AP Bio 3/19/13
Comment 3/19 Brooke
Bonfiglio
The
article I chose is quite relevant to the new guidelines and restrictions coming
into play in all levels of contact sports. This article talks about the
precautions that individuals and doctors must take when determining a
concussion and its severity. In Belson’s article entitled “New Concussion
Guidelines Stress Individual Treatment” his main focus is how concussions are a
much more complicated injury than a broken a broken arm for example, and how
they must be diagnosed with much more detail because of this. Benson describes
concussions as “too idiosyncratic to be categorized neatly.” Idiosyncratic is
defined as “a structural or behavioral characteristic
peculiar to an individual or group” meaning that the brain and therefore
concussions impact on the brain is still a mystery to scientist and doctors. One
of the approaches doctors and trainers are taking to make concussions
assessments more personalize is not giving one set time when you are safe to
return to play, but instead diagnosing each person individually and giving them
the ok based on their assessment. Other tools such as, symptom tests, online
diagnostics, and balance tests are also used and helpful, however Giza and many
other authors on the subject said that they should not be used alone. Recent
other revisions were published yesterday in Neurology, a well respected medical
journal, and should be implemented by all physicians dealing with concussions.
This
article is important to our culture as some of the biggest sports, such as
football and soccer, also hold the highest concussion rates, and scientists and
doctors are just recently finding out the long term damage concussions, minor
and major, can have on a person for the rest of their life. The NFL and many
college programs are changing their diagnostic on players and their revision to
play with this recent discovery, and there has even been talk of taking out the
kick off from football as it is the most physically dangerous play of the game.
It is also important for any person to understand how fragile and sensitive our
brain is, and to be know when we are endangering the most important and
sophisticated part of our bodies.
This
article I thought was very interesting, however lacked much detail. I think
Benson could have included some of the more recent guidlelines that were going
to be followed, as they were just recently published in the journal “Neurology.”
This would provide the reader with an ability to find a resolution to this
problem and would have strengthened the article greatly. I did enjoy how he
listed the most dangerous sporst to be football and rugy, followed by soccer.
And that women’s soccer and basketball have the highest rate of concussions.
Timmy Donohue Comment 3/20/13
ReplyDeleteI thought Brooke’s review of the article, “New Concussion Guidelines Stress Individual Treatment,” was very interesting. There were many aspects of the review that were very well presented. For example, I thought she had a very interesting hook to start her review. I felt that it was kind of refreshing compared to the other repetitive and boring introductory sentences of most other reviews. Also, I liked her description of the article itself. I felt that she listed enough information to allow the reader to get a good understanding of what the article was about. Lastly, I like how she included the most concussion prone sports for both men and women. I thought that this was an interesting fact that was kind of surprising in that I did not know that individuals playing soccer got concussions that often.
Though I thought her article was very well presented, there were a few aspects that I would have changed. For example, when describing the protocol for concussions that trainers must do on the individual, I would have included the steps of recovery that the athlete must complete. Secondly, I would have included how this new protocol for treating concussions has helped the athletes who have received concussion.
Despite the very small details that I would have added, the review was still pretty interesting. For example, one important idea that I took from this article was that concussions are still new to scientists in that a universal cure has not been found. This is all the more reason to be careful when playing contact sports.
I thought Brooke did a very good job with her review of the article "New Concussion Guidelines Stress Individual Treatment." Her summary was well put together and concise, and at the same time it did not leave out any of the important details. She delivered all of her main points in a clear and simple way. Brooke also did a god job of explaining how these recent studies on concussion affect us and the world today. She went into great detail about how this serious issue is affecting many people and the new steps being taken to prevent them. Brooke included two very good quotes that added a lot to her review. Quotes are important because they give a first hand account of what is happening, and Brooke sued them very well.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Brook did a very good job with her article review, there are a few places where she could have improved. I think Brooke could have proof read her review again because there were a couple of awkward sentences that made her review hard to read. Brooke also could have included more specific names of the people conducting these studies and the places where they are being conducted. These give what she says validity and add to her review.
Overall, Brooke did a very good job with her review of this article. I think it is very important for people to look more closely at the seriousness of concussions because I know how serious head injuries can be in sports, since I play hockey. I have seen many players get serious concussions, and it is important for people to reevaluate the safeness of these sports.
Brooke really impressed me with her article encompassing the current issues revolving around concussions. She does an excellent job emphasizing not only the importance, but also the differences between an injury like a broken arm, and a head injury causing a severe concussion. I have always wondered why concussions are so complicated and why the process takes so long in terms of returning to activity. As Brooke explains, scientists still know very little in regards to head injuries and the impact concussions have on the brain. Every concussion is different and Brooke explains that concussions are so personal that each and every individual goes through a different recovery process.
ReplyDeleteI think Brooke could have gone into more depth when it comes to the testing and the actual diagnosis of concussions. Here at Bronxville, students every year receive concussions whether it be in football, soccer, or any number of intense, physical sports. Brooke should have connected this article more so to professional sports as she introduces the idea of permanent injuries players in the NFL and college programs suffer, but she doesn’t really use these examples to their full potential. Her concluding paragraph is a bit confusing as she does a rather poor job of discussing the concussion rates, but I suppose it’s ok to conclude a current event with an interesting fact.
One thing I was impressed with was Brooke’s ability to connect this article and topic to her own experiences here at Bronxville. The concussion recovery period is nearly a full month now for the least serious cases. This may put pressure on athletes who feel they have a serious head injury to keep it a secret, so they do not miss their entire season! This is a major issue that must be addressed.