The suicide last week of former National Football League star Junior Seau has sparked another round of debate about how dangerous football might really be.
There's plenty of research to suggest that the hazards of football through head injuries - potentially long term damage - is not just reserved for pro players, but has become a major concern for high school athletes as well.
The Centers for Disease Controls estimate that there are between 1.6 million and 3.8 million sports-related concussions every year, and the centers conclude that they are at an "epidemic level."
On top of that, studies suggest for scholastic athletes, football creates the most potentially harmful hits to the head, and concussions in high-school football go vastly under reported.
Much of the research up until now has focused on concussions. Studies show that athletes with two or more traumatic brain injuries in their high school career demonstrate statistically significant lower grade-point averages.
Some of the new research on the study of brain injuries at Purdue University indicates that repeated blows to the head of much less force than a concussion can also create an impairment.
So, it leads to the question. What do you think about these new studies? Has any of it made you rethink whether you'd let your children play football in high school or college? As a student athlete, do you worry about the dangers?
Does it make you rethink your enjoyment of college football Saturdays or pro football Sundays?
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Parents, one way to tell if your son/daughter is playing football correctly, check their helmets, if they have too many scratches or paint marks they're not playing correctly and they need to learn to keep their head UP.
I just want to point you to the link in the story about Purdue University research. The article describes researchers who basically stumbled upon a finding that repeated, moderate level hits to the head were changing neurological function in high-school football players. To me, that's significant in this whole debate. I know of no other high-school sport where you are hit in the head with that kind of force at that frequency - with our without protection - as a normal part of the game. The fact that impairment can happen prior to a concussion, according to some research, seems to go against the grain of the conventional wisdom that you only have to worry about damage if you have had a couple of concussions.
Maxed out on Tramadol, Jim
The questions really should be, "is it worth the risk?" and "what can be done to reduce the risk while playing?" These are best answered by the player/parents of participants and by the equipment manufacturers. I wonder if injuries are trending up or down over the past 40 years as equipment has been getting more sophisticated. Clearly, there have been a lot of improvements to the gear that's used on the field for the sake of safety. A lot of rules have been changed too. Has any of that helped? Hopefully, we're not finished with these improvements and better equipment and rules are on there way to help reduce the risk of injury so young men can continue to enjoy the sport with lower risk.