Two things cut concussions in youth football

  • Wearing padded helmets & using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly reduces the risk of head injury.
  • Younger players (under 14) may be more vulnerable to concussion than older ones.

A study which followed 20 members of a youth football team in New Jersey found that wearing padded helmets and using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly cut the chance of head injuries and concussion.

Players wore helmets equipped with a system that tracked the number and severity of impacts that each player sustained during their 20-practice, seven-game season. A tackling coach taught players and coaches safe methods for blocking, defeating blocks, and tackling that reduced head contact for both offensive and defensive players.

There were 817 recorded impacts during the season—an average of 41 impacts per player and about 20 minutes of full contact per practice—but no concussions.

What is the concussion risk in youth football?

A study which tracked six different youth football teams found that youth players (aged 9-14) are on average more susceptible to concussion at lower levels of acceleration than high school and collegiate players are.

In high school and college players, the average concussive impact is associated with a head acceleration around 102 g, with similar values for pro athletes. In youth players, the study found, the average concussive impact was associated with a head acceleration of only 62 g. The rotational acceleration values associated with concussion were similarly reduced, from 4,412 rad/s2 in adults to 2,609 rad/s2 in youth players.

Despite that heightened susceptibility, concussions in youth football are relatively rare, as younger, lighter players collide with less force than adult athletes.

You can find guidelines for concussion management for children at https://www.canchild.ca/en/diagnoses/brain-injury-concussion/brain-injury-resources

https://www.futurity.org/youth-football-helmets-tackling-concussions-2296562/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/vt-spt012120.php

Reference: 

Robert F Heary, MD, Neil Majmundar, MD, Roxanne Nagurka, BA, Is Youth Football Safe? An Analysis of Youth Football Head Impact Data, Neurosurgery, Volume 87, Issue 2, August 2020, Pages 377–382, https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyz563

Campolettano, E.T., Gellner, R.A., Smith, E.P. et al. Development of a Concussion Risk Function for a Youth Population Using Head Linear and Rotational Acceleration. Ann Biomed Eng 48, 92–103 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02382-2

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