Ryan Zaman

Period 3

The Rising Issue of Concussions

Concussions, possibly the deadliest injury to exist, is a growing issue in modern times.

As there is an increasing number in athletes, more and more athletes are receiving concussions as

a result of the sport. As a result of the athletes receiving concussions, they have to struggle in

school and catch up on missed work for the lengthy time the concussion lasts as it is a very

serious injury. So what makes a concussion so deadly? The fact that a concussion is when a

sudden strike or jolt to the head that causes the chemicals in the brain to change due to the

movement of the brain is what makes this injury very deadly. The physical setback of the brain

usually being twisted heals over a shorter amount of time compared to the psychological

setbacks that come from a concussion.These psychological setbacks are very dangerous as they

include memory loss, lack of cognitive function, and reduced reflexes. These setbacks are very

dangerous as they can greatly ruin one’s life by causing someone to fall behind in school as they

can not use their head normally due to the psychological setbacks, as they force the student to

take a break from school. In some cases this injury can be so severe that it will lead to death, a

frightening outcome for this injury. And yet the scariest part of the whole topic of concussions is

that there is no cure to this devastating injury yet even though it has the potential to ruin one’s

life completely. The purpose of this article is to advocate for the testing of different

procedures/treatments that have promise towards curing a concussion.

The first treatment that should be tested for use is Transcranial Direct Current

Stimulation. This is a procedure that uses low voltage electric currents to stimulate a target

region of the brain via electric wires attached to the head. To cure a concussion, TDCS would be
modified to stimulate the region of the brain containing the temporal and frontal lobes. These

regions are important to target as they are the regions of the brain most affected by a concussion

as usually strikes happen to the front of the head when hit, hence where these regions are. By

stimulating these areas, one could use TDCS to make up for the decreased cognitive ability that

occurs in this region from the concussion, showing great promise for TDCS to serve as a cure. In

fact, studies using TDCS have proven TDCS to stimulate these regions on a concussed patient,

allowing them to perform better in cognitive tests and activities.