Are Concussions Going to Kill the Game of Football?

Possible Solution 4: No pads/No helmet football?

This may seem drastic and counterintuitive, but maybe instead of improving the helmet, the helmet should just be eliminated all together. After all, if players don’t have the feeling of invinciblity that comes from wearing a helmet, they wouldn’t be leading with their head to tackle all the time.

There’s some evidence to support this. Another full-contact sport is Australian Rules Football – a game played without pads at all that features some vicious hitting but far less concussions. According to a recent Wall Street Journal Report:

"When comparing AFL research studies and official NFL injury reports, AFL players appear to get hurt more often on the whole with things like shoulder injuries and tweaked knees. But when it comes to head injuries, the helmeted NFL players are about 25% more likely to sustain one."

Of course, this is very unlikely, as it would drastically change the game. But what’s worse? Changing the game or losing it altogether?

Even if no pads football probably isn’t the answer, it’s clear something needs to be done to combat football’s concussion problems – soon. The very existence of the sport is at stake.