Contact sports can cause brain injuries. Should kids still play?
Gift this article
RECENT YEARS have seen a steady drip of troubling studies on head injuries among young players of rugby and American football. Research on schoolboy rugby published in Sports Medicine in 2023, for example, calculated that nearly two concussions result from every 1,000 tackles. As for American football, one in 20 youth players suffers a concussion over the course of a season, per a study in the Journal of Pediatrics. The real risks could be even higher, as many concussions go unreported.
RECENT YEARS have seen a steady drip of troubling studies on head injuries among young players of rugby and American football. Research on schoolboy rugby published in Sports Medicine in 2023, for example, calculated that nearly two concussions result from every 1,000 tackles. As for American football, one in 20 youth players suffers a concussion over the course of a season, per a study in the Journal of Pediatrics. The real risks could be even higher, as many concussions go unreported.
The consequences can be tragic. If a second concussion is sustained before complete recovery, it is more likely to trigger acute brain swelling, which can be fatal. Younger, developing brains appear more susceptible to such 'second-impact syndrome". Even weaker 'subconcussive" blows to the head are a concern. If repeated for long enough, such hits may damage a brain's white matter, the nerve fibres that transport electrical impulses. A paper published in Brain Communications in 2023 suggests that athletes who were exposed to head impacts from a young age are more likely to experience cognitive decline from subconcussive damage to white matter.
Outright bans on youth contact sport are one option. Another is to focus on protective gear. But in rugby, at least, research has yielded surprising results. Padded 'scrum caps" do protect ears and reduce cuts, but neither scrum caps nor helmets can stop a brain from being pushed into the skull, the cause of concussions. Many players are unaware of this, leading to dangerous false confidence and more aggressive play.
New types of protective headgear are emerging. In 2022 a British startup called Rezon began to sell a special padded headband for rugby and other sports. Known as Halos, it is composed of nine layers which slide over each other when hit at a non-perpendicular angle. The resulting friction, the company claims, reduces by 61% the transmission of rotational forces to the brain.
Rule changes are another solution. Some are hotly contested. Forbidding tackling for minors, for example, may end up increasing injuries when players grow up without having learned the best techniques. The American Academy of Paediatricians, for its part, has declined to endorse a blanket ban. Widespread rules against specific types of impacts including head-first 'spear-tackling", however, have curbed injuries. So have increasingly common policies that limit full contact during practice.
Young players can also be grouped differently. Children enter puberty at different ages, which can lead to glaring mismatches in body size and agility. The injury risk to smaller kids is compounded when teams short on players call up older children too. To avoid such risks, young players are increasingly grouped by physical maturity, not age. This 'bio-banding" appears promising, but research remains regrettably thin.
Parents who are still concerned should consider two final points. First, any impacts that rough-and-tumble sports may have on mental development could be revealed by periodic cognitive tests. Second, a child prevented from playing rugby or tackle football might well find other dangerous hobbies. A paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2019 reviewed 8,857 children taken to emergency rooms for head injuries and found that recreational activities such as horse-riding, biking and skateboarding caused more serious injuries than contact sports. Topics You May Be Interested In
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
What is the caffeine pouch trend going viral among teenagers in the US?: Here's what experts think
Whoever thought teenagers would be in need of an instant caffeine fix? Well, difficult times call for easier measures and to get their share of caffeine rush in a day, a growing number of American teenagers are using caffeine pouches. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now What are these? Well, these are small tea-bag-like pouches that they place between the lip and gum to get a quick caffeine hit that travels straight to the bloodstream. As is typical, the trend has been pushed by social media influencers who are recommending the caffeine pouches to gym goers for elevated performance and students for alertness for exams. TikTok Shop sells lots of brands and flavours that could appeal to young people, said Dr Rob van Dam from George Washington University to the BBC. However, with a single pouch containing as much caffeine as two cups of regular coffee, it could be easy to take too much and get bad side effects, warned the doctor. Many fans of the product have boasted online about the "buzzing" from using two pouches at once for an extra big caffeine rush. Additionally, the size of these pouches is small enough not to be detected if someone is carrying one in their mouth and hiding from parents and teachers. As the caffeine gets absorbed, the effects can begin within a few minutes and last up to hours, with levels going out of control. "Young people may have less tolerance to caffeine, and there's a chance they could end up in the emergency room if they have too much," added the doctor. What happens when you have too much caffeine? Image credits: Getty Images Caffeine makes you feel more alert due to the effects it has on the brain and central nervous system. However, excessive amounts of it can affect the cardiovascular system in terms of rapid heart rate, abnormal heart rhythms and even seizures. