Purdue doing great work

[ElectricBoogaloo 4,319]

We take a lot of shots at Purdue (mostly good natured sports talk) but I think it's important to acknowledge some of the work they're doing regarding brain trauma, sub-concussive hits, etc. as it relates to football.

 

If you guys have any kids playing football at any level, the studies in the link below are great reads. Although they focus almost exclusively on high school athletes, I think its good to know for any level.

 

http://www.purdue.edu/research/png/research.php

[JSHoosier 22,240]

I pretty well always support ways to try and make the game safer (although some of the rules are ridiculous).  I'm not sure how much can be done to make helmets more concussion protective though, at the end of the day concussion prevention was never the intention of a football helmet.

[Hovadipo 61,568]

[quote name="JSHoosier" post="78441" timestamp="1407961873"]I pretty well always support ways to try and make the game safer (although some of the rules are ridiculous). I'm not sure how much can be done to make helmets more concussion protective though, at the end of the day concussion prevention was never the intention of a football helmet.[/quote]

I wore a Xenith helmet my senior year of football. Xenith is supposed to be top of the line concussion proof equipment. I had more concussions (undiagnosed because I'M A MAN) in that helmet than I did in any helmet I had worn for the previous 8 seasons combined. I think helmets are maxed out on potential. Tackling form, not technology, prevents concussions for sure.


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[JSHoosier 22,240]

I wore a Xenith helmet my senior year of football. Xenith is supposed to be top of the line concussion proof equipment. I had more concussions (undiagnosed because I'M A MAN) in that helmet than I did in any helmet I had worn for the previous 8 seasons combined. I think helmets are maxed out on potential. Tackling form, not technology, prevents concussions for sure.


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Yeah, I read article once that looked at helmets and it concluded for a helmet to be real effective in preventing concussions it'd be so big and bulky that no one would wear it.

 

Concussion prevention was never their purpose either, preventing injuries like fractured skulls was.  I heard of a group trying to get the helmet outlawed because they argued that it gave players a false sense of invincibility leading to harder hitting, while it's an interesting premise I can't support it at all because if you take away the helmet the injuries it was intended to prevent will return.

 

They can work with helmets and try and make them better, but like you said the best thing they can do is teach proper tackling.

[Dalton26 17,208]

[quote name="Hovadipo" post="78443" timestamp="1407962223"] Tackling form, not technology, prevents concussions for sure.


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This. Concussions will happen but a good majority would be stopped if people would use the correct form instead of always leading with their head.


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[Hovadipo 61,568]

[quote name="JSHoosier" post="78447" timestamp="1407962882"]Yeah, I read article once that looked at helmets and it concluded for a helmet to be real effective in preventing concussions it'd be so big and bulky that no one would wear it.

Concussion prevention was never their purpose either, preventing injuries like fractured skulls was. I heard of a group trying to get the helmet outlawed because they argued that it gave players a false sense of invincibility leading to harder hitting, while it's an interesting premise I can't support it at all because if you take away the helmet the injuries it was intended to prevent will return.

They can work with helmets and try and make them better, but like you said the best thing they can do is teach proper tackling.[/quote]

I don't think it will ever happen, but I think taking away helmets could be a good thing. Don't quote me on this, but I think I read that concussions in rugby are nearly unheard of. And those guys are still going at each other harder than football olayers. Like I said, probably won't happen, but in my opinion, I think it would work. But then if you take away helmets, you would almost surely have to take away shoulder pads. They will get it figured out, but people that say football won't exist in 20 years are nuts.


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[Josh 13,250]

 I had more concussions (undiagnosed because I'M A MAN) in that helmet than I did in any helmet I had worn for the previous 8 seasons combined.

 

This explains so much.   :sarcastichand: 

[Hovadipo 61,568]

[quote name="Josh" post="78454" timestamp="1407965803"]This explains so much. :sarcastichand:[size=4] [/size][/quote]

Hey when are you making your thread to rant about me? I'm ready for it.


