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We Can Make Football Safer

Several years ago, I was at a pre-season football practice at a high school where I was working with the team on a concussion research project. The players were lined up in two rows facing each other and with little more instruction from the coach than, “on the whistle, hit the man across from you,” grave concern rushed through my mind.

Professional sports get the lion’s share of attention, but concussions are a significant medical issue at all levels of play. While roughly 1,700 athletes play professional football each year, over three million children and adolescents in the United States play the same game. This squarely places concussions as a significant public health concern…

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Featured

 Youth tackle football will be considered unthinkable 50 years from now

I would know — I’m a CTE expert and former college football player.

Articles of Interest

C.T.E. Study Finds That Young Football Players Are Getting CTE

Wyatt was part of the first major study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in athletes who died before turning 30. The findings present an uncomfortable truth for other football families: Even the young get C.T.E.

Children Should Avoid Tackle Football Before High School, Report Says

A study by the Aspen Institute recommended that USA Football, Pop Warner, and other youth football organizations focus on flag football before age 14.

Concussion affects 1 in 10 youth athletes every year. Here’s what needs to change

Research has shown that rule changes, training strategies, equipment recommendations and legislation of evidence-informed management protocols can all help to prevent concussion and the recurrence of concussion in youth sport. Rule changes may be the low-hanging fruit in reducing the risk of concussion in youth sport.

Concussions and Sports: Can We Have One Without the Other?

Anybody can sustain a concussion, but those who engage in contact sports have an increased risk of repeated and serious concussions that can manifest as dementia in later life.

Concussions in Football

Consider what happens to the brain on impact. It accelerates very quickly, then decelerates just as quickly as it bangs into the skull. Nerve cells get stretched, connections between nerve cells get disrupted or sheared. Neurologists dispute the definition of a concussion, but terminology aside, all of this causes a short term disturbance in brain function. It’s no wonder that victims feel dazed, assuming they remain conscious.

Concussions tied to more school problems than other injuries

High school and college students who get concussions may struggle more with academics than their peers who get other types of sports injuries, a small U.S. study suggests.

Football & Concussion: Worth the Risk?

The bottom line is that it’s up to parents to decide whether the risks of youth tackle football outweigh the recreational benefit.

Football and Concussions: The Facts

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a blow to the head. Concussions are not usually life-threatening, but the effects can be very serious. When you’re playing football, concussions can be quite common. In fact, concussions make up 7.4% of all injuries in college football players. They can also occur in other sports as well. But if they aren’t life-threatening, why should you be concerned?

Football’s Young Victims

They started playing football as young as six years old. They died in their teens and 20s with CTE. Today, my colleague, John Branch, on the growing body of evidence that a disease many believed was reserved for professional athletes is also afflicting young amateurs.

High Schools Seek A Safer Path Back From Concussion

Nearly half of all reported sports concussions occur during a high school football game or practice. And even when injured bodies are ready to get back on the field, injured brains might not be ready to return to class. But how long should these student athletes be out of school?

How football raises the risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy

The force of blows to the head that football players experienced over their lives better predicted chronic traumatic encephalopathy than the number of concussions.

How Much Should Youth Football Change to Reduce Concussions?

Drop kickoff returns? Cut the number of players? Shrink the field?

Kids With Concussions Can Phase In Exercise, Screen Time Sooner Than Before

Their physician was following what, for almost a decade, has been the conventional wisdom on treating childhood concussions: Keep kids at home, keep them in a dark room with no screens and minimal stimulation, and ban any sort of physical exertion. But in light of recent research, this month the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guideline for treating mild brain trauma, urging physicians and parents to let kids return to school sooner, and allow them to use electronics and ease back into physical activity after just a couple of days of rest.

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be a Cowboy or a Canuck

Football is an exciting, violent sport. And, no offense to the Aussies and Canadians, so is rugby and hockey. Head related injuries have always been part of the game. But do they need to?

New sports concussion mantra: 'If in doubt, sit them out'

In a sign that experts are taking sports concussions more seriously, new guidelines released today suggest that players be pulled from games even if there is only a suspicion that there’s been a head injury. Further, updated American Academy of Neurology guidelines state that an athlete shouldn’t be allowed to return to play until a specialist gives the OK.

Playing Youth Football and the Need to Protect Our Children

I came to believe that when children begin playing contact sports at too young of an age, when their bodies are not better prepared to withstand and protect against these hits to their head, they are increasing their risk of long-lasting, life altering brain damage. But here’s the problem: We don’t know this for sure.

Should My Child Play Football?

Life is filled with risks. It is the nature of the social enterprise. Football for youngsters may present many more risks than alternative activities, but when conducted in a manner that minimizes unnecessary risks, it should be consider a viable choice. Otherwise, we risk raising a generation weaned only on computer games and the Internet.

SL Interview: Dr. Robert Cantu Speaks Out About Concussions in Youth Sports

I think the number-one most serious misconception is that you have to be rendered unconscious to have suffered a concussion. More than 90 percent of athletic concussions occur without any loss of consciousness. There are 26 symptoms associated with concussions, and loss of consciousness is only one of those.

Sports Culture Must Change to Reduce Head Injuries

Based on our research, we know that prevention is possible. We've made youth sports concussion one of our focus areas, but we can't solve this issue alone. All of us play a role in creating a culture of concussion safety.

The Concussion Gender Gap: Why Girls Suffer More Head Injuries

Who is more likely to suffer a concussion playing high school sports, a female soccer player or a male football player? A new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that girls who play high school soccer are at nearly the same risk for traumatic brain injuries as boys who play high school football. In fact, concussion rates were higher among girls than boys in every high school sport. Despite the indisputable statistics, controversy still surrounds the exact reasons that girls suffer more concussions than boys.

Think Concussions Just Happen to Kids Playing Contact Sports? Think Again

It’s important for parents to understand that concussion risk is not limited to the boundaries of a playing field.

Thinking and Reading About Football and Head Injuries

Fourth Down and Inches is another example of the kind of book the Common Core State Standards want students to read. It is well-crafted, provocative, well-researched, and lays out the facts of the consequences and probability of brain injury vs the love of the game.

What a lifetime of playing football can do to the human brain

One of the biggest consequences of the concussion research is that fewer young people are participating in the sport. In a 2018 documentary, retired star quarterback Brett Favre said he’d prefer that his grandsons play golf over football. Celebrities like former President Barack Obama have said they wouldn’t let their sons play football.

Resources

Is There A 'Concussion Crisis' In Sports?

Scientific evidence is mounting on the links between sports and concussions. Host Michel Martin explores what some are calling the "concussion crisis" for athletes. She speaks with Chris Nowinski, author and co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, a group focused on researching concussions in sports.

KidsHealth

Doctors, coaches, and parents are paying more attention to concussions than they once did. Why? Because they now know that concussions can cause serious problems for kids and adults, especially if they don't get the right treatment.

NCAA

In addition to playing rules aimed at providing a safer playing environment, such as prohibiting helmet-to-helmet contact, the NCAA requires each member school to have a concussion management plan in place.