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Typically, around 400mg of coffee, which amounts to 4 cups of instant coffee, is safe to be consumed by most healthy adults. The coffee pouches not only provide an excessive caffeine hit to the body, but keeping them between the teeth and the lip can also cause irritation in the gums. "While caffeine may give a temporary boost, it can disrupt sleep and worsen fatigue over time, especially in children and teens who are more sensitive to its effects," said Bini Suresh, head of dietetics at the Cleveland Clinic, London and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association. Additionally, according to the , some studies have suggested a link between caffeine consumption and longer-term behavioural problems in young people such as anger, violence, sleep disturbances and drug use. Researchers in Iceland surveyed 7,400 adolescents aged 14 and 15 years and found that most reported consuming caffeine on a typical day and reported daytime sleepiness and anger for both sexes.
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Israeli fire kills at least 18 in Gaza, U.S. envoy visits hostage family protest
Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday (August 2025) as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid on Saturday (August 2025) morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and saw many others lying on the ground bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Mr. Youssef said. In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at the northernmost of the Israeli-backed American contractor's four sites, the GHF media office said 'nothing (happened) at or near our sites'. 'Worst-case scenario of famine' The episode came a day after U.S. officials visited one site and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called GHF's distribution 'an incredible feat'. International outrage has mounted as the group's efforts to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gaza have been marred by violence and controversy. 'We weren't close to them (the troops) and there was no threat,' Abed Salah, a man in his 30s who was among the crowds close to the GHF site near Netzarim corridor, said. 'I escaped death miraculously.' The danger facing aid seekers in Gaza has compounded what international hunger experts this week called a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in the besieged enclave. Israel's nearly 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to deliver food safely to starving people. Killing at aid distribution sites From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites, according to a United Nations report published Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of food convoys. Israel and GHF have said they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, though on Friday said it was working to make the routes under its control safer. Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday (August 2, 2025), including three whose bodies were transported from the vicinity of a distribution site to a central Gaza hospital along with 36 others who were wounded. Officials said 10 of Saturday's casualties were killed by strikes in central and southern Gaza. Nasser Hospital said it received the bodies of five people killed in two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people. The dead include two brothers and a relative, who were killed when a strike hit their tent close to a main thoroughfare in Khan Younis. The Gaza health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said an Israeli strike hit a family house in an area between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent close to the gate of a closed prison where the displaced have sheltered in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter, they said. The hospital said Israeli forces killed five other Palestinians who were among crowds awaiting aid near the newly constructed Morag corridor in Rafah and between Rafah and Khan Younis. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes or deaths near the aid sites. Hostage families protest to end war Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages protested and urged Israel's government to push harder for the release of their loved ones, including those shown in footage released by militant groups earlier this week. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff joined them a day after visiting Gaza and a week after walking away from ceasefire talks in Qatar, blaming Hamas's intransigence and pledging to find other ways to free hostages and make Gaza safe. Of the 251 hostages who were abducted when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, around 20 are believed to be alive in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza, released separate videos of individual hostages this week, triggering outrage among hostage families and Israeli society. Israeli media hasn't broadcast the videos, calling them propaganda, but the family of 21-year-old Rom Braslavski allowed for the release of a photograph showing him visibly emaciated in an unknown location. After viewing the video, Tami Braslavski, his mother, blamed top Israeli officials and demanded they meet with her. "They broke my child, I want him home now,' Braslavski told Ynet on Thursday. 'Look at him: Thin, limp, crying. All his bones are out.' Hostage families and their supporters protesting in Tel Aviv called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to "stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels'. 'Do the right thing and just do it now,' Lior Chorev ,the Hostages Family Forum's Chief Strategy Officer said. Airdrops expand despite limited impact To circumvent restrictions on aid trucks crossing overland into Gaza, additional countries joined the Jordan-led coalition orchestrating parcels being dropped from the skies. Alongside Israel, several European countries announced plans this week to join airdrop efforts, though most acknowledge the strategy is woefully insufficient. 'If there is political will to allow airdrops — which are highly costly, insufficient; inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings,' Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X on Saturday. 'Let's go back to what works; let us do our job.' The recent war on Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
