ABSTRACT

This chapter talks about head trauma in sport, the biggest concern are injuries to the brain, often termed concussion or traumatic brain injuries (TBI). It focuses on contact, collision, fighting, and concussive sports, which cause a great deal of damage to the body and the brain. Then, the chapter generally examines serious or catastrophic injuries in sport as simply a rare, but unfortunate consequence. It looks at injuries in sport as the result of receiving intentional 'violence'. However, there is a tremendous amount of injury that is promoted by contact sports. Instead, head trauma should be viewed as a willful outcome for a percentage of the playing population as a result of caring more about the tradition of the game than the health of players. Moreover, the cognitive impact of brain trauma is not always experienced immediately; it can be experienced hours or even days later.