Football is one of America’s favorite pastimes. It is ingrained in society and impacts adults and kids alike, with children as young as age 5 playing in the “pee-wee” leagues. As such, it’s important to recognize the risks the players place themselves in for their love of the sport.
It’s no secret that the sport is dangerous. Even with all of the protective gear — helmets, elbow and knee pads, and shoulder pads, among others — the tackling sport still results in career-ending and life-threatening spinal cord injuries (SCI) and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).
Spinal cord injuries and TBIs affect players at all levels, affecting children, college-age students, and adults. Between 2005 and 2014, 24 high school players and four college players died from such injuries and “most deaths occurred during competitions and resulted from tackling or being tackled.”
A recent example of a spinal cord injury making headlines was in December 2017 when Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier sustained a spinal cord concussion during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He underwent surgery and spent several weeks in recovery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He was released from UPMC’s rehabilitation institute on Feb. 1.
But with all of the advances in modern medicine and protective gear, how many of these injuries occur and how they can be prevented?
Sports-Related Spinal Cord Injuries
While the leading cause of spinal cord injuries is attributed to automobile accidents, athletic activities and sports account for 10% of all reported SCIs. These types of injuries are most prevalent for males between the ages of 16 and 30. More than half of the catastrophic injuries that affect athletes in sports are some form of cervical spine injury, with the highest incidents affecting football and rugby players. Furthermore, 10-15% of all football players, especially linemen and defensive players, experience cervical spine injuries.
A study of National Football League (NFL) spinal cord and axial skeleton-related injuries shows that 987 of the 2,208 spine and axial skeleton injuries that took place between 2000 and 2010 affected the cervical spine. Offensive linemen were the majority of athletes affected by the injuries, and the injuries occurred most during tackling and blocking maneuvers.
But football injuries don’t only impact adults. According to a 2016 study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, football has the highest number of direct and indirect injuries occurring in high school and college sports. 81% of the injuries affected high school athletes. The study, which looked at catastrophic injuries and illnesses affecting athletes that played within three national sports organizations, identified 101 injuries that occurred during sports between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. The research showed that 64.4% of those injuries affected football players, and that 53.5% were serious but the players experienced some level of recovery, and 27.7% were fatal.
There are many opposing views about whether children, at any age, should be allowed to play contact sports.
Ways to Prevent Injuries
In any contact sports, there are best practices that players should follow to reduce the likelihood of sustaining serious or potentially catastrophic injuries. The standard preventative practices include:
- Wearing appropriate and proper-fitting protective gear, such as football pads and helmets;
- Conditioning and strengthening muscles with exercises during team practices;
- Increasing flexibility with stretching exercises before and after games;
- Taking breaks during practices and games;
- Using proper forms and techniques;
- Halting activity when pain is experienced; and
- Allowing adequate time for the body to recover from strenuous activity.
Other potential ways to help reduce the occurrence of spinal cord injuries may be to develop improved safety efforts and emergency medical planning. These efforts may help to ensure proper game techniques are used during sports practices and games to avoid injuries, as well as ensure that qualified medical personnel are on-site at practices and games to deal with any catastrophic and severe injuries.
Spinal cord injuries change lives. However, some SCI survivors, like Hayden Schaumburg, truly try to make the most of their recovery and lives post-injury.
