WEBVTT FILE
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=MPEGTS:0,LOCAL:00:00:00.000

1
00:00:05.155 --> 00:00:07.107
Should kids play tackle football?

2
00:00:07.107 --> 00:00:10.877
The research shows children
who play football are at risk of serious

3
00:00:10.877 --> 00:00:16.049
brain injuries and chronic diseases
like CTE, from repeated blows to the head.

4
00:00:16.349 --> 00:00:19.669
We were joined by someone who knows
a great deal about concussions.

5
00:00:19.736 --> 00:00:22.822
Chris Nowinski
a neuroscientist, former

6
00:00:22.822 --> 00:00:26.393
Harvard football player and WWE wrestler.

7
00:00:27.227 --> 00:00:29.129
Chris, welcome.

8
00:00:29.129 --> 00:00:30.980
Look, putting in all of your

9
00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:33.950
all of your resume out there,
you're a former football player

10
00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:37.821
and a professional wrestler,
but you're also a neuroscientist.

11
00:00:37.971 --> 00:00:40.974
What was your experience with concussions?

12
00:00:41.725 --> 00:00:46.079
No, I was never aware or interested in
concussions until it was too late for me.

13
00:00:46.279 --> 00:00:49.549
So I played eight years of football, was
lucky to be recruited to play at Harvard.

14
00:00:49.916 --> 00:00:56.072
I joined the WWE, had a great time there
until I got a bad concussion in 2003.

15
00:00:56.573 --> 00:01:00.410
That left me with post-concussion
syndrome, some of which still lasts

16
00:01:00.410 --> 00:01:01.261
to this day.

17
00:01:01.261 --> 00:01:04.798
Children playing
tackle football at an early age.

18
00:01:04.948 --> 00:01:07.917
How soon could brain

19
00:01:07.917 --> 00:01:12.021
injuries like CTE begin
to appear in young football players?

20
00:01:12.989 --> 00:01:15.442
So when we talk about football,
we talk about brain injuries.

21
00:01:15.442 --> 00:01:16.709
We're talking about two things.

22
00:01:16.709 --> 00:01:19.879
One is the concussion issue
and the other one

23
00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.032
is this degenerative brain disease
chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

24
00:01:23.333 --> 00:01:28.855
When it comes to concussions,
the risk of kids running into each other

25
00:01:28.855 --> 00:01:32.776
300 times every fall is that some of those
are going to cause concussions.

26
00:01:32.792 --> 00:01:35.395
The defense
we sort of have for concussions right now

27
00:01:35.395 --> 00:01:37.380
is can we diagnose them,

28
00:01:37.380 --> 00:01:40.800
and then can we treat them properly
and let their brain rest and then let

29
00:01:40.800 --> 00:01:44.487
them return without those concussions
leaving permanent brain damage?

30
00:01:44.821 --> 00:01:48.508
The problem is,
the younger you go with athletes, the less

31
00:01:48.508 --> 00:01:51.811
they're able to understand
when they have a concussion, right?

32
00:01:51.828 --> 00:01:54.831
Five year olds can't recite to you
what concussion symptoms are,

33
00:01:54.864 --> 00:01:58.518
so they're very unlikely to tell you
when they're having subtle

34
00:01:58.518 --> 00:01:59.819
concussion symptoms.

35
00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:02.005
And you add on to that that we don't have

36
00:02:02.005 --> 00:02:05.508
athletic trainers and doctors
on the sideline for youth sports.

37
00:02:05.792 --> 00:02:09.529
And so there's no medical personnel
to spot obvious concussion signs.

38
00:02:09.529 --> 00:02:11.631
Like, we often see on an NFL field.

39
00:02:11.631 --> 00:02:13.199
And you see players removed.

40
00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.019
So the problem with kids
is that if you hit him in the head

41
00:02:16.019 --> 00:02:19.923
all the time, you're definitely giving him
concussion to at least 5% of football

42
00:02:19.923 --> 00:02:20.607
players every year.

