Academic Summary

Highlights of Concussions

Syd. L. Johnson argues that high school football concussions are very dangerous to the youth. She claims that high school football players make up the most of sport-related concussions. Johnson develops this claim by first researching how many football-related concussion victims, in the United States, have ended up in the emergency room. Johnson explores that 23,000 football-related concussions in the United States do end up in the emergency room. Johnson develops this claim by second studying high school football players. Johnson discovers youth take longer than adults to recover from a concussion. Johnson develops this claim by third researching deeper into why youth are more effected by the concussions. Johnson finds that youth five to eight-teen years old serve for nearly 90% of the concussions. Johnson discovers Second Impact Syndrome is a rare neurological condition that causes swelling in the brain and brain herniation. Brain herniation is caused when there is a huge amount of pressure to the brain, and a neurological condition is related to the nerves in the body. Johnson also finds that normally in this condition 100% of the victims die in the next five minutes. Johnson looks at more research on the syndrome and finds that some people question if the syndrome even exists. Lastly, the author gives ways to prevent a concussion from happening. One idea that she gives is that players under the age of sixteen should not be allowed to tackle in football. This to me could cause a lot of problems in the game of football. She said as they get older they can go back to tackle football. Syd. L. Johnson’s purpose is to inform people of the rising rates on high school football concussions in order to make it more known and raise awareness. This work is significant because it allows you to learn more about people’s opinions on high school football concussions, and ways to help stop them from rising.