Analysis Of Professional Wrestling Injuries

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Injury One: Concussion

Concussions in the world of pro wrestling are easily one of the most frequent injuries to attain and have caused the retirements of many wrestlers. To create the sense of reality performers will use certain moves leading with their head to signify the danger of the sport, any move going headfirst creates a risk. A slip up may occur every now and again due to the nature of the sport, every confrontation needs to achieve a sense of reality.

A concussion is commonly referred to as a small head injury which may mislead people into thinking it’s nothing to worry about. As common as they are among athletes it’s a serious problem if it starts occurring often. Definition of a concussion states that it is a traumatic brain injury due to a blow to the head that affects your brain. For the first couple of times effects are usually temporary but may include headaches and problems with concentration. If a concussion patient sustains another hit to the brain it can lead to second impact syndrome (SIS) which means that a person has received another head injury before the original injury’s symptoms have been resolved. Common causes of the injury in professional wrestling is ‘finishing moves’ such as a spear or a kick to the head. The spear is a dive onto another person wrapping their hands around the others waist after a run up and jumping causing their opponents back to hit the floor. The way the spear works is that it should be their shoulder hitting the opponent’s torso however with certain timing the head can hit head on collision. A piledriver is also a huge reason so many pro wrestlers have received concussions. In the early 2000’s this move was banned due to many injuries with the exception of well-known wrestlers The Undertaker and Kane. To perform the move, you need to pick up your opponent and have their legs wrapped around your head, torso against torso and their head between your knees, ‘driving’ the opponents head into the canvas.

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Prevention strategies have been taken in the sport of professional wrestling for concussions a lot more recent than commonly thought. In the 1990s often wrestlers would be asked to return to work the next night after a concussion has occurred. However now days they have doctors constantly not allowing wrestlers to preform for days or weeks. One way of prevention (after receiving one concussion) is to rest and not compete for over a week. This can minimise the risk of aggravating the damage and inevitably cause more damage. Seeing a doctor immediately after a blow to the head is imperative to know what extent you need to rest as well as if there are anyways to speed up the recovery process. Another method to prevent concussions in pro wrestling is to rehearse the moves with your opponent before the match to get the feel and see if there are any safer ways to make sure it’ll be effectively prevented. A treatment of the injury is previously mentioned in the fact that it’s important to rest after receiving one. Rest includes eliminating all things that will require your brain to work the hardest such as, TV, going on your phone and doing work. The doctor will tell you when its okay to do certain light exercise after acquiring a concussion. Certain painkillers may increase the risk of bleeding so patients will want to ask their doctor for advice/recommendations.

Returning a player to wrestling after getting a concussion could take up to a few weeks but usually one and a half. This is dependent on how many concussions the person has received in the first place. the patient needs to be fully healed before returning to prevent further damage. The process for rehabilitation is to start off with rest, then when rested for the recommended time by the doctor you may move to light exercise then finally be able to return to play. (the process of light exercise and rest is above).

Injury Two: Broken Neck

Surprisingly a broken neck is one of the most common injuries in pro wrestling besides from concussions due different moves to present to the crowd. WWE (world wrestling entertainment) is one of the few promotions around the world who have ended up banning all moves that require landing on the neck. However, many other companies around the world haven’t done the same. For example, NJPW (new japan pro wrestling) have been creating moves that end with someone landing flat on their neck for many years and aren’t changing their minds in any near future.

A broken neck or the scientific term for it cervical fracture is a break in one of the seven cervical bones that make up the neck. These cervical bones protect the spinal cord as well as support the neck and allow movement. Symptoms of a broken neck may include severe pain in any of the seven bones, swelling and bruising, tenderness or decreasing feeling in legs or arms. To examine the area after possible breaking of the neck doctors may do an MRI to find any spinal cord damage or an CT scan to analyse if any blood has collected around specific bones. The common causes of this injury in terms of professional wrestling is a powerbomb or front face suplexes. A power bomb between two wrestlers would require one to pick their opponent having them basically sitting on their shoulders with legs wrapped around their head only to be slammed back onto the mat with big impact. The force will often lead to a blow straight to the neck. The impact is intended to spread amongst the back but sometimes it doesn’t work out quite that way and they land straight on their neck. A front face suplex is when one person lifts their opponent over their head and “throws” the opponent behind them but still cradling their head while both landing their backs flat on the mat. With the person preforming the move cradling the persons neck it will prevent any ways of the neck being directly hit but in certain instances wresters have underestimated their momentum and their opponent has gone further leading to the neck being directly affected.

Strategies for preventing of a broken neck in wrestling is to limit athletes of doing certain moves and only allowing experienced pro wrestlers to perform skills.

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