Comment by prodtorok | Hacker News Reader

Comment by prodtorok | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I'm sorry but as someone in the U.S. who played competitive rugby for 7 years I have to completely disagree.

In rugby I myself had experienced concussions from collisions at least once a season. Anyone I know who has played have experienced similar.

Less protection to the head means lower g-force hits sure, but still I've seen players knocked unconscious by pure body collision hits or an accidental knee to the head (this happens a lot more than you think) ... in fact in my 4 years of high school football I rarely, if ever, saw anyone knocked unconscious... where in rugby I can recall a handful of incidents.

Rugby has no room to outshine football in this manner. Such a foolish arguement.

Might be US culture vs others. Football probably has an influence on how Rugby is played in the US.

I mean.. isn't your argument just as foolish? Lets talk numbers, real numbers, not anecdotes.

Why one sport may differ (less or more) is a difficult thing to discuss, as we likely don't have clear numbers. But isn't debating something like the number of concussions for each sport silly?

even if you hit your head really hard on the front, it's the back of your brain that ends up getting wrecked, due to the rippling of the kinetic energy through your skull-confined brain matter.

The thing about concussion is that it's not the first impact that does the most damage - it's your brain sloshing and shearing/splitting itself, near the rear, against the inside of your skull as the recoil causes neuronal connections to essentially splinter..

like if you were to grab a dish-washing sponge with both hands, and tear it apart by pulling it apart by stretching it (a downwards-rolling wrist motion) you would notice the unfurling and disintegration of the middle section. essentially that's what happens during concussion; a 3 dimensional shearing tensor that is kind of like plunging your thumb into a ball of playdoh..

that's why even the mildest concussions are a seriously underrated danger

Reply on news.ycombinator.com