Tackle football is basically the only sport my kids are not allowed to play. I don’t talk about it because I don’t want it to become something forbidden and therefore cool, but if they naturally find their way there and start getting pushy about it, it’s one of the few things I’m prepared to put my foot down about with no compromise.

▲

brianwawok 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Football, boxing... seem the top two to cross off. I think skiing is perhaps the third to cross off.

▲

KingMachiavelli 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Skiing is pretty awesome and IMO risk of concussion or serious injury is very low if you are not a freestyle or extremely aggressive/risky skier.

Football and boxing involve guaranteed sub-concussion head impacts every session and likely full concussions at least a few times a year.

▲

kenjackson an hour ago | parent [-]

A few years ago in my team of 12 -- we had 4 people in knee braces due to injuries from skiing. Given how little people actually ski, it seems like the sport with the highest injury rate (injuries per minute) -- at least based on my anecdotal data.

▲

bluGill 4 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Knee Injuries are not in the same league as brain injuries.

▲

adrian_b 38 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Presumably the risk of injuries during skiing is similar to the risk of car accidents when driving, i.e. very high for certain people, but negligible for most.

Anecdotally, I have many friends, of both sexes, who like to go skiing, and after many decades none of them has ever been injured. Some falls from time to time are unavoidable, but if the speed is not excessive for the terrain and the fall is managed correctly, most falls will not result in injuries.

	▲	gnarcoregrizz 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		agreed. seems the beginners get injured more. I was in a race league throughout school. no super g or downhill races so speeds were tame. I don't recall any major injuries, just scrapes and bruises. seemed pretty safe provided your gear is set up correctly (DINs were still at 10+ haha), and you spend time in the gym

▲

badc0ffee 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

At least with skiing, getting hit in the head isn't the point.

	▲	zbentley 21 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Anecdotal, but: I only know 3 people with TBIs personally. All three got them skiing or snowboarding. One died.

▲

jr3592 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Skiiing? Please do explain

	▲	Ekaros 4 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I take it means downhill. Not cross country which to me seems safe, apart from causing asthma in Norwegians for some reason... But downhill version involves going relatively fast or really fast with some small change for sudden stop, which in very few cases is safe.
	▲	Forgeties79 an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Skiing becomes incredibly dangerous once you get into like…your 40s and beyond unless you have been doing it pretty consistently your whole life. And even then it’s still very dangerous. High speeds, downhill, crashes are serious. It’s a sport many people step away from for long periods of time (I.e. the muscles aren’t in shape and they're rusty) and it demands a lot unless you’re sticking to bunny slopes.

▲

2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲

ErroneousBosh 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wait until you hear about shinty.

Have you ever seen ice hockey? Okay well imagine that if it was on a field and if you made it into a really fast and violent contact sport.

▲

unregistereddev an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I'm interested and after work will look for video to better understand game action. But there's no way that shinty is "really fast" compared to ice hockey. Ice hockey players routinely move 15-20mph (~24-32km/h) and occasionally sprint upwards of 25mph (40km/h).

	▲	ErroneousBosh 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, they just scoot about on the ice and don't actually play. Ice hockey is a really boring sport.

▲

mikestew an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Field hockey, yeah, I've heard of it. And there's no way a field hockey player is going to run as fast as an ice hockey player skates.

	▲	ErroneousBosh 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		No, field hockey is a totally different thing. Like ice hockey, field hockey is non-contact, and very slow, and you're not allowed to lift your stick off the surface.

▲

jjtheblunt 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

soccer headers are ok? (clearly they're not.)

	▲	5upplied_demand 23 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The US Soccer Federation has proactively banned headers at the U11 level. It's not really a good example.
	▲	Forgeties79 4 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The concussion rate in American football (especially pre-NFL) is significantly higher than soccer’s and as the other commenter said, soccer orgs have been addressing it (way better than the NFL has) for a long time. It’s also more preventable in a way it simply isn’t in American football. They don’t even compare tbh

▲

dfxm12 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

If you're worried about head trauma, just consider that football is being widely studied & reported upon right now. Look at the stats of basically any contact sport: wrestling, soccer, hockey, etc. You'll probably have to dig deeper to find the the studies, but they all show that the athletes are significantly more likely to develop these types of brain disorders.

	▲	Forgeties79 a minute ago \| parent [-]
		They aren’t. You shouldn’t correct people and tell them to go research things you haven’t even looked up yourself.