"Letting Kids Play Football is 'Definition of Child Abuse'"

The doctor credited with discovering chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) likens children playing football to abuse and says there is nothing anyone can do to make the game safer.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose life was dramatized in the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith, says the recent study from Boston confirms what can happen with repeated blows to the head.

The study published in the The Journal of the American Medical Association found that 110 of 111 former NFL players who had their brains donated for examination suffered from CTE.

“Someday there will be a district attorney who will prosecute for child abuse [on the football field], and it will succeed,” Omalu said during a New York Press Club talk. “It is the definition of child abuse.”

“If you play football, and if your child plays football, there is a 100 percent risk exposure. There is nothing like making football safer. That’s a misnomer.”

Source.

Is football killing America!?

As a big rugby fan (both but prefer Union), all I can say is; "dangerous contact sport is dangerous, news at 11."

That said, I think the problem is not so much any contact sport in general, but how it's played. Perhaps it's time to take a second, scientific look at the nature of the contact, and perhaps sacrifice a little spectacle for more safety?

Do we really need a doctor to tell us how harmful it is to get hit? That's like not knowing smoking is harmful until Mr. M.D. tells you such.

The issue I have (since it was touched on above) is how NFL players are now suing the league for their brain damage. For the record I don't care about nor watch professional sports but I small a rat with these players.

@Solaryellow:The main point atm though, is that while and adult can hit his head with a hammer if he wants too, we have the responsibility of properly educating our children and tell them that Football causes brain damage.

@Solaryellow: And children shouldn't participate. Play flag football if they must.

I don't think football is killing America, but it is very harmful to a small subset of the population.

I myself have a young son and I am very conflicted when it comes to football. He is only 4, but I can say right now that my wife and I will not let him play when he is older. I am conflicted because I am a hypocrite. I love watching football, and he already sits down and occasionally watches it with me. I have a lot of guilt for supporting the game as a fan because I know the long term damage it will cause for so many of the athletes who play.

I sometimes justify my fandom by saying the pro players are adults making their own decisions. It is also true that for many of these players football was their most feasible path to college and a better life. I think we will see an increase in the trend of players retiring younger, but I wonder if the damage has already been done by that point.

The thing is, I very much doubt that most of those pro players waited until they were adults to start playing. If they waited until they were adults, they never would have made it as professionals.

@MrGeezer: I absolutely agree with you, which is why I would never let my kid play to begin with.

Of course not

American handegg is fun , real football tho is the proper sport to play.

I agree, not for the reason given but because the game is dull as hell

Haven't read through the research and studies, but I'm curious to know if those donated brains were from players that had played before any equipment changes in the league.

Football players get paid enough to put their body on the line.

As for young children playing football, as long as it's not being forced on the kid, I don't think it should be a problem. I'm also not sure that children can generate the kind of force that grown men in the NFL create in collisions, in terms of enough force to cause injury.

Does your definition of children include those up to the age of seventeen years and three hundred sixty four days?

These kids have nothing else to live for.

@maverick5683: "which is why I would never let my kid play to begin with."

What if he grows to be 6'6 250 at 13-18, would you will prevent him from playing High School Football?

Pretty hard to argue against that. I don't mind contact sports but so much of football seems to revolve around players smashing into opponents as hard as possible and then that player yelling and pounding his chest like some barbarian who just dominated his opponent. It just seems too barbaric too me. Football is going to have to change because if not then this concussion problem will just get worse.

I know I certainly won't let my children play football. With that being said, I'm hesitant to call it abuse simply because I haven't put much time and effort into studying it's effect on a epidemiological level.

The thing is, it really is kind of hypocritical to be supportive of pro-football (as it currently exists) and against youth football. Pro football is built on youth football, nearly every single pro-player started out at a relatively early age or else they never would have become good enough to go professional. It's a bit like supporting a consumer electronics company for their affordable products, and being against inhumane child labor, when the entire reason the products are affordable in the first place is because inhumane child labor is used to make the products.

EDIT: And to slimster, I recall reading (I forget where) that many-to-most of the players brains that were examined were from players who were already showing possible signs of brain damage. That's kind of why their families elected to let their brains be examined in the first place. Granted, that doesn't necessarily mean that football is any less dangerous, but it does affect the conclusions that can be drawn from the results. If a large number of those examined brains were from players who were already showing possible signs of brain damage, then it's highly likely that the percentage of brain damage in the study is actually higher than the overall percentage of brain damage in long-term football players.

Yeah such child abuse, letting a kid play a sport, the f**king horror!!!!!!

That is nothing like football at all for 99% of the people that play it in America. The only people that do that are some pros and a few grandstanding pricks in college.

