Project overview
The problem under consideration deals with the human brain and changes which occur after concussions as the result of the head injury while football playing. The research is important as being a very popular game in the country, football may result in heavy injuries of children’s brain which may lead to irreversible results. The research is based on the observation of human behavior in adulthood after the cases of head injury during football playing in childhood. The research is conducted in a high school among 1359 students who regularly play football and have ever had concussions as a result of a head injury while playing. Students have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in childhood and in adulthood, computer tests are conducted as well for understanding whether there is a difference in development or not.
Introduction
The main reason for conducting this research is to understand the dependency of the head injuries got in childhood after the development and changes in the human brain in adulthood. The results of this research may affect football game rules and change the means of head protection. Parents should take care of their children and they are to know how playing football may affect children in the future. Similar research was conducted among professional players, however, the main idea of the research, in that case, was the consideration of the effect of the brain injury on the organism functioning. Amen, Wu, Taylor, and Willeumier (2011) conducted SPBCT imaging as one of the means for results consideration. Our study is constructed out of this research.
Having an intention to analyze the seriousness of head injury in childhood, the research is going to result in reconsideration of the prediction methods. There are some effective prediction methods, however, they are based on the research of short-term head injury (Post & Hoshizaki). The significance of this research is in football game playing and concussions in childhood and consideration of how these head traumas affect adults if measures are not taken.
Sports concussions differ from simple cases of head injury as while playing football, children appear at constant risk. Moreover, the cases of concussions during football playing and in other cases differ by the frequency and by the possible power of the hit. Epstein (2010) tried to contradict this statement saying that “all of the players were able to complete the test with relative accuracy, but the brain activity of the four players who took a lot of middling hits-but suffered no concussions-changed dramatically” (p. 42). Conducting research we are going to answer the question of whether football is too dangerous, which raises much debate (Is Football Too Dangerous, 2012). Even though much research has been conducted, the problem remains urgent and unconsidered from different angles. Therefore, the main idea of this study is to conduct the research of human brain activity in childhood and in adulthood of those who were subjected to head injury while football-playing which resulted in concussions having proved that those who had cases of concussions in childhood have worse mental activity due to changes in the brain.
Research plan
Subject
To conduct research, we are going to divide children of high school who play football into two groups, those who had cases of concussions connected with football playing and those who were lucky to avoid concussions. The research is going to be focused on MRI in childhood and MRI in adulthood followed by computer-based testing aimed at defining the level of human knowledge, brain activity, and understanding the dependency of the injuries in childhood and the lower brain mental activity in adulthood.
Method
MRI and computer-based testing are going to be used to follow the changes (Brooks, 2007). The results will be organized in a table to see how the control group and the experimental group differ as well as how the correlation of the results changes through age.
Study design
The research will involve 1359 students who regularly play football. 987 of them have ever had a head injury resulting in concussions, this is going to be an experimental group. Others were not injured and the results of this group are going to be used as the control one. MRI and computer testing are going to be used during childhood and at the age of 35 years.
Boarder impacts
Tarshis (2011), DeKosky, Ikonomovic, and Gandy (2010), and Henry et al. (2011) made the first step on the way to understanding the effect of head injury while football playing on people. However, their research projects lack specific recommendations and do not contain the outcomes for adults. Our research is going to result in specific data which will explain that head injuries while football-playing followed by concussions result in brain change and worse mind activity in adulthood. These results will help develop the strategy for reducing the harmful effect of injuries and limiting the number of hard head hits.
Timeline and budget
Development of the study – January 2013
Selection of students – February-March, 2013
The first stage (MRI of students) – May-July 2013
The second stage (MIR of these people in adulthood) – May-July, 2031
Total budget – 1359 students*$2,500 cost of MRI = 3,397,500 (at the first stage). The cost on the second stage cannot be calculated due to the long-term duration of the research.
Reference List
Amen, D.G., Wu, J. C., Taylor, D., & Willeumier, K. (2011). Reversing brain damage in former NFL players: implications for traumatic brain injury and substance abuse rehabilitation. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 43(1), 1-5.
Brooks, D. A. (2007). Use of computer based testing of youth hockey players with concussions. NeuroRehabilitation, 22(3), 169-179.
DeKosky, S. T., Ikonomovic, M. D., & Gandy, S. (2010). Traumatic brain injury: Football, warfare, and long-term effects. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363(14), 1293-1296.
Epstein, D. (2010). The damage done. Sports Illustrated, 113(16), 42.
Henry, L. C., et al. (2011). Metabolic changes in concussed American football players during the acute and chronic post-injury phases. BMC Neurology, 11(1), 105-114.
Is Football Too Dangerous? (2012). Junior Scholastic, 115(1), 15.
Post, A., & Hoshizaki, T. B. (2012). Mechanisms of brain impact injuries and their prediction: A review. Trauma, 14(4), 327-349.
Tarshis, L. (2011). Head Trauma. Scholastic Scope, 60(3), 4-10.