Robofootball: Doublespin

A SUMMARY OF GENERAL INJURIES IN FOOTBALL, A transcript report by Dr. Isabella Mendoza, CDC, joint session of Congress, July 25, 2017, Hearing #678-79-2001:

“In past reports we have discussed in some detail the problems associated with excess weight, concussion, equipment, and violence; today, we are going to focus more on general injuries and hazards incurred in the sport of football. There are so many that it is difficult to choose a starting point; nevertheless, we placed our latest findings at the CDC in increasing likelihood of sustained injury as compared to that of the general population at the high school, college, and professional levels. We know for a fact that football players suffer higher rates of obesity, concussion, heart disease, nervous system disorders, and an overall lower life expectancy.

For starters, a football player is 2.7 times more likely to suffer heat stroke, especially in southern and southwestern states. Given the intensity of practice, particularly during the summer months, excessive weight, the encumbrance of equipment worn, and the intake of water and other fluids that are strictly regulated, controlled and even rationed by the coaching staff, heat stroke has resulted in some brain and heart troubles as well as a few documented deaths. Education and proper first aid techniques have been found to be severely lacking in this area. A common misguided effort is to drench a large portion of the body with cold water in an attempt to cool off an overheated player. The result is a sudden chilling of the skin causing the body to reduce superficial circulation; thus, ineffectively cooling the body including the brain.

Although illegal drug use, especially anabolic steroids, are in most cases, far more controlled and regulated than in the past; still, there seems to be a constant variety of new chemicals, protein concoctions, dietary supplements, muscle building exhibitors, synthetics, human growth hormones, stem cells, and even new versions of steroids or steroid-based compounds that find their way into the marketplace at all levels. Someone creates a missile to destroy the tank, the tank designers then add secondary layers of armor plating, next the missile makers develop 2-stage charges, one to pierce the outer layer and one to penetrate the inner, then the tank manufacturers use even more layers of plating with explosive proof layers in between, then the missiles get bigger and bigger until we need nukes just to destroy a tank. There are always ways to defeat the system, often by masking the illegal compounds that are being tested by other chemicals. In short, long term disabilities and death can result from a plethora of substance abuse, something that football players experience at a rate 4.6 times the national average.

Football players experiencing a little over 12 times the leg problems of a typical non-football-playing American. Arthroscopic knee surgeries for football players are about as routine these days as getting one’s teeth cleaned. Speaking of teeth, pro football players have on average 2.3 less teeth than the average similarly aged adult male given that mouth guards slip or become disengaged during play before the play is over. Only hockey players suffer a higher rate at 3.8. Many a career has ended with blown ankles and knees, and repeatedly torn hamstrings and ACL’s. Turf toe, the stubbing or breaking of one’s large toe is another injury inherent to the sport. Linemen are particularly vulnerable to knee and ankle problems given their immense weight, and it is not uncommon for a player at the professional level to have had several knee surgeries prior to the age of 30, with more afterward. In nearly all cases, the cartilage is either severely damaged or completely worn away for those who have had a long career playing football.

Another virtually unheard of surgery outside the world of football is arthroscopic shoulder surgery. This is most prevalent among defensive players such as linebackers and safeties that repeatedly use their shoulders to ram, hit, and tackle the opposition. They are hundreds of times more likely than the average citizen to undergo this rare type of operation.

Sadly, the injuries sustained by football players in their youth, or perhaps in their best playing years, usually their 20’s and early 30’s, are quite often permanent, leading to a much reduced quality of life when their playing days are over. Many enter the realms of pain management since their pain is permanent and only digresses with age. Many players will require multiple surgeries for injuries sustained years earlier, at a rate between 4 and 5 times that of nonplayers between the ages of 40 and 60. Professional football players on average will be wheel-chair bound 6.8 years sooner than a nonplayer under similar circumstances that lead to such a condition. Lastly, for every 30 year old player in the NFL, there are 2.2 NFL worthy players of the same age whose careers have ended due to injury.

The leading cause of injury in football, as one might surmise, is the tackle. Players hurdling at one another at high speed, often at the human maximum achievable velocity level, meet at a concussive force that can cause an instantaneous injury. The NFL does require that teams list their injuries every Wednesday and Friday in a broad-based severity description report that has little medical credibility or criteria. If they do not, then the team is subject to a possible and meaningless fine; nevertheless, the categories are almost a joke, and teams have little trouble lumping their players within them:

0% Will Not Play in the Ensuing Game.

25% Doubtful Chance of Playing.

50% Questionable Chance of Playing.

75% Probable Chance of Playing.

100% Will Play in the Upcoming Game.

Aside from the very bottom and top, a player could be placed in virtually any category with little rhyme or reason or anything based on sound medical criteria for that matter. Players with foot, knee, toe, hand, wrist, arm, neck, or virtually any other injury, including concussions, are often categorized as having a probable chance of playing, questionable at the least. At a very minimum, we at the CDC believe that injuries and the consequent injury reports should only be examined and then written by qualified independent medical personal, doctors at the MD level, not those paid for by the teams or even by the NFL.”

“It’s love, it’s love that makes the world go ’round.”

Anonymous