Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/696420
IN A FE W weeks, many high schools will be starting football practice for the 2016 season. Deciding whether or not their sons should play football is a tough decision for parents even if they are physicians. The risk of serious injuries in football is, admittedly, one of the highest in high school sports. Some parents make this decision for their sons. Other parents and sons make the decision jointly, while some sons decide to play other sports or no sports at all. Dav id D u g ga n , M D, D e a n of t he College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University, and his wife, Lynn Cleary, MD, also a faculty member at Upstate, decided to keep their sons out of football while at tending Ska neateles High School. Joe, who graduated last year from the University of Michigan, is training to become a U.S. Navy SEAL. His younger brother, Sam, graduated in June from Skaneateles. He will be attending Cornell University on a lacrosse scholarship. Sam was a high school All-American in the sport this year. The boys' father had a number of con- cussions during high school and college. Dr. Duggan gave up football in his junior year in college after his father, the late Dr. John Duggan, referred him to a local neurosurgeon. The younger Dr. Duggan does not reg ret play ing footba ll a nd recalls the words of Carl Bjork, his coach at Jamesville-Dewitt High School. Bjork said that kissing is a contact sport and that football is a collision sport. Dr. Duggan is a past president of the Onondaga County Medical Society and his decision not to have his sons play foot- ba ll differs from those of two recent past presidents, Dennis Nave, MD, a fa mily physicia n, a nd Rober t Dracker, MD, a pediatricia n. Drs. Nave a nd Dracker enc ou r a ge d t hei r son s t o pl ay h i g h school footba ll, which they did. Earlier this year (Feb. 4, 2016), the New England Journal of Medicine published a n a r ticle by Kathleen E. Bachy nski, MPH, titled "Tolerable Risks? Physicians and Youth Tackle Footba ll." Bachynski wrote: "In October 2015, the American Academy of Pediatrics (A AP) issued its first policy statement directly addressing tackling in footba ll. ... The A A P com- mittee shied away from endorsing the elimination of tackling in youth football, because doing so would fundamenta lly change the way the game is played. Yet evidence indicates that tackle football in its correct form is inconsistent with the A AP mission 'to attain optimal physical, mental and socia l hea lth and well being for infa nts, children, adolescents a nd young adults.'" Cynthia Morrow, MD, Commissioner o f t h e O n o n d a g a C o u n t y H e a l t h Depa r t ment for n i ne yea rs, a nd her husba nd, a lso a physicia n, did not have t o m a ke t he deci sion a s t o whet her t hei r t wo son s wou ld pl ay footba l l . The sons opted to play soccer instead. Dr. Morrow acknowledges that there is g row i n g ev idence about t he r isk s in play ing footba ll a nd that is under- sta ndably a public hea lt h issue. She suppor ts f ur ther resea rch a nd bet ter information on this subject. Morrow currently holds severa l positions at both Syracuse University 's Ma x well School of Citizenship a nd Public A ffa irs a nd at the State Universit y of New York 's Upstate Medica l Universit y. Michael Roizen, MD, Chief Wellness O•cer of the Cleveland Clinic, is a regular weekly guest on WSYR Radio's morning news, sports and weather program. In a recent telephone interview, he did not overlook the risks of playing football but strongly emphasized the great lessons that players receive from what it means to be part of a team sport and to contribute all that they can to achieve team goals. This, he said, can and should carry over to whatever they do later in life. Safe Kids WorldWide compiled some interesting statistics on sports injuries in 2013 for children 19 and younger (boys and girls). Basketball accounts for 359,300 injuries, the most of any sports injuries. Football was second with 354,300 injuries. It is worth noting that many schools do not have football teams. The other sports "injuries" are as follows: soccer, 171,000; ba seba l l , 10 6 ,10 0 ; sof tba l l , 5 3 , 3 0 0 ; wrestling, 38,900; cheerleading, 35,200; volleyball, 34,700; gymnastics, 33,000; track and field, 23,900; lacrosse, 17,700; ice hockey, 11,200: and tennis, 5,700. Gerald N. "Jerry" Homan was Chief Executive O•cer of the Onondaga County Medical Society from 1981 until his retire- ment on Jan.31,2014. He co-authored two books, Medical Malpractice Insurance: A Legislator's View and The History of Local Medical Care: Celebrating Physicians, Past and Present, 1806–2006. ■ Play Football? BY GERALD N. "JERRY" HOFFMAN BOYS SHOULD M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C EN T R A L N E W YO R K ■ 2 016 0 5 H E A LT H C A R E P E R S P E C T I V E ❰❰❰❰❰ 0 5