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[Rayl 527]

I don't think it will ever happen, but I think taking away helmets could be a good thing. Don't quote me on this, but I think I read that concussions in rugby are nearly unheard of. And those guys are still going at each other harder than football olayers. Like I said, probably won't happen, but in my opinion, I think it would work. But then if you take away helmets, you would almost surely have to take away shoulder pads. They will get it figured out, but people that say football won't exist in 20 years are nuts.


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Although they have a common origin, football is not rugby. Before modern helmets, approximately 20 people died from head injuries every year playing football. That was in the late '60s. With players being so much bigger and stronger today, you could increase the number of yearly deaths quite a bit without helmets. And these weren't slow death concussion type injuries. These were hit hard on the head and dead on the field injuries. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2012/A-Brief-History-of-Football-Head-Injuries-and-a-Look-Towards-the-Future/

[Hovadipo 61,568]

[quote name="Rayl" post="78459" timestamp="1407969405"]Although they have a common origin, football is not rugby. Before modern helmets, approximately 20 people died from head injuries every year playing football. That was in the late '60s. With players being so much bigger and stronger today, you could increase the number of yearly deaths quite a bit without helmets. And these weren't slow death concussion type injuries. These were hit hard on the head and dead on the field injuries. [url="http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2012/A-Brief-History-of-Football-Head-Injuries-and-a-Look-Towards-the-Future/"]http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2012/A-Brief-History-of-Football-Head-Injuries-and-a-Look-Towards-the-Future/[/url][/quote]

Not saying you're wrong, because I agree with a lot you're saying, but I don't understand why rugby players for the most part have extremely good tackling form and that couldn't be transferred over to football. It wouldn't be an instant transition into perfect tackling, no head injury football, but I think it could eventually get close to that. Just everything that goes along with taking out helmets seems impossible, that's why I don't see it happening. Way too big of a change to the sport. But I also don't see a lot of change happening when it comes to head injuries until there is a huge change to the sport. I just don't know what that change might be.


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[Rayl 527]

Not saying you're wrong, because I agree with a lot you're saying, but I don't understand why rugby players for the most part have extremely good tackling form and that couldn't be transferred over to football. It wouldn't be an instant transition into perfect tackling, no head injury football, but I think it could eventually get close to that. Just everything that goes along with taking out helmets seems impossible, that's why I don't see it happening. Way too big of a change to the sport. But I also don't see a lot of change happening when it comes to head injuries until there is a huge change to the sport. I just don't know what that change might be.


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Well, don't be so certain that Rugby is perfectly safe:

 

 

In rugby it is spinal injuries from scrums that are the most dangerous (110 rugby players in Britain have been paralysed by playing the game). Allyson Pollock, a professor of public health, says that she is very worried about amateur rugby players, and especially children. Coaches, she says, are not properly trained to look out for the signs of concussion or taught how to deal with it – although it can have serious problems for children's learning and cognitive functions. She would like to see large-scale studies of the effects of such injuries, and says the sport establishment needs to think carefully about tackles. In 2010, she called for scrums to be banned after a study found that 190 rugby matches at Scottish schools resulted in 37 injuries. "Most children are not going to go professional, so why are their bodies being mauled and mashed and battered?"

 

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2013/jan/28/american-football-rugby-more-dangerous

 

Obviously, something does need to change or football will become more and more of a niche sport, at least in terms of those willing to play it. Like you, I don't know what the answer is.

[ElectricBoogaloo 4,319]

I pretty well always support ways to try and make the game safer (although some of the rules are ridiculous).  I'm not sure how much can be done to make helmets more concussion protective though, at the end of the day concussion prevention was never the intention of a football helmet.

 

The helmet point is the focus of at least a couple of these studies. 

 

Football helmet manufacturers like to claim that their helmet reduces the risk of concussion. In reality, no helmet can prevent the brain from jostling around inside your cranium.

 

Many people in football will try to lie to you about the risk to your kid. Helmet manufacturers will tell you their equipment prevents brain injury. Coaches will tell you they have "the best equipment", knowingly or unknowingly repeating the false advertising of equipment makers. Coaches will also tell you that they teach "safe" tackling technique, which may be safer in regards to catastrophic injury but definitely not safer for repetitive brain injury.

 

It's a violent game and we all love it. That being said, if I ever have a son he won't be playing it.