March 16, 2023 by

The NFL Injury Epidemic: Player Health Needs to Be a Priority The MFS WordsWorth Editorial Board

On January 3, 2023, on what should have been a momentous, exciting, and high-scoring Monday night football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills, there was nothing but fearful suspense due to a gruesome and life-threatening injury to Bills player Damar Hamlin. 

Not even a quarter through the crucial game, which had major playoff implications, Hamlin went to make a routine tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. However, during the tackle Hamlin was brought down hard to the ground. After the play was over, Hamlin managed to get to his feet, but almost immediately collapsed to the ground. Following his collapse, he was initially treated for a concussion, then CPR was administered for roughly ten minutes by the Bills medical staff. Eventually, Hamlin was given oxygen and was put into an ambulance on the field and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. 

Following his admittance into the hospital, Hamlin was put into the intensive care unit where he was unconscious and was only able to breathe through an administered tube. The conclusion behind the injury was that, following the contact, Hamlin went into cardiac arrest where his heart briefly stopped beating and pumping blood. For the remainder of the week, the world prayed and watched as Damar Hamlin’s health gradually improved. Luckily, after a short yet suspenseful two days, Hamlin woke up and was able to communicate with his family and doctors through writing. Throughout the following days, even though he was awake and neurologically intact, Hamlin remained in a critical condition with assisted breathing devices as he steadily improved. Miraculously, the day after Hamlin woke up, he was able to breathe on his own and write messages to his family and loved ones. The following day, Hamlin was able to speak with his family and doctors, as well as the remainder of his teammates through a video call.

The problem of concussions and player health and safety in the National Football League (NFL) extends far beyond Damar Hamlin’s experience with a life-threatening injury. Throughout the 2022-2023 NFL season, another example of this issue has been Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa who has served as a center of player health discussions and concerns. Throughout the season, Tagovailoa has experienced three instances of extreme head trauma during games. Over a three-month period, Tagovailoa averaged a concussion per month, which is of extreme concern not just for his health, but also his future. While it’s amazing to see how much the world of professional sports has evolved to better protect its community, the safety of players remains a prevalent issue, even in the much more medically-developed world.

A notable change that needs to happen is one regarding the NFL’s concussion protocol. In multiple circumstances, Tua Tagovailoa suffered extreme head injuries and was examined by doctors, only to be put back into the game. Reports following one occasion of Tagovailoa’s head trauma even stated that Tagovailoa struggled to remember events that had occurred only a day prior. Additionally, following the initial circumstance where Tagovailoa clearly experienced concussion symptoms after being hit and was allowed to continue playing, there were only two changes in response. Following the injury, the NFL fired the neurotrauma consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to play and the NFL and National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) slightly modified the concussion protocol to include motor instability as cause to rule out players for concussion. However, following such changes, after only the third week into the season, countless other similar events occurred. In week 14 of the NFL season, two months after the changes to the concussion protocol, a player on the New England Patriots was hit and visibly struggled with motor functions. The wide receiver, DeVante Parker, was only ruled out and checked for a concussion after his fellow teammate alerted officials to his concussion-like symptoms just seconds before another play was run. Just recently, in regard to Tagovailoa’s most recent concussion, he was able to exit the NFL’s concussion protocol following almost three weeks of attention. Scientifically, the human brain continually develops and matures throughout the ages of mid- to late 20s, and Tagovailoa is only 24 and entered the NFL just two years ago. Tagovailoa’s situation is extremely serious and more action needs to be taken to account for what has continually impacted and possibly permanently harmed a young superstar athlete whose brain is still developing. 

Following Damar Hamlin’s injury, which shocked the world of sports, the primary concern was purely about praying for the health and safety of Damar Hamlin. However, a secondary concern that later arose was how the injury impacted such a crucial game with playoff implications. For both teams, the Bengals and the Bills, a high playoff seed was at stake for the winner of the game. Following the injury and Hamlin’s exit from the field in an ambulance, the players of both teams were given only five minutes to warm up and prepare to begin to play again. During that time, most players did not warm up at all. Some players attempted to warm up while most remained with their helmets off, still in shock about what they had witnessed. At the end of the five minute period for warm-up, coaches and referees met and spoke to both representatives of the NFL and the NFLPA and eventually, and thankfully, concluded that the game was to be canceled indefinitely. Even though the game was canceled, many members of the audience still wanted to see the game played out, which is extremely concerning and saddening considering one of the most gruesome injuries in the past decade of the NFL had people wanting to see players continue on. A notable reaction to the game’s cancellation was that of Skip Bayless, a sports personality most known for his personality and sports opinions. After the game was canceled, Bayless posted a tweet where he questioned why the game was canceled when it had such great postseason implications. Almost immediately, Bayless’s tweet was surrounded by controversy, with over 168 million views and countless athletes and influencers in the comments of the tweet, all chastising Bayless for his apparent lack of concern for Hamlin’s health. Almost an hour following the post of the tweet, Bayless posted a follow-up finally stating his concern for Hamlin and sending his thoughts and prayers. Even though Bayless is known for his sports takes and opinions, it’s extremely saddening to see such an important influencer in the sports world react to such horrifying news in the way that he did. From Hamlin’s injury and what followed, the only important takeaway should have been the health of the players and their safety. How can it be justified to continue playing and putting players at risk when players, coaches, staff members, and the entire nation just witnessed an injury that threatened an individual’s life?

