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TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) have the potential to cause serious damage, regardless of what age the patient is. The NFL (national football league) has been less than willing over the years to show studies revealing the traumatic brain injuries that can result from football. Personally, my concern lies in the pediatric circle of medicine concerns with touch sports. More specifically, football for American children.
The south has a tradition of football (other areas in America love football but the south seems to have a particularly strong fondness for it). Children often start playing as young as six-nine years old. While these young children are often no heavier than fifty to seventy-five pounds, as they get older and hit puberty, they start to put on their “adult weight” and muscle, especially if they have joined a football club in school or the school football team in middle school and high school (roughly ages 13–18). This is when things start to get very dangerous.
No matter the technique, no matter how much armor is put on, human bodies are not built to run into another 200+ pounds (90+ kg) without potentially serious injury. We don’t have bone density. We don’t have the anatomy or physiology for it.
While there are not many studies right now, studies are starting to show definite brain anatomy changes in young children…