For most of us that played as kids (generally in high school), we are taught proper form which means:

A.) never "leaving the ground", this means you don't jump, lunge, or basically let your feet lose contact with the ground. This prevents those dramatic, high speed, unpredictable contacts. You actually lose a lot of control when you do this, and it's easy to dodge people when they jump at you.

B.) "wrapping up" your opponent with your arms to aid in taking him down.

C.) leading with your shoulders, not your head. In other words, when you go to make contact, it is your shoulder that makes contact with your opponent.

Your head will generally graze your opponent at worst if he is running at an odd angle simply because it's attached to your body (nothing we can do about that...), but since everything but your head is taking the brunt of his weight and momentum, your head is literally the last thing used to make a tackle. In my 4-year football career in high school I only saw one concussion, that's it; I saw a lot more from the kids skateboarding.

A proper tackle is one of those things that looks violent, but is ultimately harmless; it's generally over before you know it has happened, your equipment has protected you from pain, and all you feel is a bit of pressure from where people have pressed against you and when you hit the ground.

TL;DR: if you suffer from brain injury resulting from football, it's because you did it wrong. Blame yourself for not learning the form, blame your coaches for not coaching you, and blame your parents for not seeing how terrible you are or teaching you to be modest and not do "glory tackles"...don't blame the sport.

@mrbojangles25: LTR, this is about long term brain damage, not tackle injuries.

@mrbojangles25: Well I can only go by what I see which is mainly just the NFL because that is what I see when I watch it. It's the pros that lead by example and for the NFL it seems driven by the spectacle of the big hits.

I'm not saying that it's the ones who are initiating the hits who are getting concussed but mainly the ones who are taking the hits. Part of the problem is that equipment these days is so good that it's basically body armour and allows these people to go full on with little fear of other injuries. Unfortunately the brain can't be prevented from slamming around in the skull from these impacts and whiplash effects.

@MrGeezer: I'm fully aware that I am a hypocrite. I often question the morality of supporting football as a fan in any form. It's like a drug to me though, I enjoy watching it so much I can't imagine quitting it. So, I fully acknowledge my hypocrisy and am unlikely to quit watching.

@PSP107: I'd say that's unlikely knowing his genetic background, but if he did grow to be a large person my position is unlikely to change. If he were interested I would definitely encourage him to play other sports.

Do you believe everyone who plays football will eventually end up with brain damage or just those who make it to the professional or even semi pro leagues?

which come from improper tackles/contact.

Either way, there's this misconception that kids are taught to fly head first into opponents, and that is simply not true.

As for the NFL, it might be more about entertainment, so you do see more of these head-first or high speed tackles, but as others have said it starts when you are a kid.

Yeah, that is one thing I neglected to address is that the person being tackled can't really control how they go down all that much. But generally if they are tackled correctly, they go down correctly.

As you said, you can only go by what you see in the pros, but people need to realize that pros are freaks of nature; these people run faster than most people by a huge margin, they're stronger than most people by a huge margin...when they hit and are hit, they're going to get hurt by a huge margin.

Kids? Kids not so much. Go watch a high school game some day, it's not violent, it's not even what I would call exciting, but it is what the sport should be.

@mrbojangles25: That's fair and admittedly I don't watch or know what goes on with the younger and non-pro football leagues and how things are taught there so I shouldn't really speak on the issues with concussions in those levels.

I hate how Americans call Rugby, Football and foot ball soccer. Gets me wound up.

can't they redesign the helmets somewhat to add additional cushioning? i'm assuming a lot of the damage is from the rapid deceleration of the brain within the skull when it is hit. if say an additional layer of padding can be added, maybe an inch or more of softer cushioning on the outside of the helmet, designed to increase the time the head comes to a stop ( decrease deceleration forces ), could help in some cases..

Yes, we do. The issue is not like being unaware that smoking is harmful, its an organization hiding its findings on how harmful it is and then lying to people. Thinking it knocks 10 years off the end of your life, versus 40-50... people make very different choices based on this.

And NFL players are suing because for decades the NFL hid research on how devastating this is, they never warned or told players and they ignored the research on concussions, all to be able to throw players back in a game. You know what the average life span of an NFL player is? Depending on the year they start counting, some have it as low as 45.

So on to the topic.

I played football for about 9 years and was considering the NFL as a potential career. When i was a jr i tore my ACL and because of this i started speaking with ex-football players who had to deal with injury later on in life and i decided i didnt want to go that route. When you speak to people who are 30, who are hoping medical science can advance so that by 40 they are not completely immobile and in a wheel chair, it tends to change your view of things.. or it did mine at least. And luckily i was young enough to where i quickly and easily shifted to other interests and career destinations.

