The doctor who inspired the Will Smith movie Concussion says teenagers should not play lacrosse or ice hockey – and only over-14s should play soccer.
There is a growing wave of calls to ban school children – and even adults – from playing American football, given the burgeoning research linking blows to the head with crippling brain diseases like CTE.
Dr Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist who discovered CTE, has said letting children play the contact sport is ‘the definition of child abuse’.
But he warns that is hardly the only sport that could inflict life-long damage on a child’s brain.
Dangerous? Lacrosse has one of the highest concussion rates across all sports
The ‘big six’ to avoid, he says, are football, rugby, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and ice hockey.
But speaking to Today ahead of releasing his new book My Alarming Discovery About The Danger Of Contact Sports, he said other sports carry dangers too.
‘Lacrosse has one of the highest concussion rates across all sports. It’s a very dangerous sport — people need to know that. I also don’t think kids younger than 18 should play it,’ he said.
‘As far as soccer, there should not be any heading below the age of 18.’
He added: ‘Soccer as it’s played today should be played by only children who are above the age of 12-14. Children younger than that should play a modified form of soccer, whereby there’s less contact. Maybe we make the balls bigger and lighter so that there’s less accidental injury.’
Instead, he points to the abundance of sports that carry a far lower concussion risk.
They include swimming, track and field, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and lawn tennis.
Dr Omalu insists that he thinks anyone past their 20s has the right to play whatever sport they want, because their brain is developed.
But before at least the age of 18, he believes their should be rules banning any form of activity that could inflict concussion.
‘Your brain becomes fully developed at about 18-25,’ he told Today. ‘I would be the first to defend your right to do whatever you want as an adult as long as it doesn’t pose a threat to the life of another person. That doesn’t mean it’s safe.’
Forensic pathologist and neuropathologist Dr Bennet Omalu discovered CTE
He added: ‘Children have not reached the age of consent. We are having fewer children so our children are becoming more precious. My son is almost eight years old and he’ll be the first to tell you that football is not good for your brain.’
His words come on the heel of a study by St Michael’s Hospital in Canada which found contact sports have a significant impact on young athletes’ brain structure and function.
Researchers found that body contact and brain damage are directly correlated – with sports that involve more contact causing more significant changes.
The research team looked at preseason brain scans of 65 total varsity athletes.
Of those 23 athletes played collision sports, meaning that players have routine and purposeful body-to-body contact.
Another 22 played contact sports, meaning contact is allowed but isn’t an integral part of the game. And the final 20 played non-contact sports.
None of the participants were otherwise unhealthy.
The team found that the athletes who played collision and contact sports had visible differences in structure, function and chemical markers than typically associated with brain injury.
Their brains also looked considerably different than athletes who did not play contact sports.