Sports-related traumatic brain injury
Rules exist within each sport to help prevent cerebral contusions and traumatic brain injuries. However, individual athletes are the best prevention against their own injuries. In a game, athletes notice when they have the symptoms of a cerebral contusion and should take themselves out of the game. It may be hard for medical personnel or coaches to notice when a player has a traumatic brain injury, so it is in the player’s best interest to be removed from play. In hockey, traumatic brain injuries constitute 10%-15% of all head injuries. With the high percent of injuries being traumatic, extensive design improvements have been made to helmets. These improvements reduce the risk of cerebral contusions by providing more padding around the skull and a chin strap that keeps the helmet snug. In baseball, major improvements to helmets have been made to protect batters from the impact a baseball can have when hitting their head. Helmets, before this major improvement, were designed to withstand a velocity of 70 mph from a pitch or foul ball. Since the company Rawlings’ new design, helmets can withstand a velocity of 100 mph and have further padding around the softer parts on the side of the skull.
Traumatic memories
Research has shown several cognitive behavioural therapies to be effective methods of reducing the emotional distress and negative thought patterns associated with traumatic memories in both those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.
One such therapy is trauma-focused therapy. This therapy involves bringing the most disturbing elements of a traumatic memory to mind and using therapist-guided cognitive restructuring to change the way the memories are thought about. The change in evaluation usually involves highlighting that the feelings of certain death, extreme danger, hopelessness and helplessness within a traumatic memory do not apply to the person now, as they survived the event. The therapy also focuses on extending the memory so it is recalled beyond the most traumatic parts. Extending them to a point where the person felt safe again, so they remember the event in a more complete way with less focus on the negative aspects. As an example, a traumatic memory of wartime combat might be extended to after a battle, to when the person was no longer in immediate danger. In processing the memory in these ways it becomes less likely to intrude into their thoughts as an unwanted flashback.
The memory also becomes less vivid, less distressing and seems more distant to the person's present life.