Playing tackle football before 12 years old may lead to cognitive development problems: Study

What is the ideal age for a child to begin playing tackle football? A new study suggests children should wait until at least 12 years of age as they may be more susceptible to cognitive development and memory impairment issues later in life if they start at an earlier age.

The study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine analyzed retired football players from the National Football League (NFL). The study demonstrated that if players were exposed to the game before the age of 12, they performed 20 percent worse compared to the others who did not play tackle football when young.

The study noted that children whose brains are rapidly developing should not be hitting their heads over and over again in contact sports such as football, said Julie Stamm, the lead author of the study.

Researchers chose 42 retired NFL players from the age group between 40 and 60 years. As part of the study, the players were divided into two groups of those who played tackle football under the age of 12 years, and those at or after that age.

"This study supports the idea . . . that there may be later life consequences associated with childhood exposure to repetitive head impacts," Stern said according to the report published online in Neurology. "Regardless of the results, it makes logical sense that children whose brains are rapidly developing should not be hitting their heads over and over again."

"The disruption of key neurodevelopmental processes by RHI [repeated head impacts] may be the underlying cause of the results of this study," Stern and colleagues wrote, adding that youth football can involve "hundreds of subconcussive head impacts each season."

The 42 participants enrolled in the study were 40 to 69 years old (mean 52) and had self-reported complaints of mood, behavioral, or mental abnormalities for at least the previous 6 months.

In addition to other data collected, they were asked when they started playing tackle football. The reported range was age 7 to 17. Age 12 was prespecified as the cutoff for analysis on the basis of previous reports and the researchers' own experience.

Stern concluded by saying parents need to exercise common sense above all when deciding what their children should do.

"We do everything possible as a society to try to protect our kids, and yet we drop them off at a field at age 8, 9, 10 or younger and say, 'Go get your head hit, as many times as you want,'" Stern said. "And it's a lot of times."