A lot of people don’t exactly know what a concussion is, never mind the severity of this brain injury. Concussions are considered a mild brain injury because they are not usually life-threatening. This is correct. A concussion is usually not a life-threatening injury which is why people didn’t use to pay it much attention. However, the attitudes toward concussions have changed in the last few years because of the discoveries that medical research has uncovered. So after having said all this, what is a concussion exactly? A concussion is defined as a traumatic brain injury that is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head to hit the ground or that causes the brain to bounce around or rattle within the skull. This trauma causes chemical changes in the brain and sometimes stretching and damaging brain cells. Because of people having given brain injuries more attention over the past few years, there have been many new discoveries regarding the effects of brain trauma, precisely concussions, on the brain of individuals, more specifically, athletes. Ch
ronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, better known as CTE, is one quite important discovery. CTE is a degenerative brain disease that is found in athletes and others who have a history of repetitive brain trauma. Dr. Bennet Omalu is the medical researcher who discovered the disease when examining the brain of Mike Webster, a Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest centers to ever play the game, who had committed suicide. This discovery was significant because it led to a clearer understanding of the implications of the disease and its effects on the athletes physical and emotional well-being. Therefore, this raises the question: In what way does brain trauma due to head collisions negatively impact athletes well-being? By thinking of the different aspects of peoples everyday lives, we can approach this question at three different angles. Upon analyzing a person’s biological, psychological and social well-being, this paper aims to illustrate to what extent brain trauma and concussions can negatively affect a person, more specifically, an athletes ability to function daily.