Sports Medicine Handbook - NCAA

100
Head and neck injuries causing
death, brain damage or paralysis
occur each year in football and
other sports. While the number of
these injuries each year is relatively
small, they are devastating occurrences
that have a great impact.
Most of these catastrophic injuries
result from initiating contact with
the head. The injuries may not be
prevented due to the forces encountered
during collisions, but they can
be minimized by helmet manufacturers,
coaches, players and officials
complying with accepted safety
standards and playing rules.
The American Football Coaches
Association, emphasizing that the
helmet is for the protection of the
wearer and should not be used as a
weapon, addresses this point
as follows:
1. The helmet shall not be used as the
1. Kleiner, D.M., Almquist, J.L., Bailes,
J., Burruss, P., Feurer, H., Griffin, L.Y.,
Herring, S., McAdam, C., Miller, D.,
Thorson, D., Watkins, R.G., Weinstein, S.
Prehospital Care of the Spine-Injured
Athlete: A Document from the Inter-
Association Task Force for Appropriate
Care of the Spine-Injured Athlete. Dallas,
National Athletic Trainers’ Association,
March, 2001.
GUIDELINE 3d
Use of the Head as a
Weapon in Football and
Other Contact Sports
January 1976 • Revised June 2002
References
brunt of contact in the teaching of
blocking or tackling;
2. Self-propelled mechanical ap-
paratuses shall not be used in the
teaching of blocking and tackling; and
3. Greater emphasis by players,
coaches and officials should be placed
on eliminating spearing.
Proper training in tackling and
blocking techniques, including a “see
what you hit approach,” constitutes
an important means of minimizing
the possibility of catastrophic injury.
Using the helmet as an injury-
2. LaParade RF, Schnetzler KA,
Broxterman RJ, Wentorf F, Wendland E,
Gilbert TJ: Cervical Spine Alignment in
the Immobilized Ice Hockey Player: A
Computer Tomographic Analysis of the
Effects of Helmet Removal: Am J Sports
Med 27: 177-180, 1999.
3. The Spine Injury Management Video
Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois.
inflicting instrument is illegal, and
should be strongly discouraged by
coaches and game officials. This
concern is not only in football, but
also in other contact sports in which
helmets are used (e.g., ice hockey
and men’s lacrosse).
Football and all contact sports should
be concerned with the prevention of
catastrophic head injuries. The rules
against butting, ramming and spearing
with the helmet are for the protection
of the helmeted player and the
opponent. A player who does not
comply with these rules in any sport
is a candidate for a catastrophic injury.
1. NCAA Concussion Fact Sheets and Video
Available at www.NCAA.org/health-safety.
2. Heads Up: Concussion Tool Kit
CDC. Available at www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/coaches_tool_kit.htm.
3. Heads Up Video
NATA. Streaming online at www.nata.org/consumer/headsup.htm.
4. Thomas BE, McCullen GM, Yuan HA:
Cervical Spine Injuries in Football
Players: J Am Acad Orthop Surg Sept-
Oct; 7 (5), 338-47, 1999.
5. Wojtys EM, Hovda D, Landry G,
Boland A, Lovell M, McCrea M, Minkoff
J: Concussion in Sports: Am J Sports
Med 27: 676-687, 1999.