Concussion in Professional Football: Epidemiological Features of Game Injuries and Review of the Literature—Part 3

Abstract

The professional football players most vulnerable to concussions are quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defensive secondaries. Concussions involved 2.74 symptoms/injury, and players were generally removed from the game. More than one-half of the players returned to play within 1 day, and symptoms resolved in a short time in the vast majority of cases.

Neurodegenerative causes of death among retired National Football League players

“…15,17,20 Offensive and defensive linemen (nonspeed players) usually engage other players soon after the football is snapped, thus mitigating the potential to build up momentum before a tackle or a block. 15,16 Although our study used causes of death from AD, PD, and ALS as reported on death certificates, recent research now suggests that CTE may have been the true primary or secondary factor in some of these deaths. Whereas CTE is a clinically distinct neurologic diagnosis, CTE symptoms are often similar to those found in patients with AD, PD, and ALS.…”

“…14 Recent studies suggested that football players who play certain positions are at higher risk of concussion because of the high acceleration, rotational acceleration, and multiple impacts they experience during games. 15,16 Data collected using exposure assessment methods including video analysis, simulation and reconstruction techniques, and helmet-mounted accelerometers suggest that although linemen experience the highest number of head impacts, other positions experience higher acceleration impacts that result in concussions. 16 -18 To examine possible neurologic mortality differences from the high acceleration head impacts, we stratified the players into 2 categories based on position played 10 (identified using annual data compiled in commercial publications): speed (quarterback, running back, halfback, fullback, wide receiver, tight end, defensive back, safety, and linebacker) and nonspeed (all defensive and offensive linemen); punters and kickers were excluded from the stratified analysis.…”

Episodic Memory in Former Professional Football Players with a History of Concussion: An Event-Related Functional Neuroimaging Study

“…A review of professional football games, however, reported an average of 0.41 concussions per game. 2 Given the estimate that nearly 50% of all concussions in football go unreported, 3 it is highly probable that the concussion rate per NFL game approaches 1.00 per game. More broadly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 4 estimate that the incidence of sport-related concussion is 1.6 to 3.8 million cases per year, and the risk of recurrent concussion increases with each successive concussion to approach a four-fold risk of recurrent concussion once an athlete has sustained three or more concussions in a 5-year period.…”

Intérêt du port d’un protège-dents dans la diminution de l’incidence et/ou de la gravité des commotions cérébrales dans le sport

“…Même si une SRC peut survenir lors de la pratique de n'importe quel sport, certains sont plus à risque du fait de la récurrence et de la violence des impacts comme le football américain, le hockey sur glace, la boxe, le rugby et le ski alpin [36,37]. L'incidence des SRC est de 0,41 à 0,67 par match de football américain de la NFL (National Football Ligue) [38,39]. En hockey, l'incidence des SRC au sein de la ligue de hockey nord-américaine (NHL) est de 29,6/1 000 joueurs-heure (si 1 000 joueurs jouent pendant une heure, 29,6 d'entre eux vont présenter une commotion cérébrale) [40].…”