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Joshua Burroughs

Professor Freeland

English 1201-506

20 March 2022

Literature Review

Brain injuries are becoming an important and relevant issue at hand in modern-day sport,

and this is due to many athletes suffering from concussions and other brain injuries today. Sports

like football and hockey obviously endanger the head of athletes, but even sports like baseball

can leave athletes in danger of experiencing a brain injury. As a result, the effects of these

repeated hits or blows to the head in both contact and even non-contact sports need to be

addressed to keep athletes safe and healthy to perform.

To begin, traumatic brain injury, as described by the nonprofit American academic

medical center named the Mayo Clinic, is a form of an injury that “results from a violent blow or

jolt to the head or body” (“Traumatic Brain Injury”). The Mayo Clinic also describes that

traumatic brain injury can result from an object entering the skull and damaging the brain tissue

(“Traumatic Brain Injury”). Additionally, Anna Johnson-Winegar, Ph.D. who was the Director

of Medical Chemical and Biological Defense Research Programs for the U.S. Army Medical

Research and Material Command, wrote that “traumatic brain injury (TBI) [was] a form of

acquired brain injury [that] occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain” (Johnson-

Winegar). Both sources describe this credible and reliable information for similar purposes. Both

articles had the purpose of informing the audience of what traumatic brain injury is and how it

can occur. However, the audiences of these articles differ in the aspect that the Mayo Clinic is

targeting their article at people who may have suffered a traumatic brain injury, while Johnson-
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Winegar is targeting a wider scope of an audience that may not be informed on what traumatic

brain injury is.

Another key point regarding brain injury in sports is the idea of concussions as a result of

playing a sport. The Brain Injury Research Institute, a non-profit actively researching the brain

and brain injuries since 1996, found that there are “an estimated 1.6-3.8 million sports and

recreation related concussions occur in the United States each year” (“What is CTE”).

Additionally, concussions in sports can also cause a variety of different issues in the brain as a

result. Anna Johnson-Winegar found that “many of the former players are suffering from

diseases like ALS, Alzheimer’s and dementia, which they claim are related to multiple

concussions that occurred while they were active in the NFL” (Johnson-Winegar). These both

describe how frequent and how dangerous sports-related concussions are. Both sources are

reliable and credible and have the purpose of informing the audience of brain injury in sports.

Additionally, both sources are directing an audience who is not informed on brain injury.

Furthermore, the idea of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is another key point

regarding sports-related brain injuries. As described by the Brain Injury Research Institute, CTE

is “a progressive degenerative disease which afflicts the brain of people who have suffered

repeated concussions and traumatic brain injuries” (“What is CTE”). Similarly, Thomas A.

Drysdale, a third-year law student at Southern Illinois University in 2013, writes in the Journal of

Legal Medicine that CTE is caused by “repeated blows to the head that result in concussions”

(Drysdale).

As previously mentioned, the Brain Injury Research Institute provides credible information for

the purpose of informing readers about brain injury in sports. In relation, Thomas A. Drysdale

also provides credible information as he uses footnotes to list his sources, and he writes for the
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purpose of informing readers about CTE in American football. Both sources are also targeted at

an audience interested in learning more about sports-related brain injuries. This information is

also relevant as CTE can be linked to sports-related concussions.

Moreover, chronic traumatic encephalopathy can be dangerous to many athletes as CTE

can result from playing both contact and non-contact sports. This is described by Lisa Brown, a

physical therapist at Boston University Physical Therapy Center and clinical assistant professor

in the Department of Physical Therapy & Athletic Training, as she writes that “for every year of

absorbing the pounding and repeated head collisions that come with playing American tackle

football, a person’s risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a devastating

neurodegenerative disease, increases by 30 percent” (Brown). Additionally,

Also, there is other important information regarding sports-related brain injuries found

within these sources. For instance, Lisa Brown describes that there is a link between playing

football and developing CTE. She writes that “new findings from an analysis of the brains of 266

deceased former amateur and professional football players…quantify the strength of the link

between playing tackle football and developing CTE” (Brown). In addition, another piece of

important information is the idea that “football accounts for more than 60% of concussions”

detailed by the Brain Injury Research Institute (“What is CTE”). Anna Johnson-Winegar found

that football is not the only sport that results in brain injury. Even though football is the sport that

results in the most brain injuries, “it’s not just football…Recent analysis of data from 100

schools participating in a longitudinal study showed that 627 girls and 442 boys sustained

concussion during [soccer] practice or competition.” (Johnson-Winegar). All these in

combination show that brain injuries are very relevant on all levels of competition in a variety of

different sports.
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There are many misconceptions, however, regarding traumatic brain injury. To begin, it

is believed that after a brain injury, one cannot function in the exact same way. However, this is

not true. In fact, the effects of mild TBI don’t have to be permanent,” and “brains are incredibly

resilient and inherently driven towards recovery” (). Moreover, there is a common misconception

that symptoms of traumatic brain injury develop and get worse over time. However, “TBI

symptoms are worst at the time of injury and they gradually improve over the six to 12 months

thereafter” (). These misconceptions illustrate how many people can be misinformed about

traumatic brain injury and may need to perform their own research to come to an informed

conclusion.

Finally, to answer the research question, repeated blows to the head can be a major cause

of brain injury in athletes in mainly contact sports like football, even though brain injuries may

be common in other sports. To find even more information on brain injuries in sports, I should

research more on brain injuries in sports like baseball or soccer. I could also complete more

research on possible solutions to the issue of brain injuries in sports or current solutions already

being used in sports today.

Works Cited
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Brown, Lisa. “CTE Risk More than Doubles after Just Three Years of Playing Football.” Boston

University, 7 Oct. 2019, https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/cte-football/.

Drysdale, Thomas A. “Helmet-to-Helmet Contact: Avoiding a Lifetime Penalty by Creating a

Duty to Scan Active NFL Players for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.” Journal of

Legal Medicine, vol. 34, no. 4, Oct. 2013, pp. 425–52. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2013.859969.

Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. “Common Misconceptions about Traumatic Brain Injury.”

Advancing Your Health, 1 Mar. 2021, https://advancingyourhealth.org/common-

misconceptions-about-traumatic-brain-injury/.

Johnson-Winegar, Anna. “Traumatic Brain Injury.” Torch, Winter 2017, pp. 12–15. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=url,cookie,ip,custuid&custid=infohio&db=aph&AN=138193648

&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Traumatic Brain Injury.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research,

4 Feb. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/

symptoms-causes/syc-20378557.

“What Is CTE?” Brain Injury Research Institute, 2022, http://www.protectthebrain.org/Brain-

Injury-Research/What-is-CTE-.aspx.