the skull. Brain cells are released at a fast rate into the nerve cells, which stimulate them. The brain cannot handle this all at one time, which can cause memory and hearing loss. Something this dramatic can also cause blurred vision, confusion, nausea and in severe cases, unconsciousness. Drama arises in the NFL because of the intense physical contact involved in the sport. Despite many things that have been done so far, there is a lot more to be done before the concussion rate comes down. Doing simple things such as adjusting the way helmets are designed, altering the rules of the game and placing concussion monitors along the sidelines of games can help a great deal.
The first step that needs to be taken to prevent concussions is altering the design of the helmets' interior. The helmet is the main source of protection for the head, and there are some steps that can be taken that can make the rate of concussions drop. This piece of polymer can simply be inserted into the helmet to make the impact absorption rate increase. The head no longer directly takes all of the impact, as the polymer helps absorb the impact. A polymer is a two millimeter thick flexible piece of polymer, around the inside of the helmet, and so far it is yielding promising results.
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There is another major precaution that can be implemented that will really help the rate of concussions. If the NFL themselves alter some rules, there can be some major benefits. For instance, the NFL instated a rule that a team will be penalized, and a player will be ejected, every time a player “leaves his feet” to make helmet-to-helmet contact with another player. There have also been other changes already made to the rules, such as moving the kickoffs up five yards in order to decrease the number of kick returns. When the NFL decided to do this, almost no kick returns were taken out of the end zone anymore, meaning that players sprinting across the field at each other no longer had the chance to ram into each other.
Another simple way to prevent concussions from happening in the NFL is by monitoring the skull of players during a game. As of today, there are no head scanners used in NFL games -- they are only available for use after the game, when concussions are already settled in and diagnosed. However, if the NFL places concussion monitors on each team’s sideline, trained professionals could always check the players during extended breaks. These monitors bring important data to the players that aids in predicting the locations of impact and the given force that was used.
There are many things the NFL can do in order to get the concussion rate down. Inserting a simple piece of polymer inside of a helmet would help a lot. Something as simple as changing the rules of the game in order to prevent injury can help a lot. Placing concussion monitors on the sidelines during games is also positive. The NFL may seem downright silly by not doing these simple, inexpensive things already. Concussions are crucial in the world of sports and should be taken very seriously when it comes to the NFL, and with a little bit of readjusting, the NFL can easily bring down the rate of concussions.
