Category Archives: football

The Truth About Artificial Turf Injuries

The winter sun was shining. A morning of soccer beckoned. But the guys were butting heads.

“This grass is full of gopher holes. Why can’t we play on the turf?”

“Grass is so much better for my knees.”

The debate about artificial turf injuries crops up again and again. And not just in my weekend pickup soccer gang. Last week, a long list of top players reluctantly knuckled under to FIFA’s demand that they play the Women’s World Cup entirely on artificial turf. Continue reading The Truth About Artificial Turf Injuries

Do Sports Injury Genes Determine Your Fitness?

Sports injury genes could change your future.

Imagine this scenario. You try to register for your hockey team as you do every year. But the league has a new policy: All players must report to a health center to get their mouths swabbed. A couple of days later, you get a call. “You’re positive for ApoE4. We’re sorry, but because of liability rules, you can’t play in this league. In fact, you shouldn’t play hockey anywhere.” Continue reading Do Sports Injury Genes Determine Your Fitness?

Recognize Concussion Symptoms

Concussion symptoms
Concussion symptoms. Photo by Rugby Streaming. Some rights reserved.

Recognizing concussion symptoms may save your life.

For generations, athletes took blows to the head and kept right on playing. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the game. Coaches, teammates and fans may depend on you. But getting hit again and again can permanently damage your brain. It can even kill you. Continue reading Recognize Concussion Symptoms

California’s New Sports Concussion Law Doesn’t Go Far Enough

California took a step forward yesterday when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law limiting contact in American tackle football practices. One provision of the law could affect soccer, hockey and other contact sports as well as football. But it doesn’t go far enough.

Photo by the COD Newsroom.
Photo by the COD Newsroom.

California’s new law restricts full contact in high school and middle school tackle football practices to two sessions of 90 minutes each per week during the season. It prohibits these practices off season.

It also requires that any high-school or middle-school athlete (not just a football player) “suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury” be removed from play until evaluated by a healthcare professional. Continue reading California’s New Sports Concussion Law Doesn’t Go Far Enough