Aaron's Second Blog Post: The Start Part 2.

Aaron Watson-Sharer

2/28/14

YATW Blog Post #2

Head Injuries and How They Affect Current Lives of People and Will Continue To Do So

Hi I’m Aaron and I’m a student at Science Leadership Academy. In my previous blog post, I spoke about the impact  of  head injuries.  Many the side effects do not end or pass away. I expressed my concerns for the kids and adults who have sustained head injuries that still affect them today. I really spoke about CTE, a disease that causes one too many issues to your brain. I finished my first blog post speaking about the significance and how these injuries shouldn’t be forgotten. I’m not alone; many doctors worldwide want to prevent  head injuries from happening.

I found a few more sources that really helped me become attached to this project. For example, this source gives great perspective and knowledge. I found out that the football helmets players are wearing really don’t prevent injury as widely advertised by the league. It was found that these very helmets our coveted athletes wear only reduced traumatic injuries to the brain by 20% rather than wearing no type of gear. I am starting to question that safety, why should we trust helmets that are only 20% effective. We must get that number to 100% effective  if you want to save lives.

Since writing my first blog post, I have conducted some non original research and some original research. I have found online resources that have helped me along with my personal research. For my original research, I created an online survey. What I’ve found with the limited responses I’ve received was that non contact sports were a leading cause for head injuries in my survey. I saw that all but one of my participants had worn any type of protective gear. Headaches were the most common symptoms for my participants post concussion. My research show three things.

- We are as individuals are very unprepared  for possible head injuries.  People aren’t being very safe or using protective gear.

-  People who have sustained head injuries of any sort are more careful due to the possibility of reinjury.

- Most head injuries happen to younger people -  child to young adults.  This is from activities like bike riding and sports.  

My understanding of head injuries has expanded  beyond  the state of people prior to their initial injuries. I learned like me, others almost never expect a head injury at any time. My research showed that 1 out of 11 participants had any type of protective gear like a bike helmet. I did not think about about prevention. I had focused on the injury and the after effects. This is similar to someone starting a TV show in the middle of a series rather than the beginning. Those people don’t know what happened or occurred. They know the current storyline and  what comes next  but they never knew how the storyline started. They don’t know why characters think or do something. I and many other people have been in this situation. I still have yet to fully know what happens before a head injury but my mission is to find out and find out more about prevention.  That is what I took from my research.  I do not focus on all the stats because I did not get a lot of responses but I have an understanding, an idea and a piece of the puzzle with 100 more pieces to go.

Some opinions that I have are that despite efforts, there is no one answer to this solution. That head injuries can’t be killed, they can be quieted, but never silenced. I have many other opinions like that sports from soccer to martial arts should have some type of way to keep head injuries from happening. I think we need more funding, even though money worldwide is tight. My first and principal opinion is my rock of all of them. I believe that my first idea is comparable to the real world in many ways. It’s like a vaccine, whatever we do to quiet head injuries is no more than a vaccine, no cure. There is no cure but I really am hopeful for a vaccine, that can quiet and mostly label head injuries to the point where they are rare.

I wonder what else can be done by me and how to really make an effect on somebody’s life. If I can just help one person I will be able to feel proud the next morning. I want to feel like I made a difference like Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to enter the NFL. He had enough courage to come out but I believe he saved a life, and if he did so, he’s an impact maker. That’s what I want to be. I’d like to find a place that has interns for helping in aiding to prevent head injuries. I will try to make an impact if it’s with my internship or my keyboard. If you don’t start none, you w0on’t be none. -Nas

My annotated bibliography is available here.