Health issues in American football consist of a large number of health risks associated with participation in sports. Injuries are relatively common in American football, because of their nature as a full contact game. Injuries occur during practice and games. Several factors can affect the frequency of injuries: epidemiological studies have shown older players can be at greater risk, while experienced equipment and trainers can reduce the risk of injury. Common injuries include strains, sprains, fractures, dislocations, and concussions. Concussions have become a concern, as they increase the risk of mental illness such as dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In individual leagues such as the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), public injury reports are published which contain all injured players in one team, their injuries and the status of each player's match.
Severe injury - defined as a serious injury to the spine, spinal cord, or brain - and death rarely occurs in football; both have become less common since the 1970s, although a small number of them still occur each year. Concussions and severe injuries can be caused by helmet-to-helmet collisions and clashes against other players' ground or knees; in other cases, they can be caused by players suffering from head injuries back playing, which can put players at risk of suffering severe injuries. Despite the catastrophic injury decline, a large number of NFL players have reported major injuries and shortened careers since the 1970s, partly due to the increasing size and speed of players and the use of synthetic grass.
In many cases, the injuries he suffered while playing can cause long-term damage. In addition to the neurological damage caused by a blow to the head, injuries in the middle and lower body may force the player to retire or cause disruption to subsequent life. Various methods have been used to reduce injuries in football, including rule changes such as removal of large wedge formations; the sharp decline in cervical spine injuries since the 1970s has been attributed to changes in rules that alter blocking and coping techniques. Recently, a change of rules to protect players from head injuries has been instituted. Equipment such as helmets and football pads are used to give players a level of protection from injuries, while other factors such as cleat size are used to minimize the risk of injury due to field conditions.
Video Health issues in American football
Injuries
Because American football is a sport full of contact, head injuries are relatively common. According to the San Francisco Spine Institute at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California, up to 1.5 million young men participate in football every year, and there are about 1.2 million football-related injuries per year. An estimated 51% of injuries occur during the training session, while 49% occur elsewhere. Injuries are almost 5 times more likely to occur during a contact training session than a controlled non-contact session. Older players have the greatest risk of injury, while teams with experienced trainers and more assistant coaches are less likely to get injured. Fifty percent of injuries occur in the lower extremities (with knee injuries alone accounting for about 36% of all injuries) and 30% occurring in the upper limb.
The most common types of injuries are strains, sprains, bruises, fractures, dislocations, and concussions. According to the NFL Physicians Society, the most common injuries in football are "concussions, blunt injuries in the chest such as cardiac contusions, pulmonary contusions, broken ribs, stomach ulcers, lecetation of the spleen and kidney injury." Orthopedic injuries to the knee, leg, ankle, shoulder, neck and back are also common, as are muscle strains to the hamstrings, quads, calves and abdomen.
Concussions are very alarming, as recurrent concussions may increase a person's future risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and mental health problems such as dementia, Parkinson's disease, and depression. Concussions are often caused by helmet-to-helmet collisions, clashes to the ground or knees of other players, and upper body contact between opposing players. However, the helmet has prevented more serious injuries such as skull fractures. Cervical spinal injuries can be catastrophic, but have fallen sharply since the mid-1970s due to changes in regulation rules and improvements in exercise, equipment, and coaching.
Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are a problem in high school and professional football. The use of steroids has been associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal injury among players. Human growth hormone (HGH) is used by some players to improve performance, recover from injury, reduce aging, and lose weight. Although none of these uses are scientifically or legally proven, HGH places the user at risk of adverse side effects such as the onset of diabetes and adversely affects joints and organs such as the heart. However, there has been no research on the use of HGH or baseline hormone levels in NFL athletes. NFL players are regularly subjected to drug tests in accordance with two NFL substance policies. Players found using performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids, may face suspensions and other penalties. In 2014, the league did not test the use of HGH among players.
National Football League
Part of the injury report is common in the sports section of American newspapers, detailing injuries for each team and the amount of time each injured player is expected to exit. Injury reports are made to prevent gamblers from getting inside information about injuries from players, and as a result, NFL teams must report on the status of injured players on schedules set during the season. Description of standard severity level "out" (will not play in upcoming games); "doubtful" (25% chance of playing); "questionable" (50% chance of playing); or "possibilities" (75% chance of playing). Teams have been known to downplay, exaggerate or overly detail their team injuries in an attempt to confuse or mislead their upcoming opponents. Injured players can be placed on one of several injured lists, including the Physical Nothing List (PUP). If a player is injured in an event outside of a team game or training, or during a college practice before it is designed, he or she is eligible for a Nonfootball Injury list. Players who are severely injured and not expected to play for the rest of the season can be placed on the list of Injured Reserve (IR). These players are not counted within the limits of the team list.
