Head Trauma
 

Wasn't sure the best place to put this.

Just wondering if anyone has had second thoughts of letting their children/grandchildren play football.

I was listening to a multipart podcast on the Aaron Hernandez case. And while they did not make excuses for him being a murderer or try to blame it just on the injuries they did cover that his brain was scanned after he died and they found that he was level 3 of 4 on the scale they use. And this was a kid that had officially on had 2 concussions and was out of the game at 23.


Im not saying the game should be banned or anything as its personal choice at the end of the day. Just wondering how things are in the states with people pushing their kids into other sports?, stopping them playing tackle football etc.

Obviously there are lots of good things from playing sports and football.

Re: Head Trauma
 

Re: Head Trauma
 

I grew up with rugby, among other "European" sports, in France. I still remember some tough tackling. But the lack of body protection forces them to teach you how to properly tackle. I think the body armor of today gives players a false sense of invincibility.

Re: Head Trauma
 

The NFL does a lot of R&D on equipment. That's a big part of it but they never address excessive BMI. There are some linemen that could pass a military BMI test but many could not. Addressing that would bring the injuries down more IMO.

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You nailed it Smash! Rugby is a contact sport just like football. We teach proper tackling techniques and don't use our body as a weapon. Those football pads make you feel invincible but you're not.

Personally, I think todays tackling techniques in football is pure crap. You should tackle a man with your shoulders not your head. Seriously, who came up with the terrible idea of leading with your helmet to make a tackle? Sure. You pull your head down to you shoulder pads but you are still leading with your head, which by the way, holds your brain!

I had multiple concussions when I first started playing rugby. But when I learned how to tackle I haven't had one since.

Re: Head Trauma
 

I suffered 2 concussions between 2013-2015. Both were complete accidents, but the second one left me with a bit of brain damage that I still deal with frequently to this day. My wife could explain it better since she has had to bear witness to me over the years and deal with me.

From my personal experience, I cannot imagine what former and current players go through from CTE.

We've all seen games with obvious concussed players and how they just look completely out of it. Brett Favre had a playoff game some time in the mid 2000's where I believe he was concussed very early and had a horrible game. It was the wildcard game vs Minnesota from 2004 or 2005. He took some big hits early and was just not the same after that, leading to throwing 4 or 5 interceptions.

One former player's problems with head trauma that really disturbed me on a personal level was Junior Seau. Anyone who watched him through his career knows he was one of the best inside LBs of his era and of all time. His suicide is still haunting to this day.

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100% agree with this.

In the old eras there were players like Czonka and Earl Campbell that would just plow through players like they were a battering ram.

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Good points on correct tackling but from what the science reports its not really the tackling that causing CTE issues. Obviously you get some when a receiver is hit and flipped but most CTE seems to happen on the line. The reports I saw are saying that the order of most damage is

Linemen, both sides of the ball
Linebackers/fullbacks
Running backs
Receivers

Are we at a point when the linemen are just to big and to fast to play in the way they did 20/30 years ago.


Long term I think it really needs looking at.
College level especially where players are not paid and then thrown aside after they no longer play. That's why I brought the Hernandez case up, because he was obviously brain damage before he went pro.

Im a fan of football and combat sports but increasingly finding that effects of the sports for my pleasure are not sitting correctly with me. Once someone is a adult it's there choice and all good, I just wonder more and more how much damage is being done to children

Re: Head Trauma