USA TODAY:..
— The CDC should set a national surveillance system to determine the rate sports-related concussions among youth, and include data on protective equipment, causes and extent of the injuries.
— The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense should support research to improve concussion diagnosis and create age-specific guidelines for managing concussions.
— National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense should conduct studies on effects of concussion and repetitive head impacts over a life span. To aid this research, the National Institutes of Health should maintain a national brain tissue bank.
— The NCAA and National Federation of State High School Associations “should undertake a rigorous scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of age-appropriate techniques, rules, and playing and practice standards in reducing sports-related concussions.” … (more)
EDITOR: Here is a painful, sober and sincere question for all parents: Is allowing youngsters to play football de facto child abuse? We love the game. We played the game. But we also love and are committed to protect our children.
Brains are too sensitive and too important to take unnatural and continuous pounding. Humans were not designed for this. Since the evolution of the specie, it is only the generations of the last century that have allowed this occur.
The rest of the world plays soccer. Why don’t we? But if we do, we recommend that head bands be required to protect from “heading”.