College and high school soccer
According to the College Football Assistance Fund, more than 20,000 injuries occur from college football each year. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) maintains a list of injuries similar to those used by the NFL - injured players listed as "Out", "Doubtful", "Questionable" or "Probable" but suspended players are also included on the list. College players are limited to four years of eligibility, but can receive a medical redshirt allowing them to play another year if they suffer a season-ending injury and do not play in more than 30% of the match this season.
Brain injury
In 1994, the NFL established the Traumatic Brain Injury Committee (MTBI), which was later replaced by the Head, Neck and Spine Committees, to study concussions and brain injuries to professional football players. His committees and leadership, including Ira Casson and Elliot Pellman, were criticized by former players for stating that there is not enough research to determine whether concussions cause permanent brain injury. Pellman, who served as chairman of the committee from 1994 to 2007, received much criticism because he had no background in neurology and the research he published about brain injury did not match the findings of independent scientists. In 2009, the NFL-assigned report showed an increased incidence of memory loss diagnosis and dementia among professional retired football players when compared with the general population. The study also shows that these symptoms are associated with a concussion effect. However, the NFL and the report's researchers themselves questioned the reliability of some of the data collection methods used by the study, including the fact that research was conducted over the telephone. That same year, the committee admitted for the first time a concussion could cause long-term brain injury. The Congressional hearing in October 2009, as well as pressure from the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), led to improvements in concussion policy in November and December of that year.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the issue of head injuries in professional football during the talks held on Nov. 15, 2012 at the Harvard School of Public Health. In the talks, he highlighted the NFL's efforts to reduce head injuries by enacting such actions as punishing a shot to the head, assessing a better concussion on the side, and removing players from the game after they were diagnosed or suspected of suffering a concussion. He also discussed the need for increased research on brain injury and long-term disruption, and called for cultural change in the league, saying that players should be more willing to acknowledge their injuries to medical staff. In September 2012, the league pledged a $ 30 million donation to the National Institutes of Health to examine the relationship between brain injury and long-term mental health problems. Beginning in 2012 the NFL is the subject of several lawsuits initiated by former players who allege that the league withholds information and misleads players about the potential long-term impact of head injury. Six of the lawsuits are approved for joint trial. In August 2013 the NFL reached a settlement with more than 4,500 former players, agreed to pay $ 765 million to be used to pay for medical examinations for former NFL players and for research and education purposes. In addition, the funds will also be used to compensate for former players who are determined to have significant cognitive impairments.
Concussions are also a problem outside of professional football. In a 2010 study by Purdue University and Indiana University, an estimated 43,000 to 67,000 soccer players suffered concussions each season. However, due to many unreported injuries, the actual amount could exceed 100,000. Research, "Decreased Cognitive-Functional Disorder on High School Football Without Clinical Diagnosis", published in 2013 in the Journal of Neurotrauma and observed 21 high school players throughout the season; it's established that even players who will not be diagnosed with concussions based on their symptoms can show significant disruption through MRI and verbal or cognitive tests, which indicate that the current tests used on the sideline to assess concussions may be inadequate. A 2013 study by the National Academy of Sciences found that the level of concussion in college exceeded them in other sports, and that high school players had twice the risk of suffering concussions as college players. The study found that, as reported by athletic trainers, college football players retain a 6.3 concussion for every 10,000 athletic exposures (meaning individual exercises or games), and the rate for high school soccer players is 11.2. The rate of a high school concussion almost doubled from the next highest sport, lacrosse. The study, funded by a $ 75,000 donation from the NFL to the Centers for Disease Control, also found that there is no evidence that newer helmet technologies reduce the risk of concussion.
Severe injuries and fatalities
Severe injuries are not common in American football. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, there are 468 non-fatal injuries that result in permanent neurological damage in all high school sports in the United States from 1982 to 2011. In football, catastrophic injuries are rare but very damaging when they occur. The rate of catastrophic head injury has remained low since the introduction of modern football helmets in the 1970s, but the injury rate is much higher at the secondary school level than the college level. A 2007 study found that, in high school and college football, there was an average of 7.23 catastrophic head injuries per year: there were 0.67 injuries per 100,000 high school players and 0.21 injuries per 100,000 college players. During the 13-year period from September 1989 to June 2002, there were 94 players who suffered a catastrophic head injury - 8 of these players died from injury, 46 permanent neurological damage, and 36 experienced full recovery. Fifty-nine percent of these players have a history of head injuries, 71% of them occur in the same season as their injury, and most are injuries resulting from overcome or tackle. The study recommends that players who exhibit neurologic symptoms should be very reluctant to return to play.
Medical costs for catastrophic injuries can be very high - 2011 estimates from the National Center for Spinal Injury Statistics note that the first year costs of someone who has high tetraplegia, injuries that result in partial or total loss of use in all limbs are USD $ 1,044,097, with the following years costing $ 181,328. Many high schools in the United States require students to have an insurance policy, while others offer additional insurance to help offset costs; some schools also asked the booster to help families pay for this policy.
