September 28, 2026

@michaelokun

What are the hard questions we need to be asking about youth football? The one thing that really sticks with me from this study is how early these brain injuries are occurring and how often they happen again. In this cohort of more than 72,000 children and young adults with sports and recreation related traumatic brain injury, tackle football alone accounted for nearly 1 in 5 injuries, and an astonishing 37% of football players experienced a repeat TBI. Even more concerning, injuries during elementary-school years were associated with later emotional and behavioral problems, reminding us that we are exposing brains to trauma during critical periods of development. I love sports and recognize everything they can give a child including fitness, teamwork, confidence and community; however I think we should be asking whether tackle football needs to begin so young? I don't have the answer, but consider there is plenty of time to learn how to tackle and there is only one developing brain to protect. https://www.neurology.org/doi/pdf/10.1212/CPJ.0000000000200656