Aaron Farkas

3/16/17

Annotated Bibliography
Blakemore, E. (2016, Feb. 22). The terrifying link between concussions and suicide. The
Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-
health/wp/2016/02/22/the-terrifying-link-between-concussions-and-suicide/?
utm_term=.c6f617cda826
- This article talks about a recent study that links brain injury and suicide and shows how
concussions can increase your chances of ending your own life. This new study from a
team of Canadian researchers found that the long-term risk of suicide increases by 30%
among adults who have had concussions. They also looked at hospital records for those
linked with suicide over a 20-year period and found that the suicide rate was 31 deaths
per 1000 patients which is three times the population norm.

Bonds, G., Edwards, W., Spradley, B. (2014, April 11.) Advancements in Concussion
Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment. The Sport Journal. Retrieved from
http://thesportjournal.org/article/advancements-in-concussion-prevention-diagnosis-and-
treatment/
- The purpose of this article is to review and explore advancements in concussion
prevention, diagnosis, treatment, playing rules, equipment, education, and technology. It
starts off by addressing the world wide problem of concussions in sports and some
statistics that increase the seriousness of this problem. It addresses the different types of
technology and machines that are now used to look at the brain and tell you if you have a
concussion or not. It also goes over treatment and how there is no specific medicine that
is made to help the symptoms of concussions but how doctors can still prescribe patients
with Ritalin and sleeping meds to help with the symptoms of concussions like altered
sleep patterns and the inability to focus. All in all, it goes over the different advancements
that doctors/researchers have made in education, equipment, and technology in regards to
concussions.

Dias Jr., C. (2015, Sep. 30). The Long-Term Effects of Concussions on NFL Players. Forbes.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carlosdiasjr/2015/09/30/the-long-term-effects-
of-concussions-on-nfl-players/#d17e66321101
- Forbes article about Boston Universitys study on ex-NFL players that showed 87 out of
the 97 players tested positive for brain disease linked to Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy.
Aaron Farkas
3/16/17

Fainaru, S., Fainaru-Wada, M. (2013, Nov. 14.) Youth football participation drops. ESPN.
Retrieved from http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/page/popwarner/pop-warner-youth-
football-participation-drops-nfl-concussion-crisis-seen-causal-factor
- This article from ESPN highlights the decline of participation in youth football,
specifically in Pop Warner which is the largest youth organization in the world and how
the increase of brain injuries and disease in the NFL is one of the major causes for this
decline. It also gives a timeline of how the decline in participation in these youth leagues
coincides with a series of reports linking football and brain damage.

Geier. (2016, May 24). How common is suicide among retired NFL players? The Post and
Courier. Retrieved from http://www.postandcourier.com/sports/how-common-is-suicide-
among-retired-nfl-players/article_a7f92550-c05f-5a37-892c-cbf0cba69117.html
- This article discusses the common threat of suicide in retired NFL players. It starts off by
listing the multiple cases of players who committed suicide and have been linked to
having brain disease, specifically Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Maske, M. (2016, Jan. 29). Sports. NFL data shows huge surge in reported concussions in 2015.
The Washington Post. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/01/29/nfls-number-of-reported-
concussions-up-sharply-this-season/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.9282414bdcb6
- This Article focuses strictly on receiving concussions in football and mainly talks about
the amount of concussions reported during the most recent years in the NFL and if the
numbers have decreased/increased and what was the most likely reason for that change. It
states the different amounts of percentage that reported concussions increased during
regular season games and overall between the years of 2012 and 2016.

Park, A. (2015, May 18). Concussions Continue to Plague Retired NFL Players. Time. Retrieved
from http://time.com/3863914/concussions-memory-retired-nfl-players/
- Being the first study that combines anatomical screening of the brain and performance on
standard cognitive tests, professor Munro Cullum at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center studied 28 former NFL players, all who had histories of
concussions, and compared them to 21 volunteers without a history of concussions. He
found that 8 of the retired players performance on the tests were, on average, much
worse than the volunteers which suggests that their history of concussions affected their
memory skills.
Aaron Farkas
3/16/17

Polnerow, D. (2011.) Solving footballs concussion problem. North Eastern Edu. Retrieved from
http://www.northeastern.edu/nuwriting/solving-footballs-concussion-problem/
- This article addresses the problems that concussions have created in the NFL and the
different solutions they have tried to create to prevent these problems. It states the three
crucial changes that need to be made in order to decrease the epidemic of concussions. It
sates the technology in the new helmets being built to hopefully help with the nationwide
concussion problem in football like the Revolution Speed Helmet and the new Xenith
helmets that are becoming more and more popular. It also talks about the new technology
and equipment that medical researchers are starting to use so they can quantify head
impacts by magnitude and location called the Head Impact Telemetry System. This
machine is just a small part of the tremendous effort that medical researchers are
currently making to help save the sport of football and make players less susceptible to
head injuries.

Storrs, C. (2015, July 14.) How can we keep young players safe? CNN. Retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/14/health/youth-soccer-safety/
- This article highlights the increase in popularity of Soccer as a high school sport and the
increase in the number of concussions among these players. Researchers found that out of
a sample of 100 high schools across the U.S. between 2005 and 2014, there were 627
girls with concussions and 442 boys. They also found that the rates of concussions in
girls and boys high school soccer has risen over the nine-year study period. The article
addresses that although this rate is certainly much lower than the rate of concussions in
football, soccer is still the second leading cause of head injury among female athletes. It
also addresses the different, recent tragedies of soccer players dealing with head injuries.

What is CTE? (2009, July.) Boston University. Retrieved from:

https://www.bu.edu/cte/about/what-is-cte/
- Boston University published this article about CTE or Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy which is a degenerative brain disease that is mostly found in athletes
with a history of concussions or brain injuries. It also states what the disease can cause,
for example, memory loss, confusion, and many other symptoms. At the bottom, it
displays 6 different pictures of different brains and explains to you what the picture is
showing exactly and how serious the brain injury depicted is.
Aaron Farkas
3/16/17