5 Common Injuries In College Football To Watch Out For

By Victoria Robertson on September 5, 2015

To a football player, there’s nothing more terrifying than injuries. Bring on the giant linebackers and those tackles that knock the wind out of you: as long as you’re able to stand back up afterwards and the coach puts you in for the next play, life is good.

But many college football players know the story all too well: high school athlete at the top of their game gets recruited by their top choice college to fall short of the dream before it even really has time to begin due to injury.

And in football, professional or college level, injuries are seen far more often than they’re wanted. So if football is your poison, here are 5 common injuries in college football you’ll want to watch out for.

1. Concussions

Easily the most terrifying of all football injuries, concussions are oftentimes hidden by the players that bear them. According to a recent study, the average college football player reported six suspected concussions for every one concussion actually diagnosed.

While the desire to play the game overrides the willingness to report a concussion, it’s a gamble not to say something. In January of 2014, the NCAA came out with fewer than 200 reported concussions for the previous football season, a number that obviously was much lower than the actual number of player concussions.

In fact, the actual number of concussions in a given season is too hard to determine, but is estimated to be in the thousands rather than in the hundreds. And that’s certainly a far shot from the 190-something that are reported.

2. Neck and Shoulder

As discussed above, head injuries are the most terrifying, life-threatening injuries football has to offer. So while concussions certainly fall under this category, a very common neck injury some fans may not be aware of is known as a burner.

A burner is a neck and shoulder injury that results from striking another player with one’s shoulder (which is why the injury is most commonly seen in football). When this happens, a nerve between the neck and shoulder is struck, sending sharp pain down the player’s arm to the player’s fingers, consequently minimizing the strength of that extremity.

The outcome of this injury varies, although there is hardly ever any life-long damage. Most often, the pain will linger for a short amount of time, and the weakness will linger a bit longer (up to years). While it’s not a life-threatening injury, it’s still one to be taken seriously and to be aware of.

Photo Via: http://a.scpr.org

3. Upper Limb

Upper limb injuries are less common than lower limb injuries, but they are still fairly abundant amongst college athletes.

These injuries include elbows, wrists and forearms – most often broken or fractured bones and ligamentous injuries. Like most injuries, the upper limb injuries occur more often in game situations than they do in practice.

The players most at risk for upper limb injuries are linemen (both offensive and defensive).

4. Torso and Pelvis

While these injuries are less heard of than some of the others on this list, they are still there, and they are usually more serious in nature.

Torso and pelvis injuries typically consist of broken bones in the ribcage and hips, and are more susceptible to football players due to the aggressive nature of the sport and the high-impact hits both given and received by players.

5. Lower Limb

Finally, there are lower limb injuries, which are amongst the less serious, but are also extremely common (about 50 percent of football injuries are in this region).

Of these injuries, those to the knee are extremely common, followed by pulled/strained muscles, broken bones and ligamentous injuries.

Playing contact sports in general subjects players to these kinds of injuries, but with the increased aggression present in football, don’t be surprised if your university is short a few players due to broken legs or torn ligaments.

Football injuries vary in severity and are continuously contracted by athletes in game situations. Of course, many chalk this up as a requirement of the game, but that isn’t to say these injuries shouldn’t be taken seriously.

So keep yourself healthy, watch out for these common injuries and keep doing what you do. We all love college football, but we can only love it as long as athletes are healthy and ready to play it.

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