Torg J S, Truex R, Quedenfeld T C, Burstein A, Spealman A, Nichols C
JAMA. 1979 Apr 6;241(14):1477-9.
The National Football Head and Neck Injury Registry has documented 1,129 injuries since 1971 that involved hospitalization for more than 72 hours, surgical intervention, fracture-dislocation, permanent paralysis, or death. Of this group of injuries, 550 were fracture-dislocations of the cervical spine, of which 176 were associated with permanent quadriplegia. It appears that during the last two decades, there has been a decrease in the incidence of direct fatalities, head injuries associated with intracranial hemorrhage, and injuries associated with death. Conversely, cervical spine injuries with fracture-dislocation and with permanent quadriplegia have increased. We believe that these observations are the result of the development of a protective helmet-face mask system that has effectively protected the head, and by so doing has allowed it to be used as a battering ram in tackling and blocking techniques, thus placing the cervical spine at risk of injury.
自1971年以来，国家橄榄球头部和颈部损伤登记处已记录了1129起损伤事件，这些损伤涉及住院超过72小时、手术干预、骨折脱位、永久性瘫痪或死亡。在这组损伤中，550例为颈椎骨折脱位，其中176例伴有永久性四肢瘫痪。在过去二十年中，直接死亡、与颅内出血相关的头部损伤以及与死亡相关的损伤的发生率似乎有所下降。相反，伴有骨折脱位和永久性四肢瘫痪的颈椎损伤有所增加。我们认为，这些观察结果是由于一种防护头盔面罩系统的发展，该系统有效地保护了头部，但这样做使得头部在擒抱和阻挡技术中被用作攻城槌，从而使颈椎面临受伤风险。
