Jack Mayer: Should kids play football?

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jack Mayer, MD, MPH, of Middlebury, a Vermont primary care pediatrician and the author of “Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project” and “Before the Court of Heaven.”
“Dr. Jack, should I let my kid play football?”
Most of my patients are adolescent males, and lately, I’ve heard this question more and more.
Concussions are only the visible tip of the iceberg of brain injury associated with tackle football. There