Due to many symptoms including nausea, sensitivity to bright lights, headache, and general ‘fogginess’, most athletes know right away when an impact is more serious than normal – and most likely resulting in concussion.
Without other physical symptoms, a lot of athletes decide to ignore the symptoms and opt to play, rather than let their teammates and coaches down.
Concussion symptoms are not seen by other people, so they tend to have a social stigma not unlike that of mental illness. “Get over it, you can still play through that. It really can’t be that bad.” I’ve heard these quotes plus more from my small town sports teams. The football coach still starts off the season telling the boys about how to be tough and references a certain player that was a year older than me who played through a broken elbow. Now my little sister’s boyfriend decided not to go to the doctor for his concussion so he could still practice and play with his team. Coaches with that machismo mentality along with the possibility of college scholarships and even the salaries and celebrity status that star professional athletes have all contribute to this idea of playing even with injuries.
All you really need to do is pretend you don’t feel dazed.
Concussions vary widely, and the prognosis depends on age and on the location and force of the injury. Most concussions resolve within a month, but more severe ones can have long-term complications, including problems with memory and concentration, particularly if subjected to continuing trauma. If an athlete incurs a second concussion before the first one has healed, the consequences may be compounded. Unfortunately, this culture behind continuing to play does not take into account long term effects from concussions. Ignoring symptoms and not fully healing from concussions allows for the possibility of Second Impact Syndrome as well as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) later in life. Both of those syndromes include permanent brain damage and memory loss.
Many players from around my hometown who risked so many concussions in high school were not able to play in college due to symptoms – and more importantly had symptoms for a couple years that deterred them from performing their best in their academics. Friends and family reported a more impulsive personality – that they just weren’t exactly the same person after the second concussions.
There is a lot of research being conducted on issues related to concussions as well as better education for athletes and parents on the symptoms and risks when involved in sports. Even with all of that, there is still a particularly stubborn challenge: the “culture of resistance” among high school and college athletes, who may be inclined to shrug off the invisible injuries and return immediately to the field. The long term risk is still not seen as important as the immediate game.
This is a call to action. Our whole culture behind sports needs to change in a sense. We need to teach athletes, coaches, parents, and school districts that their brain and whole life quality is more important than the risk of getting that next touchdown.
But educating athletes about concussions is one thing. Changing the convictions of a culture that values playing through pain is quite another.
