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Comment by thefreeman | Hacker News Reader

Wouldn't their increased strength and size also offset the increased force of the blows to make it about the same as the current situation?

In my head I'm comparing it to something like: If a 250 lb NFL linebacker tackled me at full speed I am pretty sure I would break multiple bones. But NFL running backs take that kind of beating 40-50 times a game, 20 games a year.

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Not everything scales the same. I suspect that heavyweight boxers, for example, can hurt each other a lot more than featherweight boxers.

In fact, professional heavyweight boxers usually develop parkinson's whereas that's virtually a nonexistent problem in welterweight and lower.

Can confirm. Getting hit by a 200+ pounder sucks. Getting hit by a 130lber makes you wonder if they're even trying.

This is actually why I much prefer watching lower weight MMA fights to the bigger guys. The fights tend to go on longer and are more dynamic. With the bigger guys, one solid punch to the head and it's often game over.

http://fightnomics.com/blog/ufc-finishes-by-weight-class-201...

Interesting stats. I'm not sure it completely explains the higher weight divisions though, since if you look at the rate at which the heavier fighters get tired and start lowering their guard, it's much higher than in the lower weight divisions, leaving them more susceptible to the KO/TKO.

It's the cube square law in action. Elephants can seriously injure themselves from falling over. If I fall over I get a sore butt. Yet if you were to scale me to the kind of weight an elephant has, I'd have a far larger fall, so obviously scale has a real effect.

I think the thing is, NFL running backs are trained to survive that kind of abuse.

They're on some painkillers, too, and have short careers.

Maybe on the body? But wouldn't the head still be (relatively to the strength of the body) fragile?

Do RBs get the ball that many times per game? I am genuinely curious. I rarely/never watch football so that could be a low number.

Depends on the back, but feature back's of run heavy offenses definitely get 40-50 touches.

This is an exaggeration -- if they were getting 40-50 touches per game they'd never survive the season.

300 carries per season is regarded as a heavy workload, and that works out to about 20 carries per game. Of course, running backs can also catch passes, but they guys that are the featured backs in a run heavy offense rarely catch more than a pass or two per game.

Edit: I found a list of the highest numbers of rushing attempts in an NFL game since 1960. The record is 45.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/rush_att_singl...

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