Report: Tackle football before age 12 dangerous
Children who play tackle football before the age of 12 are at risk of developing behavioral and cognitive issues as they grow older, according to a new study co-written by an expert who says young kids should not be playing the sport.
“I do not believe kids should be playing tackle football,” said Robert Stern, one of the study’s senior authors and a professor of neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine. “I don’t think it’s in the best interests of our kids’ health and future.”
Researchers from BU’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center studied 214 former football players and found that players who started playing tackle football before the age of 12 were twice as likely to have issues with behavioral regulation and apathy. They were also three times more likely to have clinically elevated depression scores.
Of the former players selected, 43 played through high school, and 103 played through college. The average age of the former players at the time of the study was 51. Results from former players who started playing football before the age of 12 were compared against those of participants who started playing at age 12 or later.
“This study adds to growing research suggesting that incurring repeated head impacts through tackle football before the age of 12 can lead to a greater risk for shortand long-term neurological consequences,” said Michael Alosco, lead author of the study, in a statement.
Researchers said they chose the age of 12 because the brain undergoes a key period of development and maturation between the ages of 10 and 12 in males.
A spokesman for Pop Warner, the nation’s largest youth football program, said its “medical advisory committee will review” the study, but took aim at its validity.
“The participants in this study played youth football 40 years ago,” said Brian Heffron, a Pop Warner spokesman, in an email. “Youth football has evolved significantly since that period and the major changes Pop Warner has implemented have revolutionized the sport, making it safer and better than ever before.”
Stern said football is unique in that it will always subject participants to hundreds of collisions.
“Does it make sense for our kids to be exposed to so many hits to their heads and brains in a single season during an incredible period of brain development?” he said. “There are long-term problems with this.”