Can you answer some questions about brain injuries and the NFL in the US?

I think you might really enjoy this Radiolab podcast about American football. If I recall correctly, one of the segments (Ghosts of Football Future) features people who played football when they were younger weighing the risks for their own children.

While I was looking for that link, I happened across a recent CBC story about advances in football helmet design that have significantly reduced risks (locally) due to impact and twisting. But it’s unclear to me how quickly the use of new designs might become widespread. I assume that since there is so much direct contact (so to speak) between teams, it would happen, but my guess is that there’s probably very little top-down influence.

Currently, helmets are as good as anyone can imagine, although I’m sure there’s R&D in progress. The problem is that a helmet protects the skull but not the brain. The brain will bounce around inside the skull from a sudden impact.

Several NFL teams are using and promoting rugby style tackling techniques, which usually takes the head out of the tackle. Seattle Seahawks rugby tackling training video.

The NFL is holding clinics for beginning and high school football coaches to teach them the rugby tackling techniques to help prevent head injuries early in teens’ football careers.

NFL rules change every year in an effort to improve player safety. It’s currently illegal to use one’s helmet as a spear, and helmet-to-helmet contact by the tackler is not permitted.

Thank you @dappled_leaves. I will listen to that. Our footy players get head knocks, but the risks are nowhere near the same as for those playing American football. Here, if you play Rugby League or Rugby Union and get a knock on the head you’re off the pitch and are checked by medics. They won’t be allowed back on the pitch until they’re checked. There are now strict rules about how you can tackle players and anything above the shoulder (neck and head) is not acceptable. Spear tackles will have players on a charge and so forth. Some players, but not many, wear headgear.

@bossob, yes, the film made that point very well. That the human brain has no protection against such knocks. To change the way they tackle would seem like a huge game-changer. Watching how the game is played (and I’m not really someone who does watch your football, so it’s a very superficial observation) so much of it seems to be about using the head. Thank you for your information.

You reminded me: this year, the NFL started having independent medical personal on the sidelines to watch for and evaluate any player who sustains a hit to the head. The docs can pull a player at any time to administer a concussion evaluation protocol. If a player fails a field test, they go to the locker room to conduct additional, more involved tests.

The NFL now has representatives in the home office who are in contact with the officials on the field during a game. From their vantage point (watching on monitors), sometimes they can see things that the refs on the field can’t see. They have the authority to tell the head ref to remove a player from the game to be checked.

That’s great @bossob. All sports have risks, I guess all we can do is make sure those who administer the sport are responding to research and knowledge to protect those who participate as much as is possible.

I was lucky that my son wanted to play soccer. One of his mates decided to change codes and play Rugby League. We went along to watch him, and one of the kids was injured and taken off in an ambulance. At the time it made me think about how I’d have felt had Matt wanted to play rugby. I love watching rugby (both league and union), but I’d have balked at agreeing to him playing either code. If he’d nagged me, I’m not sure what I’d have done. I’m just glad he wanted to play soccer.

The recent public awareness of head injuries brings to mind the fact that headgear for US-style has evolved considerably from the leather caps that passed for protective headgear even before they were required in 1940.

That being said, I think public awareness about the issue has created a good trend in the industry, from the NFL on down to the pee-see league.

@Yetanotheruser, but as @bossob pointed out (and the film explains well), the helmets protect the skull. The brain inside the skull is still bashing around and being injured. And another problem is that the head injuries aren’t one-off events, they’re repetitive and cumulative. I’m not sure what headgear will really protect the brain from the effects of repetitive head knocks.

That should read “pee-wee”.

What should read ‘pee-wee’?

All the headgear in the world is not going to prevent your brain from sloshing around in the fluid that separates it from the skull.

Closed-head injuries are caused primarily by vehicular accidents, falls, acts of violence, and sports injuries. Brain injuries such as closed-head injuries may result in lifelong physical, cognitive, or psychological impairment and, thus, are of utmost concern with regards to public health.

@dappled_leaves cites an excellent podcast.

No, I would not let a child play football if it was within my power to prevent it.

Relevant: No more heading: US Soccer out with new guidelines for youth soccer

The improved helmets as @bossob described is one of the reasons things seemed to be worse: While many NFL players from the 70s and 80s have died or exhibited symptoms of CTE, it has been worse since the 90s because of improvements in helmet design, making the head a weapon until recent years restricting it.

As to Association Football, just yesterday Bonnie Chastain willed her brain to be examined for CTE after her death because of years of doing headers.

@Earthbound_Misfit I missed the edit window. I typed in ”...from the NFL on down to the pee-see league…”

It doesn’t even have to be a hit directly involving the head to cause brain injuries. Any impact that causes the head to quickly move back-and-forth/side-to-side can cause brain injuries.

I don’t know that the risk of CTE can ever be removed from sports, but it’s good that many sports organizations are really starting to focus on the condition and are now trying to minimize the risk and look for early signs of it.

I think the Chris Benoit murder/suicide several years ago, and the subsequent revelation that his brain was basically swiss cheese has really brought the public spotlight on the issue.

Somewhat related to your question, this doctor has suggested that pro football is unethical due to the severity of the risk of brain injury.

This article from two years ago talks about the development of football helmets using non-Newtonian materials that are supposed to be better at taking angular impacts than traditionally-made helmets.

I don’t have any children but if my dog expressed an interest in organized football I would not discourage it but I would of course be nervous. I would just continue to do what I do already. Encourage it to appreciate motorsport.

While the forces in motorsport are much greater than those in football, car racing simply has much more and a greater variety of protections in place. Not just helmets but the HANS (Head And Neck Safety) device, state of the art seating/restraint mechanisms, fire resistant clothing, a sophisticated metal or carbon fiber protective framework around the pilot, etc.

We watch to be entertained:

I don’t find football to be very beautiful. It’s just a constantly repeating irresistible force meets immovable object scenario. Sure, now and then there is a play that shows pinpoint accurate throwing or a seeming superhuman ability to dodge attackers at speed. But these are the exceptions, not the usual.

Baseball bores because there’s an average of 14 minutes of actual play. As a former bicycle racer the idea that you stop and rest during a competition is laughable to me.

Boxing, especially at the elite level is full of efficient, certain moves and is lovely to watch. A graceful but savage dance from beginning to end. But at the end of the day it is two people beating each other to unconsciousness. Brain injuries.

Motor racing is a constant beautiful dance on the very edges of available control. To me this just feels right. Perhaps because the most efficient line around a course comes naturally to me. There is the pinpoint conservation of energies. Then there is the engineering. The highest levels of efficiency are the most gorgeous.

Professional road cycling is the same. A pedal stroke is like a golf swing, it takes a lifetime to master. Optimally efficient body position and motion on the bike is inspiring. Competitive team cycling involves much more strategy than most realize. Economy of motion is even more important here as the pilot is also the engine.

I“m just naturally going to be more attracted to a sport that has a greater aesthetic to witness. Then the involved risks seem more justifiable to me.