<p>[Rock</a> Center with Brian Williams - Concussion crisis growing in girls’ soccer](<a href=“http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/09/11604307-concussion-crisis-growing-in-girls-soccer?lite]Rock”>http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/09/11604307-concussion-crisis-growing-in-girls-soccer?lite)</p>
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<p>There’s video at that site as well as text. What do you think?</p>
<p>She must be a pretty aggressive player.
My daughter played soccer for about 10 years, and rugby for two or three & as far as I know, hasn’t had a concussion.
She had a great coach,but from what I remember, they played hard, but didn’t use head shots that often.</p>
<p>I suffered 2 concussions - one major - playing soccer in the 80s so I don’t see it as being new. It’s just more recognized. I was a goalkeeer and both involved being kicked in the head while the opponent was attempting to take a shot on goal. The first time there was no external damage and the 2nd, about 10 year later, I had 8 stitches and a visit to ER and the neurologist. At that time we didn’t even think about the possibility of future ramifications from the injury.</p>
<p>OMG, brain injury is brain injury no matter what the sport.
Google it.<br>
If the injured person gets re-injured , the damage is multiplied. How do parents and coaches not know this?</p>
<p>Girls’ concussions in soccer are a horrible thing, and more common than people know. I know of at least three national class players who will not continue on to the NCAA because of this. </p>
<p>It’s too risky and they have had too many brain injuries already.</p>
<p>young women should start, from a young age, with the headbands. Keepers should be put in light helmets, in my opinion. Once they get “older” they won’t wear them, but just like hockey, they can be phased in as a part of the gear… JMO</p>
<p>A pediatrician around here says that soccer is one of the most dangerous sports kids play…so much contact and no protection.</p>
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<p>false protection right there… not something I recommend…</p>
<p>young women should start, from a young age, with the headbands. Keepers should be put in light helmets, in my opinion. Once they get “older” they won’t wear them, but just like hockey, they can be phased in as a part of the gear… JMO.</p>
<p>Yes! Not just women’s soccer and not just keepers. For heavens sake why can’t all players wear helmets?
Full protectiOn helmets</p>
<p>I think it’s the headers are such a settled part of the game</p>
<p>I don’t think headers have to be a big part of the game. Like I said, D’s team was competitive, not select, but the next level down. They rarely used headers to advance the ball, perhaps because the coach’s wife was a MD?</p>
<p>I just googled around a bit and the keeper headgear is not a bad idea. I wish I’d had it on when my injuries occured. Interestingly, in my quick search the really bad head injuries (fractures, etc.) are almost always keepers. Coaches are getting much more aware and having much better concussion training just in the last 2 years. When you have a head injury you usually don’t realize it. I was bleeding from my head and thought that I would just hop up and be ready to go. When there is no external injury it is really up to the coach to do triage and keep the kid off the field because they will not be a reliable reporter.</p>
<p>Yes, SF, I wish we’d put my keeper daughter in some head protection when she was still young enough to be willing.</p>
<p>I think there’s a lot of swagger to most keepers, though, and they don’t like to even wear long sleeve shirts half the time. :eek:</p>
<p>One of the things galvanizing the medical establishment around concussions and brain injury in the last few years is the large numbers of soldiers coming back from service overseas who have been exposed to roadside bombs. The effects of these bombs, especially repeated exposure to them, is turning out to be a big problem. Sometimes no one realizes there is even a lasting injury until symptoms surface later.</p>
<p>I’m sure with more girls playing sports in general that there are more concussions from a variety of sports. A girl on D’s ice hockey team had a concussion (and she was wearing a helmet).</p>
<p>My D1 had a bad concussion from being hit int he head from a hard thrown softball during a game. play was over guard was down, other girl didnt know it. Then 3 years later was playing soccer with friends in college and hit her head on the goal. She is a pretty competetive player. then she wanted to do one of those obstacle courses 3 months later, I put my foot down , she was irate, this is no joke, but happily she has been ok except for her lack of judgement which preceded the first concussion.</p>
