Football creates a lot of team building, and has a lot of other attributes, however it also results in the most catastrophic injuries than any other sport tracked by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, and appears to be much more dangerous at the high school level than the college level.
“While catastrophic head injuries such as brain bleeding and swelling are rare, a study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found its incidence is significantly higher at the high school level than the college level. High school football players have more than three times the risk of a catastrophic head injury than their college peers,” says lead author, Barry P. Boden, M.D., from the Orthopedic Center in Rockville, Md., and adjunct associate professor at the Uniform Services University of the Health Science in Bethesda, Md., in Science Daily.
Further, the researchers found a high percentage of high school football players who had minor symptoms of neurologic injury from a previous head injury (such as a concussion) at the time of the catastrophic injury. Further points found in the study included:
- 81 percent of the injuries were caused by helmet to helmet collisions and helmet to body collisions
- 59 percent of those injured had a history of previous head injury (71 percent of which occurred during the same season)
- 40 percent of injured athletes were playing with residual neurologic symptoms from a prior head injury
- Of the 94 catastrophic injuries reviewed, 9 percent result in death, 51 percent in permanent neurologic injuries, and 40 percent serious injuries with full recovery”
Why the increase in high school? Well, researchers think its the younger the brain, the more susceptible it is to injury. Also, college teams have way more practitioners and people watching for injuries, and many high school teams just don’t have these resources. Many kids are just taught to walk it off, or there is high pressure for them to get into college, so they have to play through injuries in order to get scholarships.
It’s also important to note, you don’t actually have to hit your head to have a concussion. In fact, the number 1 sport in general for concussions is women’s soccer. The quick movements of the head, and generally women have weaker necks than males.
What happens to the brain after an injury??
“In the event of a closed head injury, your brain collides with your skull, bruising brain tissue and tearing blood vessels. The rapid movement of your head may also stretch or injure your neuronal axons, which are nerve cells that link parts of your brain together, and link parts of your brain to other parts of your body. Such an injury tends to impact a wide range of functioning.
Brain injuries, whether mild or severe, all have the potential to impact the following:
- Cognitive skills (concentration, learning to skills, attention span)
- Speech and language skills
- Personality (lethargy, aggression, mood swings, dependent behaviors)
- Senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch)
If your child has experienced even a minor head injury, do not let them continue to play contact sports. Doing
so increases their risk of having a serious head injury.
For those who experienced a head injury long ago, researchers are realizing that the blow may long be forgotten, but the impacts could linger on.
For some, the head injury leads to irritability or depression, which turns into substance abuse. Others have a hard time juggling tasks throughout the day, and become disorganized, easily distracted or unable to hold a job.
In fact, according to the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), one study found that 40 percent of people hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury had at least one problem that still lingered one year later. Most frequently, this was:
- Improving memory and problem solving
- Managing stress and emotional upset
- Controlling their temper
- Improving their job skills”
What to Watch Out for if Your Child Has a Head Injury
If your child has a head injury while playing football or due to another circumstance, you should see either myself immediately, or if severe your doctor. “Even if it appears mild, the full extent of a head injury may not develop for days, so you should continue to watch closely for symptoms. Sometimes getting imaging is also really important. ” But cranial care combined with some other nutritional recommendations is key to helping decrease the inflammation on the brain, and prevent future problems.
I’m also looking for other things affecting you and your child’s health with a concussion. A developing brain does not do well with brain swelling. I will test neurologically how their entire body is functioning, to help facilitate the correct healing as soon as possible.
These are symptoms to watch for following a blow or indirect blow to the head:
Headaches
Lethargy
Balance
Nausea
Fatigue
Bad taste in mouth
Slurred speech
Ringing in ears
Neck pain
Anxiety
Irritability
Depression
Problems concentrating
Memory loss
Difficulty collecting thoughts
Trouble walking (balance)
Trouble sleeping
Dilated pupils
Drainage of bloody or clear fluids from nose or ears
Weakness or numbness in limbs
“If you notice any of the following, seek medical help immediately. Do not let your child participate in sports if they are showing signs of a head injury “The single most important piece of advice that I can give is to never let an athlete play football if he has any neurological symptoms whatsoever,” Dr. Boden told Science Daily. This could include amnesia, dizziness, headache, irritability, personality changes or any of the signs listed above. “Football is a very macho sport. Athletes are taught to play through pain,” Dr. Boden continued. “But concussions need to be taken seriously. Many of them are probably being overlooked at the high school level. These injured athletes are allowed to return to play before full recovery, leaving them susceptible to a more significant injury.”
I could not agree more! Concussions happen all the time, I see them in car accidents constantly and since our brain is the master controller, it should be the MAIN focus of protection with any activity.
Be careful with your little ones in these contact sports. More focus should be on strengthening the neck muscles, and other practices BEFORE entering into this type of sport. But, i can’t reiterate enough the importance of Cranial care. When you do this you can avoid so many symptoms on down the line.
http://articles.healthrealizations.com/SchippelChiropractic/2017/10/16/Study-Finds-Old-Forgotten-Head-Injuries-the-Source.aspx?SubscriberEmail=dr.rachelhamel@…