The data was released as part of a small media briefing held inside the league's offices in midtown Manhattan. We feel that we have found a new place from which we need to continue to push down using our injury-reduction plan, but also looking for new opportunities, whether that be in equipment, in rules, in practice in the space. But we look at this year as a validation of last year.
After the season, the NFL instituted a series of rules changes, including placing an emphasis on enforcement of penalties on helmet-to-helmet blows and alterations to the kickoff. Additionally, the league altered the onside kickoff for the season in an attempt to reduce violent collisions.
Despite the cautious optimism, however, there was an increase of 24 reported concussions from both preseason and regular season games in from the year previous's total, marking a I think one thing we did learn is that players who did not make the roster and participated in preseason games were three times as likely to have a concussion as those who did make the roster, so obviously we have some more work to do there.
The data clearly demonstrate that the incidence of repeat concussions was similar during both 6-year periods. Repeat injuries rarely occurred within the first few weeks following initial injury, and the median interval between initial and repeat concussions was about 1 year. Other possible explanations for the changes in overall and position player concussion incidence during the second 6-year period must therefore be considered. However, the frequency of concussion actually increased in tight ends and the kickoff return units.
Discussions with players, athletic trainers, and team physicians indicate that all of them have a heightened awareness of MTBI and the importance of reporting all injuries, thus making it unlikely that they would knowingly fail to report some MTBIs.
It is also possible that players were less forthcoming and open about reporting concussions during the second 6-year period despite the educational efforts aimed at increasing their willingness to report these injuries. The NFL has promulgated a number of rule changes and increased enforcement of existing rules aimed at protecting players from head injuries.
Table 9 lists the changes since A number of these rule changes were made in or after. Some of the changes apply to all players during kickoffs and punt returns, where running in the open field can lead to high-speed helmet impacts.
The changes are meant to protect defenseless players from unnecessary helmet impacts. These changes could have played a role in the trend toward the overall decreased incidence of MTBI.
Other rule changes that apply to specific position players, such as quarterbacks, could have played a role in the trend toward decreased MTBI incidence in certain position players. In light of the overall trend toward decreased concussion incidence, one certainly must wonder why the incidence increased in tight ends during the second 6-year period. Tight ends should have benefited from improved safety equipment and rule changes as much as any other nonquarterback position player, yet they sustained significantly more MTBIs during the second 6-year period.
Over time, the tight ends have been used more as downfield receivers and less as blockers. They are running at higher speeds and being hit at higher speeds by defensive players, which may have resulted in a higher frequency of high-acceleration head impacts and more MTBIs. The trend toward a decreased incidence of MTBI among wide receivers during the second 6-year period might reflect the fact that tight ends are taking away some of the downfield pass receptions and attempts that used to go to the wide receivers, resulting in a lower number of plays in which wide receivers are exposed to high-speed head impacts from defensive backs vying for the ball or tackling the receiver.
The differences in concussion incidence occurring on kickoffs and punts ie, special teams between the two 6-year periods are difficult to explain. During the second 6-year period, the incidence of concussions increased for the players on the kick return units but decreased for the players on the kickoff coverage units. The overall incidence of concussion increased on kickoff plays, indicating that the magnitude of the increased incidence on the return unit outweighed the magnitude of the decreased incidence on the kick coverage unit.
Rule changes aimed at limiting head impacts during open-field collisions should have applied equally to players on both kickoff units, as well as to players on the punt coverage and punt return units, yet the incidence of concussions decreased on punting plays and increased on one unit involved in kickoffs but not the other.
A new rule limiting wedge blocking on the kickoff return unit went into effect during the NFL season. It will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this will have on concussion incidence on kickoffs overall and, specifically, the return and coverage units. The trend toward decreased concussion incidence in quarterbacks and the statistically significant decreased concussion incidence in defensive linemen during the second 6-year period are congruous with the overall decreased concussion incidence during this period.
As noted previously, specific rule changes aimed at protecting quarterbacks from head impacts may have played a significant role in the lowered incidence of concussions in this group of players. Although there were no rules aimed at protecting defensive linemen from head impacts, this group may have benefited from rule changes aimed at protecting all players.
There are a number of possible explanations for the changes in the RTP data and the incidence of concussion during the second 6-year period. Multiple factors may have played a role in causing these differences, including the efforts by the NFL, the NFL Players Association, NFL team athletic trainers and physicians, and safety equipment manufacturers to ameliorate the effects of head injury on NFL players.
Their support and encouragement to conduct research on concussion are greatly appreciated. The opinions and views presented in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily the National Football League. They are offered as part of an effort to better understand the causes and consequences of playing football on the brain and to lay out what additional efforts are needed to prevent brain injury and improve the health, safety, and welfare of individuals playing football.
