NFL Players are paying the Cost of being Professional Leaguers with Their Health and Long-Term Well-Being


According to NFL concussion attorneys, “During the 2015 season alone, there were over 180 reported concussions in the National Football League, an average of 10.7 concussions each week over the 17-week season. While there are safety protocols and rules in place to prevent head injuries, many of these are arbitrarily enforced by referees and team trainers alike. Often responsible parties will take negligent action in order to further the entertainment value of football games. Players frequently feel forced to perform despite incurring severe head injuries in order to retain their professional careers and fans. This is incredibly dangerous for players, as repeated concussions have serious long-term effects on a person’s wellbeing, such as: reduced life span; high medical costs; brain damage; chronic headaches; impaired concentration and memory; and reduced balance.

All types of sports come with risk of injury. Risk of injury, however, is always highest in football, this being a high-impact sport, where very strong and heavy players run into each other at full speed. The sad thing is, the more dangerous and violent it is, the more fans, owners and camera crew are awestruck, but this is because these people do not fully understanding that these violent collisions can result to players sustaining chronic brain damage and/or irrecoverable body impairment.

Though musculoskeletal injuries are the types of injuries most commonly sustained by football players are, there are two other injuries that are more serious because they affect the brain: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and Concussion.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain. It can lead to memory loss, dementia and depression. But though it can cause great harm in a player, this brain illness can only be detected after a person’s death, through autopsy.

Concussion, on the other hand, is “a change in mental state due to a traumatic impact. Not all those who suffer a concussion will lose consciousness. Some signs that a concussion has been sustained are headache, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, blurry vision, nausea, loss of balance, drowsiness and numbness/tingling.

Many NFL players are paying the cost of being professional leaguers with their health and long-term well-being. Once their careers end, many of them find that the physical toll that playing professional football has taken on their bodies makes them unable to live a productive and healthy life. These injuries include physical pain from broken bones and joint injuries, and a degenerative brain disease due to the repeated concussions to their head.