College football and concussions.

For College Athletes, Football Isn't Actually the Worst Sport for Concussions

For College Athletes, Football Isn't Actually the Worst Sport for Concussions

News and views from academia.
Dec. 5 2013 12:30 PM

It's Not Just Football

Other college athletes are actually more likely to suffer concussions.

Field Hockey

Photo by Andrea Pelletier/iStock/Thinkstock

This article originally appeared in Inside Higher Ed.


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.



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.


That's why, a year after the Ivy League decreed limited contact in football practice, its members did the same for  lacrosse, soccer, and ice hockey. The league, in conjunction with the Big Ten Conference, also launched a cross-institutional research project to study the effects of head injuries in multiple sports.

"We recognized all along that concussions are an issue that need to be addressed whenever they happen. It's not about the sport, it's about concussions any time," Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. "I know there's more conversation, as I'm sitting on the sideline at my daughter's soccer game."




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.




"The publicity is out there because of the impact that football has in terms of just the number of people who either watch it or their children are playing it," New Haven Athletics Director Deborah Chin said, before noting that women are actually at higher risk of head trauma.

"Do we know why? No," Chin said. "That's why these data are so important."



Reliable data on head trauma are elusive, which is part of the reason why response to the issue feels slow. Many groups, including the Southeastern Conference, have said they're not ready to implement rules changes until completing long research projects that measure factors including speed and angle of impact, symptoms and effects on the athlete. An identical hit performed against two different individuals could be catastrophic for one and harmless for the other.


"This is something that every conference is dealing with and looking at, and I think trying to get on common ground and do things similarly," Putukian said. " 'It's not just football' is kind of a take-home message that I think we try to provide."

The aforementioned NAS report also urged the National Collegiate Athletic Association to confront a cultural problem: many athletes, coaches, and parents are reluctant to identify or report concussions because of stigma and competition. The NCAA has issued some best practices guidelines including education and ordered institutions to maintain concussion management plans.



"The media really jumped on the football aspect, but we've been looking at it for years," Cohen said. "The medical people and the people who are working with the athletes, we've been looking at it more globally, and that's a good thing."




"Somebody will come in and say, 'You need to check on so-and-so because they're not acting right. They hit their head,' " Cohen said. He himself would like to see coaches trained and tested annually on emergency and medical issues. "It's kind of ridiculous that they have to take a [compliance] test to go recruit, and yet they can go out and coach without this training."