It's Not Just Football

When the Ivy League announced in the summer of 2011 that it would limit contact

in football practices to minimize head trauma in athletes, the move was

unprecedented. Since then, concerns about the long-term effects of concussions

have bubbled to the surface of public discourse.

One other Division I conference has copied the Ivies so far, while other

conferences have made other rules changes, and started long-term research

projects on head trauma in athletes. Bolstered by the new rules, advocacy

groups like All Players United, increased media attention for head trauma in

the National Football League, and the deaths of football players who suffered

from head trauma, calls for action in the sport whose revenue helps keep

college athletic departments afloat have become impossible to ignore.

But as researchers and policy makers know, concussions aren't only a danger in

football—in fact, football isn't even the sport in which they present the

greatest risk, at least in terms of frequency.

Football may have the highest number of concussions by sport because of the

roster size, but many other sports see higher occurrence rates per athletic

exposure. According to a National Academy of Sciences report released last

month, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, ice hockey, and basketball

have all proved about as dangerous or more so than football in recent years.


“It’s hard to turn on ESPN and the news and listen for very long without

hearing something about concussions,” said James T. Eckner, an assistant

professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of

Michigan. “Almost every state now has a concussion law in place that mandates

athlete and coach education.”

Eckner is a co-investigator on the NCAA-funded National Sport Concussion

Outcomes Study, which will include more than 1,000 students in 11 sports at

three universities. While he and other experts agreed that there is a

disproportionate (but not exactly “bad”) emphasis on head trauma in football,

they also say intensified education efforts throughout all sports have helped

address that.

“We’ve seen concussions in golfers and we wouldn’t want to manage it any

differently,” Cohen said.

Last month, University of New Haven officials announced they would be the

latest (following at least two other institutions) to use impact sensors to

monitor head trauma in football players, and women's and men's soccer players.

Women's lacrosse is next on the list.

Even lawmakers are asking questions. Just last week, Reps. Charlie Dent and

Joyce Beatty held a panel on Capitol Hill on the effects of head trauma in

athletes. This summer, the politicians introduced the National Collegiate

Athletics Accountability Act, which would include a requirement for baseline

concussion testing of all athletes.