DR. JONATHAN KATES
September 19, 2007 12:45 pm
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I have read with interest and sadness the sports articles concerning the catastrophic neck injury sustained by Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett. It happened during a collision on the opening kickoff of the second half of the team’s Sept. 9 contest against the Denver Broncos.
These injuries, while rare, are always upsetting when they occur. Unfortunately, over the years, they have been more common at the high school and college levels than the professional level.
The biggest tragedy is because they are 100 percent preventable. Every football player, coach and referee, from the National Football League down to the little leagues of football, should know how to prevent these injuries.
Unfortunately, it has become commonplace for football players to use their helmets – though it is a penalty – while making a tackle to punish an opposing player.
It is a penalty that is almost never called at any level of football. I can say this with authority since I have covered high school football games as a team doctor almost weekly for the past 30 years.
The referees call the penalty of spearing only when an offensive player is on the ground.
Unfortunately, the catastrophic neck injuries resulting in quadriplegia almost always occur the same way that Everett’s injury occurred.
Was a penalty called on that play? No.
It is almost always the tackler who is injured. The next time you watch a professional or college football game on television, count the number of times a tackle is made with the player leading with the top of his helmet.
Those of us associated with football for younger players, beginning in the earliest of little leagues, should emphasize to the players that they must tackle with their heads up. They must see the (jersey) numbers of the opposing players when they make tackles.
When I was a supervising physician for the Dade County (Fla.) school board, I produced a tape that was narrated by former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula and quarterback Bob Griese that was distributed to all of the high schools in the county. It was titled “Heads Up: Tackling the Right Way.”
If your readers have children who are playing football, you must strongly emphasize to them that they must tackle with their heads up.
It is the responsibility of not just the coaches and the referees, but we as parents, to teach our children this simple fact to prevent a tragedy such as this from hopefully ever occurring again.
Dr. Jonathan Kates is an orthopedic surgeon with Somerset Orthopaedics Inc., Somerset.
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Editor’s note: Doctors on Wednesday reported that Kevin Everett was continuing to show significant signs of progress and that he could be moved to a Houston hospital as early as this weekend.
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