The assistance of the National Football League team physicians and athletic trainers is appreciated in filling out the concussion reports, and so are the players who consented to participate in the epidemiology study through a blinded identification in the concussion database. We also thank the staff at Med Sports Systems for their efforts in managing and verifying the concussion data. The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this contribution.
National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Sports Health v. Sports Health. Ira R. Dr med David C. John W. Elliot J. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Hypothesis: The increased attention to concussions may have resulted in team physicians being more conservative in treating players in recent years.
Methods: During , concussions were recorded by NFL team physicians and athletic trainers using the same standardized reporting form used from to Results: There were 0. Conclusion: The most recent 6 years of NFL concussion data show a remarkable similarity to the earlier period.
Clinical Relevance: There was a more conservative management of concussion in NFL players from to even though the clinical signs and symptoms remained similar to the earlier 6-year period.
Keywords: concussion, traumatic brain injury, injury epidemiology, sport injury prevention. Throughout the year study period, a reportable concussion was defined as a traumatically induced alteration in brain function, which is manifested by: alteration of awareness or consciousness, including but not limited to being dinged, dazed, stunned, woozy, foggy, amnesic, or, less commonly, rendered unconsciousness; and signs and symptoms commonly associated with postconcussion syndrome, including persistent headaches, vertigo, light-headedness, loss of balance, unsteadiness, syncope, near syncope, cognitive dysfunction, memory disturbance, hearing loss, tinnitus, blurred vision, diplopia, visual loss, personality change, drowsiness, lethargy, fatigue, and inability to perform usual daily activities.
Signs and Symptoms The signs and symptoms of concussion were grouped into 6 categories: general symptoms, cranial nerve symptoms, memory problems, cognitive problems, somatic complaints, and unconsciousness. Data Analysis and Statistics Data for this analysis includes concussions that occurred during games in , which were then compared with the original database of concussions in Results During the NFL seasons, there were fully documented concussions reported in team games, or games Table 1.
Table 1. Open in a separate window. Table 2. Dashes — indicate no estimate available. Table 3. Type of play for concussed players in National Football League games. Table 4. Table 5. Injuries by activity for concussed players in National Football League games. Table 6. Table 7. Figure 1. Discussion There is a remarkable similarity in the data collected during the two recent 6-year periods.
Table 8. Physician Management of Concussion Physician management of players who sustained MTBIs may have changed during the second 6-year period. Change in Concussion Incidence At first glance, the decreased incidence in overall concussion frequency during the second 6-year period may appear to be a direct result of the decreased RTP percentages immediate and later on the day of the injury and increased days out following MTBI seen during this period.
Rules of Play The NFL has promulgated a number of rule changes and increased enforcement of existing rules aimed at protecting players from head injuries. Table 9. A blocker may not initiate helmet-to-helmet contact against an opponent if the blocker is moving toward his own end line and he approaches the opponent from behind or from the side. Eliminated initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver.
At least 3 players on each side of the kicker must be lined up outside each inbounds line, one of whom must be outside the yard line number. An illegal is defined as 3 or more players lined up shoulder-to-shoulder within 2 yards of one another.
During a free kick, at least 4 kicking team players must be on each side of the kicker when the ball is kicked. The change also prohibited helmet-to-helmet contact against a quarterback after a change of possession. The changes to protect defenseless players were applicable to quarterbacks who are in the act of throwing a pass or who have just thrown a pass.
It seems the Bucs and Chargers weren't the only teams interested in acquiring Tom Brady this offseason. Howard Mudd, a former NFL lineman who coached in the league for 38 seasons, passed away Wednesday, his family announced. Mudd was surrounded by family after suffering multiple injuries from a motorcycle accident in late July.
He was Frustrated by the slow pace of minority hiring in college and professional football, Maryland's Michael Locksley has created the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches. The nonprofit will seek to groom coaches of color for upward mobility. Phil Krueger, who helped build a dominant defense as an assistant for national champion Southern California and later became part of the first coaching staff in Tampa Bay Buccaneers' history, has died.
Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule said he's considering kneeling alongside his players during the national anthem this season in support of the movement against racial injustice. Mississippi State's Kylin Hill announced via social media on Monday that he will not be "representing this State" until the Mississippi state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem, is changed. Oklahoma State's Chuba Hubbard expressed unity with head coach Mike Gundy in a video on Monday after threatening a boycott earlier in the day when he took exception to an OAN T-shirt worn by the coach.
The attorneys for New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar have issued statements claiming the innocence of their clients following an arrest warrant issued on Thursday. The NFL will present a pair of resolutions to increase coaching and GM opportunities for minorities this coming Tuesday during the owners' virtual meeting, Jim Trotter reports. New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar have been charged with four counts of armed robbery with a firearm stemming from a May 13 incident, according to an arrest warrant issued Thursday by the Miramar Fla.
Police Department. Judy Battista NFL.
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