American Football will damage your child's brain

Of course American football can cause brain damage. Why do you think they wear helmets?

 

I could have sworn that I've also heard that heading footballs (soccerballs) isn't good for your brain, either.

Anyway I'm pretty sure that most men have suffered some brain damage as a result of rough play as kids or teens even outside of sports.

 

Yeah, I know that individually they don't compare, but I do know that every little bit of brain trauma adds up.

One of the most depressing articles written about it:


http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

 

Too many coaches still teach their kids to block with their heads rather than their shoulders. It's an ongoing problem, kinda like soccer coaches who teach their kids to slide tackle with their cleats up, and feet perpendicular to the ground, rather than with their toes pointed. You're supposed to nudge the ball away from the opponent, not blow out his ACL, or worse.

 

I don't have a link, but I've heard a number of times that soccer is the most dangerous sport in the world (more than American football and hockey). Apparently there are more serious injuries and death from soccer compared to the other sports.

Not sure how true that is, but that is the counter to this discussion you'll likely hear.

 

If American Football damages a child's brain,

I can't imagine what Rugby does....

 

Rugby doesn't have the head-on hitting that football does. It's also not played by steroid-laden, dump truck bench-pressing behemoths. Of course, getting kicked in the head or face isn't any fun either.

 

Don't know about kids, but evidently professional players have an unusual incidence of minor brain damage in Norway

Also, if you think American football is scary, check out the numbers for basketball. That's a lotta injuries.

 

Have you ever seen a rugby player? The Rugby players at y college are bigger and scarier than most any football player.

The reason you don't have this problem in rugby is the lack of helmets. The helmets in football have led to a lot of players making hits leading in with their helmet at high speed. If you don't have a helmet, I can assure you you won't lead in with your head to hit another's head as fast as you can.

 

The Norway players tested had played with a heavier ball than the current FIFA standard. The article didn't specify the weight delta between the Norway league ball and standard.

After studying up on this, I'm actually quite surprised with the ready availability of scanning equipment in western nations that a more credible study on the effect of heading hasn't been done.

My kid isn't playing any American football, though, that is for sure. Based on the evidence you are likely going to see an entire generation of defensive and offensive lineman drop dead in their 50's. Unfortunately, that group may include players who only played high school and college ball, as even these amateur players will have experienced thousands of low level head impacts. These lineman are subject to the damage from repeated low level impacts that have recently been studied. No helmet can mitigate that because the action causing the damage is the brain repeatedly hitting the skull internally. The only way to address that problem would be to eliminate the three point stance but this would fundamentally change the game.

 

Maybe, but Refrigerator Perry wouldn't last 10 minutes in a rugby game.

You're right, the lack of helmets and padding keeps the heavy hits from happening. I actually like rugby better than football.

 

Really?

Shall we compare the front row of any international team vs. your average NFL offensive line?

You can't be a steroid laden behemoth in rugby because you've actually got to run five or six miles during a game.

 

Seconded.

For an NFL offensive lineman, 300 pounds is slightly below average these days. I don't think there are many rugby players that size.

 

I never said my college's football team was good or had much size. In fact, our lack of size is major complaint and our rugby team is really good as far as US colleges go (Arkansas State by the way). So take that for what it's worth.

 

Football is such a beloved cultural institution that I expect the dangers, if they are as significant as being implied here, will regardless either be ignored in a lot of circles, or if they are come to terms with, it would be a long and painful process.

 

I think it might be a little of both, but fwiw I've heard similar talk with hockey that helmets have had a counterproductive effect with regard to head hits. But in hockey the problem is arguably trickier, since the helmets are definitely helpful with the puck.

I dunno, maybe we go back to the old leather ones!

 

What he said. Except that I'll add one other "tiny" variable: American football is a huge, huge business in the States. Not just the NFL, but big-time college football and, in many places, high-school football, as well. I expect this kind of research to be, more or less, ignored.

 

I agree that it will be ignored by die-hard American football fans. But there is going to be a fair amount of decision making done by the parents of players, parents who may or may not be fans, so I think there is going to be some effect from this research.

 

Oh please. The question of repetitive brain injuries from high school, college, and professional (American) football has been debated on and off since at least the 1970s. Game rules have been modified; uniforms (pads) and safety equipment have been improved.

It's worth noting that (American) football in more or less it's current form has been played since just before 1900. So far, there has been no mass of players (from any position) dropping dead from unexplained injuries. The injury and death rates from (American) football have closely followed those of sports where similar forces are involved, including baseball.

Is the sport violent? of course. Is it more violent than soccer, or wrestling, or lacrosse, or judo, karate, kung fu, or basketball? No. The truth is, kinetic energy exposes one to risk of traumatic injury. Nothing short of living one's life in a padded room, playing with soft objects can mitigate that risk.

 

the moral zeitgeist is constantly evolving. During the Roman Empire Gladiator fights were culturally accepted and not considered immoral.

i'm not putting football on that same level but as the science becomes more and more known there is a chance there will be a shift in the culture.

Me personally I grew up with football but I consider it too violent of a sport and am no longer a fan of it.

i watch the epl, la liga, and serie A on saturdays and sundays now