That aspect of football was a negative for me, i didnt want my son playing football because of the toll it takes on your body. But if he really wanted to (thankfully he has not) i would sign any sheet he need me to sign in order for him to play. Then all these studies on concussions and football started coming out, studies that were kept secret for a long time and after reading a handful of them, i would never allow him to play football. I would rather see him play baseball and do what they do (overuse steroids) before i see him play football. I dont know if i would consider it child abuse, its definitely a thin line and teetering between yes and no. But i would have no problems saying that its disregarding what is best for a child.

The problem I have is that the NFL (and this doctor) has inadvertently demonized the sport when the sport itself is innocent. You don't really hear about college players, high school players, having serious brain injuries. If you do play in college, that means your career is about 8 years (four in high school, four in college); that is a lot longer than the average professional career, yet somehow they seem to be graduating college with degrees, going off and getting jobs, and living fine lives to old ages. Meanwhile, the NFL...

...hid the data from the players so they could get back in the game...

...so the fans could watch their favorite players get back into the game more often...

...so they could make bigger, faster, harder plays/tackles/hits...

...to sell more tickets, season passes, and ads.

The problem is, if American football was the sport it was supposed to be (i.e. players were playing it safe), it would be as exciting as European football or rugby; that is to say, not very exciting. So the NFL hid the data, hired doctors and trainers they could pay and bribe and coax, and encouraged players to keep playing.

Also, yes, I totally agree that we do need a whistleblower (the doctor) on behalf of these players, I just don't like that the sport is being blamed. The players need to be protected, the NFL (specifically the god damn owners) need to be less greedy, and we viewers and fans need to accept that the sport might be a bit boring in the future.

You wont hear as many HS cases, but we do definitely hear as many college cases. The difference is the NCAA has constructed itself differently and its still a lesser chance of it happening. The vast majority of NCAA players are not NFL quality players. They dont run as fast or hit as hard. But that said, again if you look it up, the NCAA has had many issues with this and there are many studies on the subject. And in reality, its actually worse to see this with the NCAA and HS because players are still physically developing.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/03/07/study-links-brain-injuries-to-ncaa-football-players-hits-that-do-not-cause-concussions/1970177/

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/i-trusted-em-when-ncaa-schools-abandon-their-injured-athletes/275407/

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/10/us/ncaa-concussions/index.html

To the credit of the NCAA (negative credit) they are amazing at hiding stories and information. For anyone who watches NCAA football or basketball, they've probably seen a massive story come out, a story that should change the organization as a whole but a week later its no where to be found. Its just mind boggling how effective they are at this. I guess thats what happens when you have like 20 billion dollars in the bank and you only really need it for media.

Yup, and that is a massive problem.

The individual doesn't have any responsibility of due diligence when it comes to injuries sustained?

Sure.

But you're kind of ignoring the experts here. You go to experts because you yourself are not an expert, in this case medical professionals. The medical professionals for the NFL were saying the opposite of what their findings said and they intentionally hid those findings from the rest of the medical community. So again, if i was tell a person that worst case this activity would knock 10 years off their life, they would make a very different choice from if they knew the reality of it being 40 years.

Of course it is also a responsibility of your work place to provide medical coverage and care for injuries on and related to the job.

In this very real scenario, how does the NFL not bare responsibility? How can you not hold the NFL responsible when they intentionally alter information so that the "due diligence" a person undertakes, directs them to an intentionally false conclusion?

Medicine is not an exact science though. Even though I am not a professional sports fan, I know damn well these players don't want to be off the field. Now I do not contest how the NFL wants their big named players in front of the cameras as much as possible but they do too. The human ego is to blame. My doctor tells me flat out that I know my body better than anyone. He can diagnose me and tell me what to take and how long until I am back to my normal self but I know my body and I know if I feel well. Judging by what I have seen it's not a stretch to say so many of these players are not the sharpest people out there but I would expect even them to realize bone jarring hits are not good regardless of what the NFL says. Compound seasons of hits and it can't be good.

Question: If the 40-50 years off ones life is accurate and true, how is Joe Montana alive? Shouldn't just about every player who took and gave hits be dead by now?

Its not an exact science, which means those who are laymen have to rely on the honesty of medical professionals. What do you do if the medical professionals are lying? What do you do when they are instructed to lie so the NFL can maybe make a bit more money?

Not at the expense of long term injury or losing decades off one's life.

And what if you had a brain injury? You don't know brain injuries....yah, people tend to know when their body feels different, but they cant diagnose something, they dont know what is wrong (if anything) and there are millions of things that could be wrong that they dont know... again, this is why we rely on medical professionals being honest.

