As an extremely fast sport that combines physicality with agility, sports IQ and fine skills, it’s no wonder that lacrosse is slowly overtaking the youth sports scene. Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in America, especially because it offers a physical style similar to football, without the reputation of causing brain injuries. However, both boys and girls lacrosse are quietly responsible for a substantial amount of youth concussions derived from playing the sport. According to headcheckhealth.com, boys lacrosse sits behind hockey and football at third for the sport with the highest rate of concussions for boys, while girls lacrosse has the second highest rate of concussions for girls sports, only behind soccer.
The modern boys lacrosse helmet is certainly useful in limiting trauma to the brain from contact with sticks and balls to the head or hard hits. However, judging by the high concussion rates in the sport, more measures need to be adopted to improve players’ brain safety. A promising piece of equipment called the Q-Collar has broken onto the athletic scene and proposes to be a substantial step in protecting athletes from brain damage.
The Q-Collar is a thin, minimally intrusive band that fits snugly around an athlete’s neck. It is not too tight as to cause any discomfort, but it is just tight enough to restrict a bit of blood flow in the jugular veins, causing the amount of blood in the head to slightly increase. This increase in blood in the head is supposed to add cushion to the brain in the case of an applied force.
While the Q-Collar is incapable of preventing concussions, as are helmets, the company behind the product, Q30 Innovations, has shown in multiple studies that the Q-Collars significantly protect players from repetitive hits beneath concussion level. They observed athletes that wore and did not wear Q-Collars before and after they played a season of their sport, and they found that “athletes who were not wearing the Q-Collar were three times more likely to have significant changes in their brain tissue.” Limiting the effects from sub-concussion level hits is imperative to protecting youth athletes as well as college and professional athletes. Protection against these repetitive blows can reduce negative impacts to the white matter in the brain and also stop an increased risk for Alzheimer’s, CTE and dementia.
Although research on the Q-Collar is not complete and some scientists cast doubt on its effectiveness, the current research and proposed benefits are more than enough for all lacrosse players to heavily consider purchasing one. They cost $199, but protecting the brain is priceless. Additionally, highschools, colleges and professional teams should seriously consider purchasing them in bulk to hand out to players, similarly to how they hand out helmets and jerseys.
Many of the greatest professional lacrosse players at the forefront of the game already wear Q-Collars, too, so there is no argument against them not being stylish or cool. Michael Sowers and Rob Pannel are just two of the many professional players who stand by their Q-Collars. With there being no apparent downside to rocking one, despite having to dole out $200, all lacrosse players should put their brains first and start wearing Q-Collars.
On the other hand, girls lacrosse has experienced numerous safety concerns due to the absence of a common piece of safety equipment: helmets. High school girls lacrosse has been officially sanctioned in 38 states, and only Florida requires all athletes to wear helmets while playing.
Though girls lacrosse is known to be less physical than its male counterpart, injuries still occur quite often. Girls lacrosse has the second highest rate of concussions among nearly all high school sports including football and hockey. A large part of this could be due to the fact that the girls lack head protection. Over 72 percent of concussions in girls lacrosse come from direct contact from a ball or stick, and many of these could be prevented with helmets, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Concussions are extremely dangerous and getting several concussions in someone’s lifetime can lead to serious long term problems such as CTE and depression. In order to limit these injuries, all states, including New Jersey, should start to require that girls lacrosse players wear some type of head protection.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a stigma surrounding girls lacrosse and wearing helmets, similar to a stigma among teenagers and bike helmets. Girls don’t want to wear a helmet when everyone else isn’t and it may appear that someone is “weak” or “soft” if they decide to wear one. However, this stigma is ridiculous. Safety should be the number one most important priority surrounding sports and if there is any way for girls to limit the amount of brain injuries that they experience, NJSIAA officials and USA Lacrosse should act to reduce them.
Another argument against helmets is that boys lacrosse has a lot of concussions even though they wear helmets. This may be true but people do not understand where these concussions are coming from. The majority of boys lacrosse head injuries stem from player-on-player contact while the majority of concussions in girls lacrosse comes from direct contact with the lacrosse ball or a stick. Clearly, helmets would decrease this amount of injuries.
Whether it is boys lacrosse and Q-Collars or girls lacrosse and helmets, there are several ways to improve player safety that should be implemented as soon as possible. Nobody wants to get injured, and these precautions can help prevent that.
