The number of concussions has increased since last year, when the National Football League documented 206, and is the highest from the past four years.
Advertisement
This year’s figure was the highest total in the four years of data the league provided, and ended a three-year decline in concussions.
Within the six-slide deck, the most eye-popping statistic is the fact 271 “incidents of concussion” took place during the 2015 preseason and regular season.
The league issued its concussion data for 2015 on Friday, a little more than a week before the Super Bowl, and it showed that helmet-to-helmet hits were also way up. There were 115 in 2014, 148 in 2013, and 173 in 2012.
The NFL made great jumps to improve the awareness and treatment of on-field concussions.
The data also breaks down the causes of the concussions, with the most coming from helmet-to-helmet contact.
The key word there is “diagnosed”, because-as PFT points out-it’s certainly possible teams are just doing a better job at noting these concussions than in previous years, and players are starting to self-report concussions at a rate of greater frequency. There were 29 attributed to contract with the playing surface and 23 due to contact with the shoulder. According to the Times’ report, Sash’s condition had “advanced to a stage rarely seen in someone his age” and was similar to the results found in the brain of Junior Seau, who committed suicide in 2012 at age 43. There were 170 MCL sprains in 2015, an increase of 31 from 2014.
Advertisement
There were 6.6 injuries per game during Sunday and Monday contests during the regular season, a slight decrease from the 7.3 average in 2014. However, Thursday games recorded 5.7 injuries per game, a four-year high.