<p>Here is what I just sent to the school nurse and girls’ soccer coach that I work with as we have had this discussion via email yesterday…</p>
<p>*I had seen it on Facebook yesterday as well, but honestly I probably wouldn’t have watched it because those types of videos come across my news feed daily. I did have a chance to watch the segment last night and was able to discuss the segment with another one of our athletic trainers immediately afterwards and we came to the same conclusion. Really, this video was an emotional video that was to target your emotions and tell the story of these girls. And it succeeded in doing that, but it also missed its mark in a big way I think.</p>
<p>The medical staff (athletic trainers, physicians, and researchers) get criticized often when it comes to the concussion issue in that we’re trying to change the sport “for the worse” and it couldn’t be further from the truth. There are rule modifications in place to reduce injuries and soccer shouldn’t be any different. </p>
<p>Where soccer falls on the list with regards to concussions seems to vary, but it’s always near the top and it is always at the top for female sports. I don’t think we should be surprised by this. There are numerous causes and I think I agree with Julie that it’s not the ball causing a lot of these concussions. They absolutely can, but I’m more concerned with the player-to-player contact which is often associated with heading the ball. We hear the officials yelling about “straight up” and that’s a simple injury reduction technique. </p>
<p>I know that we have discussed on the bench this spring those headbands that we saw some opponents wearing throughout the year. The company claims those reduce concussions and they might help absorb some of the impact, but I come back to the same argument: Football is #1 on the list and they all wear helmets. </p>
<p>What remains a problem is the recognition of that concussion by the athlete. As a coach and as the medical staff, our hands are tied if the athlete is not displaying any signs of a concussion. That is something the video highlighted. Even with one of the girls that they spoke to and were filming admitted to having suffered a concussion and ignoring it!</p>
<p>We must remember these things will happen and we must be prepared to recognize and manage them correctly when they do occur. *</p>
<p>I thought this was going to be about cheerleading…the highly athletic competitive kind is great to watch, but can inflict much worse injuries than female athletes have traditionally been exposed to.</p>
<p>When my daughter started in Premier after 4th grade, I was surprised how rough the game had become since my playing days. She learned quickly and is now one of the hardest tackling defenders. The boys game, once testosterone hits, is downright violent.</p>
<p>There was one program in WA where all the girls wear headgear (somewhere near Olympia).</p>
<p>How many schools use imPACT testing? Apparently it’s a way to measure cognitive ability at the beginning of the season so if an athlete gets a concussion, you can compare their responses. </p>
<p>My son had a concussion at football practice (fell back, hit his head) after which I posted: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1013366-no-more-fb-mean-mom.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1013366-no-more-fb-mean-mom.html</a>. Now his school requires athletes to get cleared by the school doctor and trainer before they can go back on the field after a concussion.</p>
<p>He was watching the show last night.</p>
<p>A lot of the schools here in the Pittsburgh area use Impact testing, but I think it was developed here. Our district uses it - they do a baseline every 2 years, and have to take it again after head trauma. My D plays field hockey and lacrosse, there are concussions during games and practices, but several girls have also gotten them in car accidents, walking into poles, etc. Some take many months to recover. It is taken more seriously now, there are laws that kids must be taken out of games after being hit in the head, with coaches open to penalties if they do not remove them.</p>
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<p>You’re starting to see more and more schools going to it or something similar to it. There are 3 or 4 of these programs and there are pros/cons of each. Dicks Sporting Goods ran a program last year where they teamed up with ImPACT and paid for the program for several hundred schools I think. 2 of the schools that we work with used it this year and my school is in the process of implementing it for next year. We also have 3 physicians in our area that we will be able to refer patients to that can read the ImPACT reports so it’s even more beneficial. </p>
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<p>It was developed there. UPMC is where it’s based out of…</p>