January 2, 2023 was the first Monday Night Football game of the new year. The Buffalo Bills were playing the Cincinnati Bengals on their home field. A routine tackle was made by a Bengals player on a Bills player, Damar Hamlin, during the first quarter. But the tackle was not so routine: after the tackle, Hamlin stood up then fell backwards, unconscious. Medical personnel rushed onto the field and discovered that Hamlin was in cardiac arrest. After receiving CPR for over 9 minutes, Hamlin was placed in an ambulance and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he remains. He is steadily improving.

By now, just about everyone in the country has heard about and/or seen some version of the incident described above. Hamlin, a native of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, is only 24 years old and until Monday night, was a healthy young athlete. While many doctors have speculated that the tackle on Hamlin could have caused a hit to his chest in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time and caused his heart to stop beating, it is not yet known exactly what led to Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest. A lack of information regarding the cause of Hamlin’s injury has nonetheless not stopped experts and lay people alike from opining about the danger inherent in football and the risks associated with contact sports in general.  

THE RISKS

Because American football is a full-contact sport, head injuries are relatively common. According to the San Francisco Spine Institute at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California, up to 1.5 million young men participate in football annually, and there are an estimated 1.2 million football-related injuries per year. An estimated 51% of injuries occur during training sessions, while 49% occur elsewhere. Injuries are nearly 5 times more likely to happen during contact training sessions than in controlled, non-contact sessions. Older players are at the most risk for injuries, while teams with experienced coaches and more assistant coaches are less likely to experience injuries. 50% of injuries occur in the lower extremities (with knee injuries alone counting for roughly 36% of all injuries) and 30% occur in the upper extremities.^[1]  

The most common types of injuries are strains, sprains, bruises, fractures, dislocations, and concussions.^[1] According to the NFL Physicians Society, the most common injuries in football are "concussions, blunt injuries to the chest such as cardiac contusions, pulmonary contusions, broken ribs, abdominal injuries, splenic lacerations and kidney injuries."^[2] Orthopedic injuries to the knee, foot, ankle, shoulder, neck and back are also common, as are muscle strains to the hamstrings, quads, calves and the abdomen.  

Although football is perhaps the most extreme example of a dangerous pastime, other sports have significant risks of injury, too. Soccer is estimated to cause around 412,607 injuries (in both male and female players) a year, and a projected 22% of these injuries are concussions. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), more commonly known as concussions, are usually caused by trauma to the head (often by a heavy item or a hard fall). Basketball is one of the most popular sports worldwide and another one of the most dangerous sports, causing around 169,904 injuries a year. Because of the need for rapid hand movement, jammed fingers are one of the most commonly seen injuries in this sport. Sprains are also common in basketball.  

INJURIES IN YOUTH SPORTS

In the U.S., about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and more than 3.5 million injuries each year are experienced by the participants. Almost one-third of all injuries incurred in childhood are sports-related injuries. By far, the most common injuries are sprains and strains.

The following statistics are from the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Injury rates:

• More than 3.5 million children ages 14 and younger get hurt annually playing sports or participating in recreational activities.
• Although death from a sports injury is rare, the leading cause of death from a sports-related injury is a brain injury.
• Sports and recreational activities contribute to approximately 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among American children.
• Almost 50 percent of head injuries sustained in sports or recreational activities occur during bicycling, skateboarding, or skating incidents.
• More than 775,000 children, ages 14 and younger, are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries each year. Most of the injuries occurr as a result of falls, being struck by an object, collisions, and overexertion during unorganized or informal sports activities.

The risk of injury should not be a deterrent to participation in sports. It should be an incentive to make sports safer, however. Recent advances in safety equipment (helmets and pads, e.g.), as well as mandated safety protocols for practices (addressing excessive heat; minimum time on the bench for head injuries, etc.) have reduced the injury rates for many sports. It is realistic to hope that this trend continues, and that both professional and youth sports become safer as medical and technical advances are implemented.  

CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY

If you or someone you know is seriously injured while participating in a sport, contact Dave Thomas at The Thomas Law Firm for a free evaluation of your claim.