Prevention of Cervical Spine Injuries in Football

In brief Data on head and neck injuries in tackle football have been compiled since 1971 by the National Football Head and Neck Injury Registry. A preliminary analysis in 1975 indicated that most of the serious cervical spine injuries were caused by axial loading. Consequently, the leading college and high school athletic associations banned the use of the head as a battering ram (“spearing”) in blocking and tackling. As a result, total cervical spine injuries and those resulting in quadriplegia declined sharply between 1976 and 1987. Similar preventive measures based on clearly defined injury mechanisms could decrease injury rates in other high-risk sports.