I'm going to call BS on your conclusion:
Concussion Statistics for High School Sports | MomsTeam
- For children seen in the ED and discharged, the sports most commonly associated with TBI were:
- Football (29.1%);
- Soccer (16.5%); and
- Basketball (15.4%)
- For admitted patients, the most common sports were:
- Football (24.7%)
- Skateboarding/roller blading (16.1%); and
- Baseball/softball (12.9%).
There was a study by the Mayo Clinic that I was basing my conclusion on, and it seemed pretty legit and thorough. I cannot find it, but in looking for it I found this article about another study from the Mayo Clinic:
JOHN DOHERTY: Unexpected results in Mayo Clinic football study
The first study I mentioned did show the probability for other more severe injuries (broken bones, etc) was higher for football, but not significantly more than youth soccer and I think LaCross or ice hockey (can't remember which).
Boone7247 stated correctly though - my basis was on 'youth', which was either 9th or 8th grade and below. Hope I can find the original study/article. I suffered more than 1 concussion during my days, so that could be why I'm not having any luck.
No problems with anyone not wanting their child playing football. But I think when the speed of the game starts to increase, in particular in middle school levels and you have some boys maturing quicker and they are playing ahead of the curve, I wouldn't doubt the number of concussions may increase and also hits that may not lead to a full concussion but can also start adding up to cause problems may also increase dramatically.
The youth game will depend upon the quality of coaching and implementing the better ways to play, in particular tackling. Used to be hit with 1 shoulder and wrap, which led to quite a bit of the initial contact occurring to the helmet/head/shoulders. Now it is 'Heads Up Football'. Think it is laid out at USA Football.