Take Part in Sports, But Minimize the Risks, Sports Concussion Expert Says
Julian Bailes does not say that kids younger than 14 – or anyone else – shouldn’t take part in contact sports such as football. But they should know the risks, follow the rules, and make sure they are involved with coaches and others who do the right things when it comes to the health of players.
Bailes is someone whose views are particularly worth attention. A former team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he has been a central figure in medical work that has brought to light the links between repeated hits to the head and long-term brain damage among football players.
During an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program Tuesday at Marquette Law School, Bailes outlined the history of awareness of the toll that concussions and “sub-concussive” hits to the head can have, going back more than a century. But it has been in recent years that work by doctors, most notably Bennet Omalu and Bailes, has established the high incidence among former professional football players of a form of brain damage known as CTE.