Concussions in the NHL and NFL
Without question, hockey and football are the most aggressive and violent of American sports. Ridiculously hard hits are not just a side-effect, they are a primary feature of these sports. Muscles and ligaments are torn, bones are broken, and a player is regarded for how quickly he is able to return to play.
The last couple years have seen a huge increase in awareness of the effects of concussions. Players are “protected” by hard foam cushions, but brain trauma is caused by acceleration and jerk (rate of change of acceleration), so as long as hits are sudden, players will suffer concussions. In fact, the clattering of linemen bashing their heads together, even over the tiny distance they’ve been moving, does more cumulative damage than any other activity in sport. Hitting is a more marginal part of hockey, but are no less destructive. They tend to happen extremely fast and plexiglass and ice are not forgiving surfaces.
In both sports, the body count is starting to pile up. Cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – George Carlin would have had something to say about such a euphemistic moniker – are increasingly common. CTE causes drastically shorter life expectancy (NFL linemen die 18 years sooner than the average man, Bob Probert was only 45) as well as serious depression (Dave Duerson, Marc Savard) .
The question cannot be ignored any longer. How do we protect athletes from the dangers inherent in their sport?
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