Heads Up

Sports fans and medical professionals alike are following the recovery of Buffalo Bills pro-footballer Kevin Everett, who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury in the team's season opener against Denver on Sept. 9.

Making a tackle left the 25-year-old tight end a possible quadriplegic on that day when he was rushed to Buffalo's Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital paralyzed from the neck down. At press time, however, the most recent reports said Everett had regained movement in both hands and strength in his leg muscles — and he could be walking soon.

To prevent the onset of permanent paralysis, doctors performed emergency surgery, then began an experimental treatment called “mild cooling,” inducing a state of hypothermia to thwart further spinal cord destruction. Just weeks after the treatment, Everett was transferred to Memorial Hermann rehab hospital in Houston, and his doctors are calling the recovery something of a miracle.

Some football players are not so lucky.

A study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that between 1989 and 2002, there were an average of seven catastrophic injuries annually, or approximately one injury per every 150,000 high school and college football athletes. The cause of these injuries is often “spear tackling,” where players rush helmet-first into opponents at full force.

Produced by the National Athletic Trainers' Association, a new 14-minute video shows how athletes should play safe to avoid catastrophic injuries as well as other head and neck injuries like concussions and sprains. With distribution funded by the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Pensacola, Fla., nearly every high school in the nation, including football coaches and athletic directors, has received copies.

“I have witnessed on a firsthand basis the results of improper tackling techniques,” says Dr. James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon and medical director of the Andrews Institute.

“All it takes is one incident to end a football career and have medical issues for the rest of your life. [A simple adjustment] to tackling techniques is all it takes to prevent such devastating injuries. We want to prevent any kind of head injury in young athletes because the effects will be seen for many years to come. This a major concern for professional football as well.”