Moments after her son finished practicing with his fifth-grade tackle football team, Beth Sparks examined his scuffed and battered helmet for what she admitted was the first time. She looked at the polycarbonate shell and felt the foam inside before noticing a small emblem on the back that read, “MEETS NOCSAE STANDARD.”
“I would think that means it meets the national guidelines ”” you know, for head injuries, concussions, that sort of thing,” she said. “That’s what it would mean to me.”
That assumption, made by countless parents, coaches, administrators and even doctors involved with the 4.4 million children who play tackle football, is just one of many false beliefs in the largely unmonitored world of football helmets.
Lent & Beyond is posting a [url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/menu-of-prayers-for-neurologic-disease/]series[/url] of prayers for the healing of neurologic disease. Many are applicable to trauma injuries.