Monthly Archives: May 2014

Can Neck Strength Prevent Concussions?

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Alex Marvez has been in attendance at all our our clinics so far. Here is one of his articles about last year’s event:

Can Neck Strength Prevent Concussions?


Torrey Smith was one of three Ravens players to suffer a concussion in the 2013 season.

CINCINNATI, Ohio

The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII with one of the NFL’s most loaded rosters.

But what good is talent if players can’t stay on the field or quickly recover from injuries.

Ravens strength coach Bob Rogucki delivered a reminder of that last week when speaking at the third-annual Football Strength Clinic in Cincinnati. The event focused on ways in which neck strength for male and female athletes who play high school, college or pro sports can be developed in an effort to reduce concussion risk.

While not as publicized as other NFL anti-concussion measures, there is scientific research that shows a muscular neck likely defuses the potentially damaging forces sometimes generated when a player is hit in the head. The larger the “cylinder,” the better the chance that the neck will serve as a shock-absorber to lessen stress placed on the skull.

Exactly how much Rogucki’s weight-lifting program helped players last season can’t be scientifically quantified. It’s safe to say, though, that it definitely didn’t hurt during Baltimore’s championship run. READ MORE >>>

 

 



Football’s Risks Sink In, Even in Heart of Texas

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MARSHALL, Tex. — In many ways, this East Texas town stands as a vibrant example of the state’s storied relationship with football.

Not long ago, caravans of cars drove to Houston and Dallas to watch the Marshall Mavericks battle for the high school state football championship, and signs hanging from bridges along the interstate read, “Playoff bound.” The local sporting-goods shops would sell out of red-and-white merchandise — anything in the school’s colors — on game days.

But now Marshall represents something quite different — a shift in perceptions about football that would have been hard to imagine when the school made a cameo in the book “Friday Night Lights” nearly 25 years ago.

Amid widespread and growing concerns about the physical dangers of the sport, the school board here approved plans in February to shut down the district’s entry-level, tackle-football program for seventh graders in favor of flag football. There was little objection. (Keep Reading >>>)



Creating a safer way to practice high school football

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“Imagine if someone told you the best way to prepare for a car crash was to be in a series of car crashes each week. This is basically the logic that has permeated football practice for years.

The accepted way to prepare players for the high-speed impacts of a game was to subject them to those same impacts in practice, toughen ’em up by tenderizing them like beef. But the growing awareness and acknowledgment of the dangers of concussions and subconcussive hits has forced a sea change in football culture at the NFL level.

The days of turning players into human battering rams day after day in practice are as outmoded as the rotary telephone…” (keep reading)