Football in the USA is plenty dangerous for the brain.
One of the best things about gymnastics is that we have comparatively few concussions, as compared with combative and team sports. (Don’t even mention Mixed Martial Arts.)
… But after watching a PBS TV show called Frontline – Football High (VIDEO), I’m not so sure.
A study by Professor Tom Talavage, an expert in functional neuroimaging and co-director of Purdue University’s MRI facility, alarmed me – Functionally-Detected Cognitive Impairment in High School Football Players Without Clinically- Diagnosed Concussion (PDF).
Talavage detected (possible) brain damage in 50% of High School football players who reported no concussion. They had plenty of “hits”, of course, but reportedly no concussion.
In gymnastics we suffer sub-concussive “hits”. Vault ‘timers’, for example. Could these be causing damage?
… My non-scientific opinion is that Artistic gymnastics training is safe for the brain. We have fantastic matting and pits. We spend more on protective equipment than any other sport.
I don’t want this post to come off alarmist. There’s too much of that already online. For example, Gymnastics is often compared with Football in injury studies. Yet in 2010 there were 16 football deaths in the USA, zero gymnastics deaths. (That number 16 comes from the Talavage study, too. Five direct deaths on field of play, eleven indirect deaths.)
I’d rather have my child doing gymnastics than playing Football.
No expert myself, I’d love to hear your comments if you know more on the topic of concussion in acrobatic sports.
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