2 min read • December 30, 2022
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We all can agree that every sport has its fair share of related injuries. However, these injuries vary from sport to sport in terms of severity and frequency. Since head injuries are most common in contact sports, this article will discuss concussions: football vs hockey.
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by blows to the head or quick body movements that cause the brain to strike the inner walls of the skull. These brain injuries are incredibly common in football and hockey athletes due to the level of contact and physicality these games impose.
In the United States, approximately 3.5 million sports-related concussions happen yearly, with football and hockey having some of the highest numbers at both professional and amateur levels.
Football is undeniably a physically demanding sport to play. It is distinguished by various features such as speed, physical and mental strength, dexterity, collisions, and fierceness. Football games can take hours to complete and are usually complex and tactical, involving a show off of the players' brute strength.
Like other contact sports, football is extremely dangerous, resulting in severe injuries in players. The most prevalent injury sustained by football players is concussions. Collisions and hits induce these injuries to the head by the ball or fellow players. Statistics show at least 20% of high school football players suffer from concussions per season.
The NFL recorded 583 preseason and regular season concussions in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Realizing that concussions are a significant threat to the health and safety of its professional players, the League continues to implement stringent policies that decrease the risks associated with the sport. These rules can be seen in the NFL Concussion Protocol.
According to ESPN's Ultimate Degree of Difficulty Grid, Ice Hockey was ranked as the second most challenging sport after boxing. This analysis further cements the perception that hockey is a challenging sport defined by its demand for strength, grit, and speed. Due to these requirements, hockey players are regarded as some of the fittest athletes.
With players' athletic proficiency on showcase, hockey games can be exciting. These players are trained to possess inhuman strength and stamina and also be emotionally and physically aggressive. Their violent aggression is what sells game tickets and brings fans to their feet. However, it is these same players who pay the price for attraction.
Previously, the National Hockey League (NHL) players who suffered concussions -which account for up to 30% of hockey-related head injuries- were usually not diagnosed or evaluated during the game. However, after much research and outcry about the consequences of recurring concussions for players, the NHL came up with the NHL Concussion Evaluation and Management Protocol.
When comparing concussions in both sports, a practical approach would be to spot the similarities and differences between both sports. The following are the similarities between concussions in these contact sports:
Officials of both sports watch out for similar signs and symptoms in players when identifying, diagnosing, and managing concussions. Any player who exhibits or reports these signs and symptoms would immediately be put into the league's concussion protocol. The following are the signs and symptoms of a concussion in both sports:
Lying motionless or unconscious on the field or ice
Limping or with feet wide apart and persistent falling
Poor coordination and gross motor instability
Indistinctive or slurred speech
Amnesia, disorientation, and confusion.
Ataxia
Back-and-forth movement of the eyes and pupils.
For many years, professional football and hockey leagues have been criticized by the public for their denial and nonchalant attitude toward the dangers of concussions. However, in recent years, these leagues have continued to find ways to improve player health and safety. One of these ways is the concussion protocol.
The NFL and NHL concussion protocols demand that players who exhibit any of the approved concussion symptoms should be immediately removed from the field of play for neurocognitive evaluation and shouldn't return for the remainder of the game. Also, these leagues made rules changes that eliminate violent and risky behaviors among players.
The governing bodies of the two sports, the National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL), mandate that players who are confirmed to have concussions should remain under supervision. These players must also complete the required graded return-to-participation process without exhibiting concussion symptoms before being allowed to play a game.
Since concussions may develop and worsen over time, the return-to-participation process ensures that no player returns to the game without fully recovering. Recovering players will be monitored by their clubs' medical and training staff at every stage of the return-to-participation process. Players must have completed the prerequisite 24 to 48 hours resting period before beginning this process.
The stages of the return-to-participation process are provided below:
In this stage, players are expected to engage only in daily activities that do not aggravate concussion symptoms. They can perform soft stretching and aerobic exercises with a gradual reintroduction to social and family-related activities.
At this stage of the return-to-participation process, removing players will be fully introduced to the aerobic exercise program. They must participate in balance testing and cardiovascular exercises with limited head movements, such as stationary cycling at slow to medium speeds and no resistance training.
After completing the aerobic exercise program, recovering players will participate in exercises that imitate regular activities related to their sports. They will receive permission to train with their teammates, perform strength training, and increase their cardiovascular workload.
Once a previously concussed player reaches this stage, cognitive, sensory, and visual tracking exercises such as throwing, catching, puck handling, and shooting are included in the training. At this stage, recovering players can exceed the training intensity established in the previous stage.
Once recovering players pass the balance and neurocognitive tests administered in previous stages, they engage in full or controlled body contact and more complex cognitive drills.
This is usually done with teammates and coaching staff to mimic real game situations. Players will subsequently receive clearance to return for games after thorough practice and an assessment of functional skills.
The following are the significant differences between concussions in both of these contact sports:
In both sports, players are always covered in protective gear, such as hard helmets and padding. However, hockey players are armed with sticks and skates, which aggressive players could use to inflict injuries on their opponents. Football players, on the other hand, have no sticks.
Football is an outdoor sport that is played on open and large fields. On the other hand, hockey is an indoor sport played by skating on the slippery surfaces of ice rinks. The most formidable feature of these hockey ice rinks is that they are surrounded by walls, boards, or plexiglass.
This feature creates structures other than the typical body or ground for players to collide, increasing the possibility of concussions.
There is no doubt that football and hockey are part of the world's most exhilarating sports because of their fast and brutal nature. However, these same attributes contribute to the reasons these games are dangerous. Although sports leagues can create rules that reduce the risks related to these games, it is only when players decide to collaborate that there can be any chance of proper safety.
Comparing these two sports may need to be more conclusive when looking at safety from the measures the NFL and NHL are putting in place to improve players' health and safety. Therefore, more precise factors in evaluating would be the players' attitude toward safety -players' and teams' attitudes and game rules.
Although both football and hockey players play their sports with a certain level of aggression, it would be fair to say that hockey is the more dangerous sport. This is because:
Hockey players make use of sticks which can double as weapons
On average, a hockey player can reach 31 miles per hour. This makes collisions more severe and common
Ice rinks are surrounded by more structure which makes hockey players more prone to concussions
Just like other sports, football and hockey are no exceptions when it comes to concussions. This is undeniably due to the fast and brutal nature of these games. However, they can manage these risks by implementing rules to improve player safety and changes in players' behavior.
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