Would You Keep Your Child Out Of Football Due To Risk Of Concussion? – POLL

Kids get hurt when playing sports.  Some sports produce more injuries than others.  Some sports have a greater potential for serious injuries than others.

Playing sports comes with a certain amount of risk.  Balancing the risk between injury and participation can be a difficult decision for parents.

In recent years the risk of concussion to football players has become a growing concern.

Would you keep your child out of football due to risk of concussion?

High school football is set for a big opening weekend in West Michigan.  Thousands will watch and participate, but safety is a growing concern.

Detroitnews.com reports:

Numbers pertaining to sports-related concussions have generated sweeping  reform in football, at a time when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports  up to 3.8 million sports-related cases annually and a 60 percent rise in  emergency room visits among children and adolescents for those and other brain  injuries over the past decade.

Those figures have prompted a growing concern among football players, former  players, parents, coaches, athletic programs and the governing bodies  representing the sport about the long-term effects of concussions and repeated  concussions, and what can be done to prevent them.

Perhaps the scarier statistic is the Sports Concussion Institute's claims  that at least 47 percent of athletes don't report feeling any symptoms after a concussive blow.

The father of New England Patroits quarterback and University of Michigan graduate Tom Brady says he would be "very hesitant" to let his son play if they could do it all over today.  Other professional players have come out with similar comments.

Football is not the only sport that has injuries, but the difference is that football injuries have a greater potential to be serious due to the higher risk of concussion.

My kids are all 5 and under, it will be a while before we have to make a decision concerning hard hits in football, but it is something that has crossed my mind looking towards the future.