Injuries have always been part of football’s narrative, yet never before has a specific injury been as scrutinized as it has this season.
The NFL adopted stricter guidelines regarding concussions last year in an attempt to address concerns surrounding the subject.
Unfortunately, those stricter rules have already failed in preventing concussed players from returning to action. During the first week of the season, Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley tried stumbling off the field before collapsing woozily on the ground.
Medical trainers had to help him off the field, yet permitted him to play four downs later. After re-examination on the sideline, he could not repeat the words he was asked to remember: boat, apple and pear.
Only after failing this test was he disallowed from returning to action for the rest of the game. It was confirmed later that Bradley suffered a concussion; he subsequently missed the team’s next game.
This is a calamity not only for NFL players who will inevitably follow a scenario similar to Bradley’s in the near future, but for over a million adolescents who play football at the high school level or younger.
What we are faced with is a gloomy picture for youth football players. Alan Schwarz of The New York Times has examined the broad issue of head injuries relating to younger football players.
Only 42 percent of high schools have access to a certified athletic trainer. Moreover, up to 50 percent of these schools have players who will sustain concussions each year, with 75 percent of them going unreported or unnoticed.
Most importantly, at least 50 high school players or younger have died or sustained serious head injuries on the field since 1997.
While teens playing high school football are less developed physically, and may experience fewer ferocious hits as NFL players, their brains are still developing. Because their brain tissue is still developing, it is more prone to damage.
A prominent challenge in the fight to reduce head trauma inflicted during football activities is that bone-crunching hits are just one way a player can experience a concussion or other serious brain injuries.
Practice can also lead to future concussions. If a brain is rocked back and forth — it needs time to recover. Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that 58 percent of documented college concussions occur during practice.
With players having practices nearly everyday and a game at the end of the week, football players give their brain tissue little time to recover before it’s punished again.
The challenges surrounding this issue are large, but solvable. The NFL needs to set an example for youth football by putting its players’ futures ahead of a game.
All football programs must have access to a certified medical trainer, and thousands of head-rattling hits can be eliminated if practices cease harmful drills.
Lastly, our culture should applaud players who have the courage not to return to games after injury because their safety is far more important than any achievement on the field.
Reach Zach at Zachary.Levin-Epstein@asu.edu
