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Concussions in Sports

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Concussions in Sports
Concussions in Sports: Tackling the Issue
It happens every game, a player gets hit very hard and is injured in some sort of way. In the current days of football, concussions are the most common and most dangerous injury there is and should be given more attention to protect players and athletes. Whether it's short term or long term, concussions can cause serious damage to athletes brains and in serious cases put them in the hospital. While NFL players shake off concussions as not being that bad, they need to be taken very seriously as children across the country look up to these professional players as role models. Fan morale is also declined when their favorite players get injured and cannot play because of these injuries. Awareness needs to be raised so we can put a stop to these dangerous concussions.
The main reason concussions are so dangerous is the health risks associated with them. Although the big deal in the media is made for NFL players, this issue goes through all levels of football. Jeff Victoroff, author of the article “Diagnosis and Treatment of Sports-Related Traumatic Brain Injury.”, says that “there are about 100,000 college players, 1.3 million high school players, and 3.5 million youth players.” This shows that there is a very large amount of athletes playing football with the risk of getting head injuries very high. Victoroff elaborates by saying that “between 1.6 million and 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur each year.” The severity of these injuries range from headaches for a few weeks, to being placed in a wheelchair like former Duquesne University football player Preston Plevretes has. He suffered a traumatic brain injury stemming from a concussion and now has altered speech, jerky steps, and a dark tunnel vision. These are just some of the serious side effects these injuries can have on an athlete over time.
Along with the health risks, concussions can cause a moral decline among the very loyal fans of the NFL. If one of a

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