You ever had a concussion? i have, you dont know youre concussed. If you've ever played sports you'd know how easy it is to say "ah, its just an ache i can still play", without realizing its an ACL stretch and to continue to play on the knee could very easily lead to a surgery that you will have to have regular medical maintenance on every 3 years for the rest of your life. Knowing your body and knowing a medical outcome or medical results are two very different things. A doctor telling you to listen to your body is him telling you to be proactive and continue to come to him if you feel something is wrong or different... im not sure why you're trying to stretch this further.

And btw, as a result of this whole thing, they've gotten a lot stricter on players playing while injured at all. The doctors on the field now have the ultimate say and they are not taking any risks, because the organization is liable here. What we are talking about is not a hypothetical in a legal sense these things have already been determined, the NFL has had the shit sued out of them for not caring about players health and holding back information. It simply continues because of how extensive the damage actually is and hopefully the NCAA is next.

And what happens when bone jarring hits are your job?

And reminder... we're now not really talking about what the NFL says, we are talking about what "independent medical research" said that was bribed into nonexistence and hidden away and something else was put in its place. We're talking about the same medical research everyone went to, not just the NFL.

Because as i said, its the average life expediency.

Be interesting to see if anything was tested on Australia's most popular sport, AFL. I'm at work so can't share a video, but if you want to know, search biggest bumps in AFL history. Its pretty physical withoutpadding

As I said earlier, it is called due diligence, awareness, common sense, etc.., You play a game where forceful hits are the norm. The light bulb should turn on. Have you read any of the information on the situation and I'm talking more than what was linked in the o.p. ? Former players say one thing while the NFL says another. There seems to be absolutely zero personal responsibility from those who knowingly and willingly played a full contact game. I wouldn't be foolish enough to think the NFL is free from any responsibility but to the tune of close to a billion dollars as it stands now? At the end of the day I place the majority of blame on the players who knew damn well the game has extreme risks and yet I must question there motives.

Right. So again, you're failing to recognize what "due diligence" means and how its reliant on the related fields being honest.

Legally this has been settled, the real conversation is how many more lawsuits should there be and where should the responsibility on the NFL and their actions, end? You're trying to take it to an imaginary philosophical place that has already been passed. You seem to not want to consider the lying, you seem to not want to consider the responsibility of employer for employee injury and... well i guess it takes you to this place of confusion.

The pussifying of America continues

Are people so damn dumb that they're just now figuring out that 250+ lb men colliding with eachother at full speed repeatedly for years on end could potentially result in head issues down the road?

Gee, who'da thunk it?

Obviously not the 250lb men LUL

How dumb. Anyone who's watched kids play football knows there's very little danger. As a pro or in college, yeah, there's some risk there. What sport doesn't have some risk?

Is this in reference to the study that used people who claimed they were experiencing signs, and they studied them who complained of it, then said 97 or some percent had showing of brain damage?

Because, that's not really fair lol

That being said, stress form tackling instead of big hits. Stress running with shoulders down and head up. There will still be concussions, but it would be much safer. Players are so dumb, you rarely see them breaking down anymore. Always trying to run through the bask carrier.

This has become weirdly politicized. A family member of mine tried starting a fight with me over this, arguing that my son would grow up to be a pussy because he doesn't play football. It was kind of out of the blue as I was talking with someone else about this regarding her own sons.

People are taking a knee-jerk reaction to this rather than weighing the personal risks and benefits before making an informed decision.

For what it's worth, I think it's ridiculous to call it abuse, but my son most likely won't be playing. It's ultimately up to him, but thus far he's on board with the idea that his brain is worth protecting.

Couple of things here I just want to mention for the sake of adding context.

Omalu didnt discover CTE, he likes to claim that he did but in reality, he is credited with discovering CTE in Football Players.

Might seem small but its relevant since he likes to mislead for his own benefit, like how they changed certain things in the Concussion film to make him look more like a hero. It matters here because that study did not prove that:

“If you play football, and if your child plays football, there is a 100 percent risk exposure. There is nothing like making football safer. That’s a misnomer.”

This is because the study mentioned gained its sample size from former players or their families who had suspected that the former player had some of the symptoms of CTE and as a result, would donate their brain after their death. It was a biased sample and the actual researcher (not Omalu) will openly admit as much. So what they study actually means 110 out of 111 former players who suspected they had symptoms and suspecion of suffering CTE where found to indeed, have CTE. Not that this that almost 100% of all people who play Football have it.

That study was the next step of proving that CTE was not a rare occurrence for NFL players to have, but it doesnt mean what Omalu is claiming it does.