Would you let your son play football?

Would you let your son play football? Dr. David Chao    National Football PostJuly 23, 2014, 11:30 PM EST.. Brett Favre made headlines last week by again stating that he would be leery to let his son play football because it is a “violent sport.” With heightened injury and concussion worries, should you or would you let your son play this contact sport? As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and as a former NFL physician, I have been asked this question many times including in a recent television interview. I have dealt with this issue for decades in my sports practice, the foundation I run to treat injured children and as a team physician at the high school, college and professional levels. When parents have asked me if it is safe for their son to play football, I try to give them some practical advice. If you want to be as safe as possible, there is no way your child should play football. Football is far more dangerous than non-contact sports. However, that doesn’t mean your son won’t tear his ACL playing basketball. ICONFavre has stated multiple times that if he had a son, he would not want him playing football. The bottom line is that playing football is like choosing to ride a motorcycle. It is inherently more dangerous than driving a car, but one can still be injured in an automobile. Like motorcycle riding, playing football is not for everyone, but some people love it and are willing to take the risk. If you ask my wife, she would definitely not let our son play football. All of the media attention on concussions has led her to the visceral reaction to protect her son. Some have suggested that waiting until high school when a child’s brain and body are developed would make it safer, but that theory may not be correct. There is much less force generated in Pee Wee and Pop Warner football. Newton’s Second Law of Motion is force equals mass times acceleration (F=MA). Mass of younger children is smaller, the speed is slower and that means less total force or energy in a collision. Although a young brain may be more susceptible to injury, theoretically, it also has much greater recovery capacity. As concussion issues dominate the landscape, football is not the only sport where there is significant head trauma risk. Soccer, with its collisions and heading the ball, has been strongly implicated. By the way, I do let my 13-year-old daughter play club soccer. Our medical knowledge of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is in its infancy. There is much more that we don’t know about concussions than what we do know. Currently, there is no proven treatment other than rest. In any case, my worst fear about football is not a head injury but that of a spinal cord injury. Programs for safe tackling techniques may help, but they aren’t the ultimate answer. The NFL rule changes, penalties, fines and suspensions can help set the tone, but the majority of concussions do not occur from defenseless player hits. My son is only one and a half years old. I don’t need to make the decision now. I will let concussion research, treatment modalities and prevention efforts take its due course. Certainly, if my son had equal interest in football and another non-contact sport, I would steer him towards the other sport. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out, it might not be fair to have Favre hypothetically chiming in since he does not even have a son. In addition, Dan Patrick asked on his radio show if Favre could be considered a hypocrite, as he coaches high school football and sends other kids out to play this “violent sport.” Ultimately, the choice to play football, like the choice to ride a motorcycle, is an individual decision. Each parent/child and athlete has the right to be informed and weigh options.