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Is Lacrosse Really Safer?

Concussions have been a hot topic as of late.  The writer’s room here at LAS recently took on the Sports Guy for suggesting the new focus on cranium health will encourage more parents to push their kids away from football and towards lacrosse.

Does that make any sense?  Is little Johnny less likely to be knocked unconscious with a stick in his hand?

[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=MIl2ANYtUpc” splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MIl2ANYtUpc/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”Salisbury Lacrosse Hit”]

A review of the statistics paints a fuzzy picture.  According to Neurosurgerytoday.org, 4,387 people checked in to an emergency room for a lacrosse or rugby related concussion in 2008.  Why did they feel the need to combine lacrosse and rugby?  Your guess is as good as mine.  The same study reports that 40,825 trips to the E.R. were caused by football related concussions.

Does that mean lacrosse is safer?  This initially looks to be the case, since lax only accounts for about 5% of the amount of concussions football does (seriously, why did they need to combine lacrosse and rugby?).  However, the number of athletes that participate in the two sports needs to be taken in to account.

According to the NFHS, there were 1,112,303 high school athletes playing football during the 2008-2009 school year.  Meanwhile, US Lacrosse reports that 131,092 boys played for a high school program in the same year.

Is this enough?

If we assume that half of the numbers reported by Neurosurgery Today are lacrosse related, and that another half of those were from the high school ranks, 1 in every 120 high school lacrosse players took a trip to the E.R. due to a concussion in 2008.

If the same technique is applied to football, 1 in every 54 high school football players needed immediate attention from a doctor because of a concussion sustained during a practice or a game in ’08.

Take away from this what you will, but note that these numbers do not take in to account the fact that I am terrible at math, and that I assumed probably more than I should have.

While these numbers suggest that you’re half as likely to be on the wrong end of a concussion inducing hit while playing lacrosse, I’m not sure if those numbers mean great things for the sport.  Can we agree that you are more than twice as likely to get hit in the head during a football game?  Linemen knock buckets on practically every snap.  If so, does that mean our helmets aren’t as protective?

Lots to think about.

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Email the author of this post at blake@lacrosseallstars.com