Heads Up

Sports fans and medical professionals alike are following the recovery of Buffalo Bills pro-footballer Kevin Everett, who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury in the team’s season opener against Denver on Sept. 9.

Making a tackle left the 25-year-old tight end a possible quadriplegic on that day when he was rushed to Buffalo’s Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital paralyzed from the neck down. At press time, however, the most recent reports said Everett had regained movement in both hands and strength in his leg muscles — and he could be walking soon.

To prevent the onset of permanent paralysis, doctors performed emergency surgery, then began an experimental treatment called “mild cooling,” inducing a state of hypothermia to thwart further spinal cord destruction. Just weeks after the treatment, Everett was transferred to Memorial Hermann rehab hospital in Houston, and his doctors are calling the recovery something of a miracle.

Some football players are not so lucky.

A study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that between 1989 and 2002, there were an average of seven catastrophic injuries annually, or approximately one injury per every 150,000 high school and college football athletes. The cause of these injuries is often “spear tackling,” where players rush helmet-first into opponents at full force.

Produced by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, a new 14-minute video shows how athletes should play safe to avoid catastrophic injuries as well as other head and neck injuries like concussions and sprains. With distribution funded by the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Pensacola, Fla., nearly every high school in the nation, including football coaches and athletic directors, has received copies.

“I have witnessed on a firsthand basis the results of improper tackling techniques,” says Dr. James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon and medical director of the Andrews Institute.

“All it takes is one incident to end a football career and have medical issues for the rest of your life. [A simple adjustment] to tackling techniques is all it takes to prevent such devastating injuries. We want to prevent any kind of head injury in young athletes because the effects will be seen for many years to come. This a major concern for professional football as well.”

Participants in the video include Tony Dungy, head football coach, Indianapolis Colts; Jerry Punch, MD, college football commentator for ABC Sports and ESPN; Grant Teaff, executive director, American Football Coaches Association; Ron Courson, ATC, PT, director of sports medicine, University of Georgia, and chairman of NATA’s College/University Athletic Trainers’ Committee; Jonathan Heck, MS, ATC, coordinator of athletic training, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey; and physicians Robert Cantu, MD, FACSM, and Joseph Torg, MD.

Titled “Heads Up — Reducing the Risk of Head and Neck Injuries in Football,” the DVD emphasizes correct tackling techniques. According to the Indianapolis Colts’ Dungy, “It really doesn’t matter what position you play or where you are on the field. The object of the collisions is to deliver a blow and come out of it in great shape.”

Adds UGA’s Courson, “We need players, coaches and parents to be aware of the dangers of head-down contact and spearing, which can cause cervical spine and head injuries or even death.

“Each time a player initiates contact with his head down, he risks quadriplegia. Each time a player initiates contact head first, he increases the risk of concussion.”