43
00:02:20.607 --> 00:02:23.276
And youth are getting
concussions is probably more,

44
00:02:23.276 --> 00:02:26.746
but we're not diagnosing them
and treating them properly.

45
00:02:26.763 --> 00:02:27.797
So there's a risk there.

46
00:02:27.797 --> 00:02:31.951
The other risk is the long term
accumulation of hits to the head.

47
00:02:32.602 --> 00:02:36.656
study after study out of Boston University
and now many other centers is showing

48
00:02:36.656 --> 00:02:41.327
that the longer you're exposed to repeated
head impacts in sports like football

49
00:02:41.511 --> 00:02:45.415
or rugby or boxing, the greater
your risk of developing the degenerative

50
00:02:45.415 --> 00:02:46.499
brain disease.

51
00:02:46.499 --> 00:02:50.370
But the idea that we could be giving
children or we are giving children

52
00:02:50.370 --> 00:02:53.456
a lifelong brain disease before they
they can understand

53
00:02:53.456 --> 00:02:56.459
it doesn't sit well with me
and I think we should do it differently.

54
00:02:56.576 --> 00:02:59.846
Let's answer the million dollar question.

55
00:03:00.063 --> 00:03:04.500
Should young children
be allowed to play tackle football?

56
00:03:04.517 --> 00:03:09.088
Should parents be allowing their kids
to play in youth football leagues?

57
00:03:10.190 --> 00:03:13.109
So the problem is not necessarily football
per se.

58
00:03:13.109 --> 00:03:14.777
It's too much football. Right?

59
00:03:14.777 --> 00:03:17.297
So if you play if you have a long career,
your risk goes

60
00:03:17.297 --> 00:03:19.349
into a very dangerous place.

61
00:03:19.349 --> 00:03:22.602
And the problem with football
is that we can't cap how long you play.

62
00:03:22.619 --> 00:03:25.171
If everyone is only allowed
to play two seasons, we say go

63
00:03:25.171 --> 00:03:28.224
enjoy football, have the experience,
but you're probably not going to get CTE.

64
00:03:28.608 --> 00:03:31.077
But because if you're good,
you'll keep getting pushed up

65
00:03:31.077 --> 00:03:33.596
and sort of recruited to college
like I did.

66
00:03:33.596 --> 00:03:34.530
That doesn't work.

67
00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:38.785
And so the only other way to minimize CTE
risk in those who are successful

68
00:03:39.002 --> 00:03:40.436
is to start later.

69
00:03:40.436 --> 00:03:43.473
And so our recommendation,
the Concussion Legacy Foundation, is

70
00:03:43.473 --> 00:03:47.777
you don't need to tackle football
until high school to have success

71
00:03:47.777 --> 00:03:49.379
and to go get playing College

72
00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:49.946
and high school

73
00:03:49.946 --> 00:03:53.099
football is really where the magic is,
where you build lifelong friendships

74
00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:54.901
and you know you're old enough
to understand the experience.

75
00:03:54.901 --> 00:03:59.339
You're having the stuff
before in our opinion, is a lot of risk

76
00:03:59.339 --> 00:04:00.206
because you're adding

77
00:04:00.206 --> 00:04:03.409
CTE risk, you're adding concussions
without medical personnel there,

78
00:04:03.593 --> 00:04:07.230
but you're not getting that same benefit
that, you know, that

79
00:04:07.230 --> 00:04:11.451
you don't need those hits the head
to learn the life lessons that you want.

80
00:04:11.668 --> 00:04:14.520
Neuroscientist, former Harvard football

81
00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.657
player and WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski.

82
00:04:17.757 --> 00:04:20.243
Thank you so much for joining us.

83
00:04:20.243 --> 00:04:21.027
Thank you for having me.

84
00:04:22.195 --> 00:04:24.797
For daily access to Boston Globe today.

85
00:04:24.797 --> 00:04:28.735
All segments and episodes are available
on demand in the Boston

86
00:04:28.735 --> 00:04:30.670
Globe app by clicking Watch.