Massive injuries have suffered a steady decline since the 1960s, in part because of regulations that prohibit dangerous contact forms such as spears, face handling and blocking buttocks. However, a catastrophic injury is still caused by a helmet-to-helmet collision, also when players hit their heads against the opponent's knee or ground player. Returning to play after suffering a head injury at the start of the game also puts players at risk of more severe injuries. Many countries require teams to prevent players who have shown signs of a concussion from returning to the game, while other measures such as the enforcement of more aggressive safety rules and better conditions of neck muscles have been suggested. In addition, coaches are urged to train players to block with their shoulders rather than their heads.
Death in football is rare. A 2013 study of high school and college football players divided the victims into two types: direct death, defined as caused by "trauma from participation in sports that resulted in brain injury, cervical fracture, or intra-abdominal injury" and death direct, defined as resulting from external factors such as "heart failure, heat disease, sickle cell trait [SCT], asthma, or pulmonary embolism". The study found that, on average, there were 4 direct deaths and 8.2 indirect victims among high school and college players per year, making indirect deaths more than twice as frequent as direct deaths.
Maps Health issues in American football
Effects on post-career life
In addition to direct health effects, some of the injuries suffered during a player's career can have an effect that extends to their post-career life. A cohort mortality study by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) examined 3,349 NFL players who played at least five full seasons from 1959 to 1988. Findings from this study show that, compared to typical American men, NFL Players live is longer on average but has about three times the risk of death associated with neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, the risk of death from Alzheimer's disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is approximately four times higher among former players than the average American male. The study also compared the risk of death from speed players (quarterback, back run, fullback, wide receiver, tight end, linebacker, cornerbacks, and safeties) and nonspeed players (offensive and defensive linemen), with the findings suggesting that the number is greater than Death is due to a neurodegenerative disorder in the player's speed from a nonspeed player. This may be due to the increasing momentum of the collision of the speed players.
Beyond the neurodegenerative disorder, physical injuries sustained during a career can have adverse effects on a post-career life. A joint 1990 survey of NFLPA and Ball State University found that 65% of the players surveyed suffered major injuries (defined as the one that caused them to lose at least eight games): among players who played before 1959 this number was 42% but jumped to 72% among those who played in the 1980s. In addition, about 50% of players who had played in the 1970s and 1980s reported that they retired due to injury, compared with only 32% of those who played before 1959. Two-thirds of players reported that their injuries limited their ability to engage in recreational and sports activities in retirement, while half say their injuries degrade their ability to do manual labor. A follow-up survey in 1994 found that 47% of recipients reported experiencing arthritis. These reports have been linked to several factors, including increased use of synthetic grass and increased player size and speed. Dr James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon noted, said that "athletes are bigger, stronger and run faster, and they tear off the knees from cuts, turning directions on a dime". Andrews also noted an increase in the number of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, which are attributed to the size of modern players.
Prevention
Injuries have always been a huge part of American Football, and various methods have been used historically and in modern times to prevent them. One method that has been used to prevent injuries is changing the rules of sport. The earliest example of this was the abolition of mass formations such as the flying wedge in the early 1900s, due to the large number of serious injuries caused by the formation. Small wedges consisting of three, four, or five players are often used on kickoff returns before wedges are limited to two or fewer players in 2009 by the NFL; a similar regulation was adopted by the NCAA a year later. The sharp decline in the number of catastrophic cervical spine injuries since the mid-1970s has been partially credited for managing modified changes in handling and blocking techniques. With increasing awareness of the effects of long-term concussions, the NFL has issued a law prohibiting the targeting of players "without defenses" over the shoulders, requiring a game to be blown to death when runners lose their helmets, and place a tighter boundary. for the ability of players who experience a concussion to return to play.
Similarly modern equipment is developed to reduce injury. Football helmets, though scapegoat concussions, serve as effective protection against more dangerous injuries such as skull fractures. The modern helmet traces its roots back to the leather helmet used by football players in the early 1900s to protect themselves from head injuries. Helmets then evolved to be made of hard plastic, and face hoods were added to protect players from sustained facial injuries. Many players also use mouth protective to prevent injury to their teeth and tongue; at some level, such as the NCAA, the use of a mouth protector is mandatory. Football players wear a number of pads to protect themselves - shoulder pads are the most important pads, protects the shoulders and breastbone, but thigh pads, hip pads, tail bearings, and knee pads are also used. Many quarterbacks wear bulletproof jackets to protect their ribs. Cleats come in a number of lengths, with players choosing cleats for use on a playing field - on synthetic grass, for example, players prefer a shorter cleat to prevent their feet from digging into the ground and risking injury, while longer cleats are commonly used on a wet or slippery field to provide better traction. Athletic cups are usually not used at a professional level, because athletic cups tend to make it harder to move and there is unwritten code amongst players not to target the groin area. In addition, research has shown that proper conditioning techniques, fitness routines and exercise routines, as well as high-quality equipment and training, can reduce the risk of injury among players.
See also
- Concussion in American football
- List of athletes who died during their careers
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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