Injuries in American Football

Injuries in American football and how to reduce

Thesis Statement

Injuries in American football, can some of them be prevented? With the increase in injuries in football coaches are looking for better ways to try and prevent unnecessary injuries. Even though you cannot prevent all the injuries as a coach you want to at least prevent some.

I. Explaining the content of paper preparing reader to understand the injuries and the importance of trying to prevent these injuries in American football.

II. The type of serious injuries that are sustained in American football, can they are prevented or at least reduced?

A. Concussions are a very common but serious injury in football. Types of hits or collisions that contribute the concussion.

B. Neck injuries and back injuries happen way to often in sport of football. Types of hits or collisions that contribute to neck and back injuries.

C. Injuries to legs and arms can be serious depending on the type injury.

D. Internal injuries even though not frequent can be very serious to the athlete.

III. The type of injuries that are not considered to be serious but can prevent you from playing football for a period of time.

A. Pulled muscles are a part of football and there are ways to reduce these types' injuries.

B. Strains and twisted extremities such as ankles and wrists are not always serious but sometimes they can be serious.

IV. Interviews with Coach Freddie Whitman, Head Football coach at Rosman High School and Coach Sammy McMahan head trainer for Rosman High School

V. Discuss possible preventions and equipment changes that could take place in football that might help prevent some of these injuries.

VI. Conclusion

Injuries in American football are increasing yearly, is there something that can be done? With the amount of injuries that are occurring in football it has sent up red flags all over the football community. There are numerous precautions that players, coaches, and trainers take trying to prevent injuries such as: taping ankles, wrist, and wearing extra equipment. This is only a few steps that players are taking to prevent injuries. We will ask some current coaches and trainers to get their opinion on this topic and to see if there are any other things that players can do to prevent injuries. But as we all know football is a very violent sport and you will never be able prevent all injuries and also all injuries are not caused by violent hits. We will be discussing the different types of injuries and discuss how they can happen and if they can be prevented or at least if we can reduce the number of the injuries that happen. The experts that will be interviewed will be Freddie Whitman, Rosman High School Varsity football coach, Sammy McMahan, Rosman High School Athletic trainer, and Paul Hamilton Head football coach at Brevard College. They will discuss whether they have noticed an increase in injuries, some of the most common injuries, some things that they do or suggest to their players to help in reducing injuries, and also talk about some different types of equipment that could possibly reduce injuries. A good overall perspective of injuries that are sustained while playing football and the many things that can be done to prevent or reduce some of these injuries. But the main thing that people have got to start realizing is the fact that some injuries just happen no matter how many precautions that are taken the bottom line is that anytime you play sports you risk an injury.

There are many different types of injuries that can occur during a course of a football season anything from head injuries to broken bones and they can be as serious as life threatening to not even missing a play. Discussing these injuries in detail and so everyone has a better understanding of them. The first injury that will be discussed is one of the injuries that have increased over the years and the one that has become a huge emphasis at all coaching clinics and that is concussions. A concussion is result of collisions or falls or can be defined as an acute trauma-induced alteration of mental function lasting fewer than 24 hours, with or without preceding loss of consciousness.(Sturmi) When someone sustains a concussion it is the responsibility of the doctor or the trainer to determine if the player is able to go back in the game or when that they can resume playing because sometimes concussions can very mild and an athlete can return in a matter time or more severe ones actually can cause a player to miss weeks. Now when you start getting a player that has had more than one concussion then that is when more concerns begin to start. The risk of complications is increased in athletes who prematurely return to play and in those with prolonged loss of consciousness or post-traumatic amnesia. An athlete with prolonged loss of consciousness or signs and symptoms that worsen or persist after a concussion should be evaluated in the emergency department. An athlete should not be allowed to resume sports participation until all symptoms of a concussion have resolved. (Sturmi)

Then you also have numerous sport organizations that are making rules to try and prevent them. Some of these organizations are Pop Warner football who is limiting certain types of contact in practices like the head on collision type hits.(Kluger) They made this change due to the research done by Dr. Julian Bailes who is the chairman of the Pop Warner Medical Advisory Board and chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the Chicago-based North Shore Neurological Institute, in a statement. "The impact of head-to-head contact causes the most severe concussions, so we felt it was imperative that Pop Warner take a proactive approach and limit contact in practices."(Toporek) Then you have the law makers that are passing laws for youth concussion bills so far there have been 38 states to make a law regarding youth concussion. Florida was the most recent to adopt a bill concerning youth concussions with 2 more states that have it on the floor Hawaii and Michigan. Now all the laws are a little different in each state but they all have the same objective and that is to reduce concussions among youth players. (Toporek) The NFL, college,