News18
3 hours ago
- News18
Israeli fire kills at least 18 in Gaza, US envoy visits hostage family protest
Deir al-Balah(Gaza Strip), Aug 2 (AP) Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks searching for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid Saturday morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and saw others lying on the ground bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode," Youssef said. In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at the northernmost of the Israeli-backed American contractor's four facilities, GHF said 'nothing (happened) at or near our sites." The episode came a day after US officials visited one site and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the distribution 'an incredible feat." International outrage has mounted as the group's efforts to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gaza have been marred by violence and controversy. 'We weren't close to them (the troops) and there was no threat," Abed Salah, a man in his 30s who was among the crowds close to the GHF site near Netzarim corridor, said. 'I escaped death miraculously." The danger facing aid seekers in Gaza has compounded what international hunger experts this week called a 'worst-case scenario of famine" in the besieged enclave. Israel's nearly 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to deliver food safely to starving people. Seven Palestinians died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Saturday. They include a child, it said in a statement, bringing total deaths among children from causes related to malnutrition in Gaza to 93 since the war began. The ministry said 76 adults in Gaza have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it started counting deaths among adults. From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed near GHF sites, according to a United Nations report published Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of food convoys. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel 's military has said it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, though on Friday said it was working to make the routes under its control safer. Israel and GHF have said that the toll has been exaggerated. Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday, including three transported from the vicinity of a distribution site to a central Gaza hospital along with 36 others who were wounded. Officials said 10 of Saturday's casualties were killed by strikes in central and southern Gaza. Nasser Hospital said it received the bodies of five people killed in two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people. The dead include two brothers and a relative, who were killed when a strike hit their tent close to a main thoroughfare in Khan Younis. The health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said an Israeli strike hit a family house between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent close to the gate of a closed prison where the displaced have sheltered in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter, they said. The hospital said Israeli forces killed five other Palestinians who were among crowds awaiting aid near the newly constructed Morag corridor in Rafah and between Rafah and Khan Younis. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes or gunfire near the aid sites. Its top general, meanwhile, warned Saturday that 'combat will continue without rest" if hostages weren't freed. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said Israel's military would adapt to 'place Hamas under increasing pressure." Hostage families push Israel to cut deal In Tel Aviv, families of hostages protested and urged Israel's government to push harder for the release of their loved ones, including those shown in footage released by militant groups earlier this week. US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff joined them, a week after quitting ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas's intransigence and pledging to find other ways to free hostages and make Gaza safe. Of the 251 hostages who were abducted by Hamas-led militants, around 20 are believed to be alive in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza, released separate videos of individual hostages this week, triggering outrage among hostage families and Israeli society. Israeli media hasn't broadcast the videos, calling them propaganda, but the family of 21-year-old Rom Braslavski allowed the release of a photograph showing him visibly emaciated in an unknown location. Tami Braslavski, his mother, blamed top Israeli officials and demanded they meet with her. 'They broke my child, I want him home now," Braslavski told Ynet on Thursday. 'Look at him: Thin, limp, crying. All his bones are out." Protesters called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to 'stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels" 'Do the right thing and just do it now," said Lior Chorev, chief strategy officer of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Airdrops expand despite limited impact Alongside Israel, several European countries announced plans this week to join the Jordan-led coalition orchestrating airdropping parcels, though most acknowledge the strategy remains deeply inadequate. 'If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X on Saturday. 'Let's go back to what works & let us do our job." The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. (AP) RD RD (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: August 02, 2025, 18:00 IST News agency-feeds Israeli fire kills at least 18 in Gaza, US envoy visits hostage family protest Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
