FOOTBALL AND CONCUSSIONS.........A REAL AND PRESENT DANGER
Concussions in the National Football League[edit]
See also: list of NFL players with post-concussion syndrome
First discovered in 800 B.C. concussion, named after the Roman word concussed, is one of the greatest causes of death among football players. They occur when the head is subject to a large impact force, resulting in a minor brain injury.
The concern with concussions is not something that has recently been an issue. This has been a rising concern since the early 1900s. In 1906, a Harvard student athlete died from a head injury and the team doctors released a report titled “The Physical Aspect of American Football” in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal describing the type, severity and number of injuries the team sustained in the 1905 season.[SUP][1]
[/SUP]
On September 30, 2014, researchers with Boston University announced that in autopsies of 79 brains of former NFL players, 76 had tested positive for CTE.[SUP][2]
[/SUP]
As of November 2016, 90 of 94 former National Football League (NFL) had been diagnosed post-mortem with CTE.[SUP][3][/SUP] The NFL first began to review the subject formally in 1994, then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue approved the creation of the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee with the stated goal of studying the effects of concussions and sub-concussive injury in NFL players. Tagliabue appointed rheumatologist Elliot Pellman to chair the committee.[SUP][4][/SUP] Pellman's appointment was met with harsh criticism, because he is not a neurologist or neuropsychologist and often admitted ignorance about head injuries.[SUP][4][/SUP] The concussion data collected by the league from 1996 to 2001 has been shown to understate the actual number of diagnosed concussions by ten percent. The league legal representation has been shown to have had ties to the tobacco industry legal defense.[SUP][5]
The same year, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported a statistically significant increase in the risk of neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in retired football players, which furthered public knowledge about the risk of long-term neurocognitive disease related to repeated head impacts.[SUP][6][/SUP] Despite the NIOSH study, Pellman and the MTBI Committee drew their own conclusions that continued to contradict these findings and those of other organizations. Biomechanical engineers and neurosurgeons informed the Committee that the helmet safety standard at that time was insufficient to minimize the risk of concussions.[SUP][7
AT
THE COLLEGE LEVEL:
[/SUP][/SUP]Studies show magnitude of college football's concussion problem...
Banned for concussions, college football players still recruited...
Six Concussion Suits Are Filed Against Colleges and N.C.A.A. -...
AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL:
High School Football Players Face Bigger Concussion Risk - PBS
High School Football: The Changing Concussion Climate | The ...
Doctors Debate If High School Football Should Be Banned Due to...
The Silent Danger of High School Football - EarQ
And many, many more Reports/Studies can be found with a simple Search.
No, I am not in favor of extending the Playoff Format for NCAA Division 1 College Football. If anything, I believe the Regular Season should be shortened back to the 10 Game Schedule it was at for many, many years...and they could keep the Bowl Games, as well as the current 4 Team Playoff System.
At the least, this would reduce the chances somewhat of a player suffering a life changing and possibly ending injury. But, then, everyone else would lost TONS OF MONEY!
Concussions in the National Football League[edit]
See also: list of NFL players with post-concussion syndrome
First discovered in 800 B.C. concussion, named after the Roman word concussed, is one of the greatest causes of death among football players. They occur when the head is subject to a large impact force, resulting in a minor brain injury.
The concern with concussions is not something that has recently been an issue. This has been a rising concern since the early 1900s. In 1906, a Harvard student athlete died from a head injury and the team doctors released a report titled “The Physical Aspect of American Football” in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal describing the type, severity and number of injuries the team sustained in the 1905 season.[SUP][1]
[/SUP]
On September 30, 2014, researchers with Boston University announced that in autopsies of 79 brains of former NFL players, 76 had tested positive for CTE.[SUP][2]
[/SUP]
As of November 2016, 90 of 94 former National Football League (NFL) had been diagnosed post-mortem with CTE.[SUP][3][/SUP] The NFL first began to review the subject formally in 1994, then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue approved the creation of the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee with the stated goal of studying the effects of concussions and sub-concussive injury in NFL players. Tagliabue appointed rheumatologist Elliot Pellman to chair the committee.[SUP][4][/SUP] Pellman's appointment was met with harsh criticism, because he is not a neurologist or neuropsychologist and often admitted ignorance about head injuries.[SUP][4][/SUP] The concussion data collected by the league from 1996 to 2001 has been shown to understate the actual number of diagnosed concussions by ten percent. The league legal representation has been shown to have had ties to the tobacco industry legal defense.[SUP][5]
The same year, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported a statistically significant increase in the risk of neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in retired football players, which furthered public knowledge about the risk of long-term neurocognitive disease related to repeated head impacts.[SUP][6][/SUP] Despite the NIOSH study, Pellman and the MTBI Committee drew their own conclusions that continued to contradict these findings and those of other organizations. Biomechanical engineers and neurosurgeons informed the Committee that the helmet safety standard at that time was insufficient to minimize the risk of concussions.[SUP][7
AT
THE COLLEGE LEVEL:
[/SUP][/SUP]Studies show magnitude of college football's concussion problem...
Banned for concussions, college football players still recruited...
Six Concussion Suits Are Filed Against Colleges and N.C.A.A. -...
AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL:
High School Football Players Face Bigger Concussion Risk - PBS
High School Football: The Changing Concussion Climate | The ...
Doctors Debate If High School Football Should Be Banned Due to...
The Silent Danger of High School Football - EarQ
And many, many more Reports/Studies can be found with a simple Search.
No, I am not in favor of extending the Playoff Format for NCAA Division 1 College Football. If anything, I believe the Regular Season should be shortened back to the 10 Game Schedule it was at for many, many years...and they could keep the Bowl Games, as well as the current 4 Team Playoff System.
At the least, this would reduce the chances somewhat of a player suffering a life changing and possibly ending injury. But, then, everyone else would lost TONS OF MONEY!
: why do you call it Football if you basically never kick the ball?