By: Cynthia Wang
American football is an extremely popular sport in the Western world, well loved by fans for its thrill and physicality. But for professional NFL athletes, being tackled on a daily basis serves to be extremely dangerous.
Football players must be particularly careful about their cognitive health. They can easily suffer brain damage from being hit on the head, especially over a long period of time. In fact, during the 2022 regular season, the NFL recorded 149 concussions across 271 games. This was an 18% rise from 2021, when there were only 126 concussions across 272 games.
Furthermore, a study conducted in 2018 by Boston University found that 91% of the NFL players studied suffered from the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
According to Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University (BU) CTE Center and chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System, “Every 2.6 years of football at any level doubles your risk for CTE, and the longer you play and the higher level that you play, the greater your risk.”
Fortunately, as awareness over athletes’ health is increasing, various precautions are being put into place to protect football players. As Luke Kuechly, junior football coach and former linebacker for the California Panthers, explains, “There’s a very stringent return to play policy, No. 1. No. 2, there’s independent spotters at every game, at every stadium, and there’s multiple ones that their sole job is to watch the game to see if anybody gets hit or acts abnormal.”
Kuechly, who despite having suffered at least three documented concussions throughout his football career continues to embrace the sport, encourages parents to consider both the risks and the rewards of playing football. He says, “I tell a lot of people: ‘Hey, you do what you think is best for your child. You’re their parent. You ultimately know what’s best for them.’ I just talk about the positives, whether it’s what I’ve learned about toughness, how to fight through things, how to build relationships, the people that I’ve met through the game, the experiences I’ve had with the game.”