Tim Tebow concussion slow motion (via bamatunz)

Football is part of the cultural make-up of the United States and as a result we tolerate its meat-grinding brutality as normal despite the growing evidence that playing football is hazardous to your health.

It's not just the grind of torn ACL's, ruptured spleens, popping knees, fractured limbs, dislocated joints, torn ligaments and muscles. It's the fact that even if you dodge those injuries, which are as common to football players as the cold is to every day people, you still have to deal with the risks of long term mental health issues.

The fact of the matter is that professional football players collide with the force of small adult killer whales on every play. The body and brain absorbs damages that no normal human being is suppose to endure and the results are quickly becoming academic. While the NFL and football proponents try to cast these scientific findings as "anomalous" their own commissioned study found that football dramatically increases the risk of dementia.

WKR has long harped on the fact that MMA detractors, who usually cite MMA as being too "violent" as a reason for their opposition, yet they choose to ignore the inherent dangers of football, which equally fits their criteria of a sport being "too violent."

Now mixed martial arts is still a young sport and due to its youth there is virtually no long-term medical data about the long term effects of being a fighter. There still is medical research, like this American study, which had favorable findings towards the risk of brain injuries in MMA.

The overall injury rate in MMA competitions is now similar to other combat sports, including boxing. Knockout rates are lower in MMA competitions than in boxing. This suggests a reduced risk of TBI (traumatic brain injuries) in MMA competitions when compared to other events involving striking.

This doesn't mean that the medical book is closed on MMA. There still needs to be more research but comparing the current data in MMA versus the data in football and it is clear that playing football is riskier than being an MMA fighter.

[Update: Note by Zak Woods, 10/05/09 2:27 PM EDT ]

Football is bad for teenagers too. It almost like cigarettes!