Following the injury, a wide variety of responses emerged in reaction to Hamlin’s condition. While largely unrelated to football, a large response to the injury was relating it back to the COVID-19 vaccine and anti-vaccination beliefs. The leading belief behind Hamlin’s injury can be traced back to many anti-vaccination beliefs that have arisen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary reaction regarding the vaccine was that ever since the COVID-19 vaccine was released, there was a large increase in professional sports players collapsing. Moreover, on Sunday, January 22, Damar Hamlin was able to physically attend the Buffalo Bills playoff game at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. However, on what was meant to be a day of celebration for Hamlin’s health, many extremely outrageous anti-vaccination claims were linked back to Hamlin. It’s disappointing to see that while many fans celebrated the life and recovery of Damar Hamlin, other individuals found it necessary to make such a positive circumstance relate back to personal views and opinion on the completely unrelated idea of anti-vaccination. Even in a post by Hamlin on Twitter where he addressed the “body double” allegations through a joke, many anti-vaccination believers continued to fuel their agenda and spread the negativity of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

On February 3, 2023, the NFL reported that regular season concussions increased by 18% throughout the 2022-2023 season. According to data provided by the NFL, there were 149 concussions as compared to 126 from just a year prior. Additionally, the league administered approximately 1.6 concussion evaluations per game and twice as many medical timeouts, which were also substantial increases from previous years. Even with the grave increase in concussions throughout the season, there has been substantial effort to address such issues, including new helmets for practice that help reduce head injuries by almost 52%, as well as new protocols that arose following Tagovailoa’s multiple injuries.

While there has been a heightened awareness and greater action taken to address concussions and player safety in the NFL, it’s apparent  that there still needs to be more changes to better protect professional athletes. Professional research shows a direct link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a form of brain degeneration that has a wide range of symptoms and results such as memory loss, behavioral changes, psychological disorders, and motor issues. The WordsWorth Editorial Board believes that there should be more effort and awareness into designing, improving, and implementing safer practices and equipment in the world of professional sports. In the rapidly developing and advanced world of professional sports where moments can be examined to the exact video frame, there should be much more focus on the development of safer equipment such as the soft practice helmet covers that have proven results, but only in a small sampling environment. In addition to heightened development of safer equipment, there should be much safer and precautionary rules and practices. In regard to the concussion protocol, currently for each game there are three medical professionals that are assigned to ensure concussion protocol is followed. Clearly, there needs to be an increase in the amount of professional neurotrauma consultants on site that can help reduce the frequency of players returning while injured. Furthermore, the NFL concussion protocol states that there is a certain list of symptoms that designate a concussion, but, throughout the previous season, there has been the addition of another symptom: neurological problems such as motor instability or dysfunctional speech patterns. While the NFL’s concussion protocol is already extremely complex, it’s apparent that there are still many other additions yet to be acknowledged, such as a wider range of symptoms for concussions. It’s concerning that after roughly 100 years of professional football, the symptoms of poor muscle control and balance have just recently been linked back to neurological trauma and concussions. Moreover, in addition to the protocol, we believe that there should be improvements made in the practices regarding player health and safety. 

When Damar Hamlin was hit, the Bills assistant athletic trainer, Danny Kellington, was able to administer CPR, which potentially saved Hamlin’s life. Kellington was praised by the NFL community for being able to take charge and help lead the other medical professionals in saving Hamlin’s life, even earning a Most Valuable Player Award vote in the NFL Honors Award Show. While it’s reassuring to see the immediate response by medical professionals to diagnose and treat Hamlin, there still needs to be improvements to the immediate emergency reaction protocols, such as CPR and other life saving protocol training, and the long-term protocols such as diagnosing, treating, and monitoring players with injuries and their recovery. Professional sports, especially the NFL, shouldn’t have to rely on the extremely fortunate, decisive, and brave actions by a medical assistant to save a life and protect their players. Additionally, for the players, they shouldn’t be forced to play in an environment where their lives are threatened and they need to play in fear of having lasting damage to their bodies.

The WordsWorth Editorial Board cannot stress enough the importance of addressing the need for improved equipment, practices, and attention to the health and safety of players not just in the National Football League, but throughout all professional contact and collision sports.

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