New research suggests that concussions are comparable in magnitude and severity regardless of the age at which a football player sustains the injury, and the majority of concussions occur during practice, not games.
The research was designed to determine how concussions affected brain activity and development depending upon when the injury was sustained. For their study, researchers at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences tracked 120 football players between the ages of 7 and 18 over the course of two seasons. Players wore helmets equipped with six accelerometers, which measured the force, direction, and head position of the player at the moment of contact. Participants wore the equipment during every practice and game, and each session was videotaped to provide further evidence of the hits the players were inflicting and receiving.
“This is a basic study on how many times kids get hit in the head,” said Professor Stefan Duma, who runs the School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and oversaw the study. “The number of hits and magnitude was a lot higher than people would have estimated.”
Concussion Results
In addition to tracking the number of hits a player was subjected to throughout the course of the season, researchers also preformed an MRI brain scan on each player before and after the season, and in the event they sustained a concussion. Researchers found:
- 19 boys ages 7 and 8 absorbed 3,061 hits to the head over the course of two seasons.
- 60 percent of those hits came during practice.
- Players sustained an average of 9 hits per practice and 11 hits per game.
- A related study found that the average football player sustained 240 hits to the head throughout the entirety of the season.
- None of the 19 players were diagnosed with a concussion, but they absorbed 11 hits that measured at least 80g of force, which represents a heightened risk for a concussion.
“This study demonstrated that some head impacts at this level are similar in magnitude to high-severity impacts at the high school and collegiate level,” the authors said.
Researchers noted that more than 25,000 football players between the ages of 8 and 19 go to the emergency room each year with concussion-like symptoms, but little research has been done to track head trauma below the high school level. Jon Butler, the executive director of the Pop Warner football program, said he was pleased the study was focused on young football players.
“There is a crying need for more research,” Butler said.
Dr. Silverman comments
I love football as much as the next guy. It is so much fun to watch, but the data is clear; too many head injuries.
I hope coaches take this data into consideration. The majority of head injuries occur in practice, which means coaches need to re-evaluate their practice habits. Coaches want to ensure their players are physically ready for the next game, but if they aren’t careful, they may lose their best players to injuries during practice.
Related source: New York Times