'Concussion' doctor in NYT op-ed: No high-impact sports until age 18

I must have too many signature issues.

The answer I was aiming for was... marijuana!

 

I only played one year of football, ninth grade. And I wasn't good enough to see much in the way of contact.

My son is 6, and he's basically counting the days until he can strap on a helmet. He loves it. I imagine we'll at least let him try it. If I was worried he was going to be good, I might steer him differently.

 

That's about the talent/size level my son is at — D-II or D-III football if he wants to do it. (He's 6-foot-4, about 270. Strong kid who works his dad over playing basketball )

He has been reading about concussions and CTE, and it's dimmed his enthusiasm for college FB quite a bit.

Of course, there's also been a severe ankle sprain last month which will keep him out of basketball this winter. As I said, you can't prevent all injuries.

 

My 13-year-old nephew got a concussion after being headbutted during a football game this fall. It happened nearly three months ago. My sister-in-law said on Friday he's still only able to be in school for 50 minutes a day max. Can't sit up for long, can't handle noises, lights, etc. Basically needs things quiet and dark most of the day, every day. Needless to say, pretty sure he's done with football.

 

Soccer should absolutely be on that list. Lacrosse probably should be too.

 

That's pretty bad. Scary, too.

 

I'll find the link later, but Patrick Hruby wrote a frightening and sad piece a couple years ago about a kid who killed himself after a series of concussions after some minor argument with his mom about doing his homework. Stormed out, went out to his room, pulled the trigger.

 

What age do rugby players typically take up the sport? Or Aussie rules players?

 

I know one high school soccer coach who started limiting headers in practice. He believes that too many can be damaging. His theory was that you have to limit headers like you would limit pitches in baseball. I'm not sure how he came up with a particular limit, but I thought it was interesting to see a coach steering his players away from a part of the game. Of course, he is particularly aware of concussions because he has had them and actually missed nearly a year of teaching due to post-concussion syndrome.

Lacrosse definitely belongs, though the boys game allows for a lot more hitting.

 

One other precaution more athletes need to take is wearing mouth guards. I don't just mean for football. They need to wear them for every sport. They help absorb the impact of blows to the head, especially anything to the chin or jaw. I know there are some studies pointing to blows to the jaw being worse than something head on in terms of making the brain bounce around inside the skull.

 

They start very young, same age as kids start football here.

Both those sports have different kinds of hitting.You don't see as many jarring collisions and Rugby in particular you have to wrap up with your arms so you can't use your body as a missile.

 

Yep, awfully risky to lead with your head when you're not wearing a helmet. Same rationale used by those who argue for either getting rid of helmets or going back to leather ones.