Some Good News For Lawyers Who Tackle Football Helmet Head Injuries

The Ivy League has decided to go yards ahead of the N.C.A.A. rules and limit the number of full-contact practices in response to research that shows it will reduce brain trauma for football players.

 Ken Belson writing for the NYTimes, "College Football - To Protect Players, Ivy League To Reduce Contact," reports on one of the most encouraging signs that someone is paying attention to the growing body of research which points to reducing full-contact as a clear way to save football players from traumatic brain injury and worse.  For those of us who have fought with football helmet manufacturers to increase protections for players from PeeWee to the All-Stars, this is a solid step in the direction of player safety.  Excerpt.

"The Ivy League will announce on Wednesday that, in an effort to minimize head injuries among its football players, it will sharply reduce the number of allowable full-contact practices teams can hold."

The limitations will not stop with football. Excerpt.

"The changes, to be implemented this season, go well beyond the rules set by the N.C.A.A. and are believed to be more stringent than those of any other conference. The league will also review the rules governing men’s and women’s hockey, lacrosse and soccer to determine if there are ways to reduce hits to the head and concussions in those sports."

While the ad hoc committee that created the rules apparently did not include lawyers, one can only hope that the work done by lawyers on behalf of injured players helped influence how the sport looked at the dangers of football helmet injures to spur these progressive changes.  Excerpt.

"An ad hoc committee that included college presidents, athletic directors, coaches, team physicians and other medical experts created the rules after a nearly yearlong investigation, the league said. Though a precise link has not been defined between playing football and long-term effects on brain functions, a growing body of data prompted the committee to move proactively.

The league is also asking football coaches to spend more time emphasizing and teaching techniques for avoiding helmet hits and show videos of permissible and nonpermissible hits."