How Bad Are Head Injuries in Soccer?

[LightRanger]

Bullshit.

Agree with the rest though.

[TahoeJ]

This reminded me of something. I'm coaching my kids soccer team this year and was reminded by a league rep about the no heading rule. My response was: "Most of the time their heads make contact with the ball it's completely unintentional." I've definitely seen some good blind-sided shots to the face this season... oh man.

[TNKen]

Girl that played in the area takes one to the face in volleyball.

[irul&ublo]

That needs to get turned into a .gif

[old goat]

sports change--instant replay, designated hitter, the trapezoid, the live ball, the 3 point line, etc, etc. Soccer would still be soccer without heading. Football is a bigger problem. I would be surprised if 25 years from now we are still playing football the way it is played today. It will still be football but it will look a lot different.
For starters--forget about defenseless player. You hit the head of a defenseless player you're ejected. Two non-defenseless players hit head on, they both get ejected. They'll figure out how to keep their heads out of the way in a hurry.

[XXX-er]

I used to work with an ex pro (offensive center) who's career was ended when a couple of opposing players purposely injured him and they admitted to it, one went high one went low and that was the end of the knee

[mmmm...pow!]

Girl that played in the area takes one to the face in volleyball.

I know nothing about volleyball, but it appears the rest of her team in the black jerseys were kinda pissed that she switched sides and were targetting her. She could learn a thing or two from this guy.

[mmmm...pow!]

He's got no issues heading a soccer ball, either

[TNKen]

I know nothing about volleyball, but it appears the rest of her team in the black jerseys were kinda pissed that she switched sides and were targetting her.

She is the libero, a purely defensive player that can substitute on the back row at will. Jersey must be totally different that the rest of her team.

[1080Rider]

This gets a big "meh" from me. I've been coaching for the past 15 yrs and have a B license. I spend very, very little time "coaching" heading. I spend much more time on technical and tactical passing. In light of the new rules I'll spend more time coaching chest traps to my younger players and eventually coach heading to kids as they get older... I like the emphasis but think USSF has gone a little far. When I grew up playing we were coached to not let the ball hit the ground on a goal/drop kick. Playing defense into college I took a TON of balls off the head. Only concussions I ever got were from hitting the ground. The ball is pretty safe, the players around you, not so much...

[bigdude2468]

Based on the current research you or no one else has any idea if the sub-concussive impacts you received as a youth will result in cognitive impairment. Hopefully when you are old and gray you are not drinking soup through a straw.

[boarddad]

I've been playing for 40 years now, coaching my daughter for 7. I have NEVER seen a concussion from a properly headed ball. Hitting the ground, elbows, other heads, goalposts, yes. Call it 40 years of antecdotal evidence if you like, but the drive to keep playing is the thing that has kept me in shape long after most of my peers from my youth have given in to the beer gut.

[bigdude2468]

I've been playing for 40 years now, coaching my daughter for 7. I have NEVER seen a concussion from a properly headed ball. Hitting the ground, elbows, other heads, goalposts, yes. Call it 40 years of antecdotal evidence if you like, but the drive to keep playing is the thing that has kept me in shape long after most of my peers from my youth have given in to the beer gut.

It is anecdotal. The best science can offer is that CTE does occur without concussions. Sub-concussive impacts, the kind from heading a soccer ball, football lineman who "bump" on every play can result in the development of CTE. One theory is that the full blown concussions may not be any worse than many smaller impacts as the disease is the result of cumulative impacts. Former NFL QB Jim McMahon has a serious issue with cognitive skills. As a QB he was certainly hit and tackled but not nearly as often as wide receivers, running backs, linebackers or DB's who are hitting / getting hit far more often than a QB.

As I mentioned before not developing CTE from multiple concussions only means you are lucky. There are certainly other factors and some people are just more likely than others to suffer the consequences.

[concretejungle]

That needs to get turned into a .gif

RIP Vine.

[TNKen]

Think of the brain as a boob, a firm one, not an old floppy one. Then attach it to a rubber garden hose for support and stuff it in the skull. Surround it by a thin layer of fluid.

Body, head, and boob are in motion, and the skull stops. Boob slams forward, impacts the front of the skull, rebounds, striking the rear of the skull.

Body, head and boob are stationary, and the skull is impacted, skull moves, boob remains stationary, and the skull strikes the boob, etc.

Depending on the impact, the boob is bruised a little, a lot, or it may bleed. Boob is not happy.

Just thought I would provide an illustrative example that some of you can follow and understand.

[bigdude2468]

Think of the brain as a boob, a firm one, not an old floppy one. Then attach it to a rubber garden hose for support and stuff it in the skull. Surround it by a thin layer of fluid.

Body, head, and boob are in motion, and the skull stops. Boob slams forward, impacts the front of the skull, rebounds, striking the rear of the skull.

Body, head and boob are stationary, and the skull is impacted, skull moves, boob remains stationary, and the skull strikes the boob, etc.

Depending on the impact, the boob is bruised a little, a lot, or it may bleed. Boob is not happy.

Just thought I would provide an illustrative example that some of you can follow and understand.

This is why helmets have limited effectiveness in preventing concussions or the danger from sub concussive impacts. The head stops moving and the brain slams into the skull...

[old goat]

This is why helmets have limited effectiveness in preventing concussions or the danger from sub concussive impacts. The head stops moving and the brain slams into the skull...

the helmet has padding which compresses as the head moves into it. this slows the rate of deceleration of the head, which means the brain doesn't hit the skull quite as hard. the rigidity of the foam is a compromise--too hard and it doesn't compress at all, too soft and for harder blows it doesn't slow the head until the head impacts the shell of the helmet, so the deceleration is rapid. One can overcome softer foam by making it thicker but obviously there is a practical limit. the result of all this is that a helmet does reduce the severity of head injuries somewhat. A soft padded helmet will reduce injury with milder blows; with more rigid padding it will do nothing for milder blows but help more with more severe ones. How much injury is prevented or reduced is impossible to say.

[frorider]

This gets a big "meh" from me. I've been coaching for the past 15 yrs and have a B license. I spend very, very little time "coaching" heading. I spend much more time on technical and tactical passing. In light of the new rules I'll spend more time coaching chest traps to my younger players and eventually coach heading to kids as they get older... I like the emphasis but think USSF has gone a little far. When I grew up playing we were coached to not let the ball hit the ground on a goal/drop kick. Playing defense into college I took a TON of balls off the head. Only concussions I ever got were from hitting the ground. The ball is pretty safe, the players around you, not so much...

As your doctor, I think you have CTE. It's the only explanation for how you could chime in after it's been patiently explained that cumulative NON concussive impacts may lead to CTE...and you start posting anecdotal derpa derp about not seeing any concussions.

[irul&ublo]

Obvious result of too much soccer...

[bigdude2468]

the helmet has padding which compresses as the head moves into it. this slows the rate of deceleration of the head, which means the brain doesn't hit the skull quite as hard. the rigidity of the foam is a compromise--too hard and it doesn't compress at all, too soft and for harder blows it doesn't slow the head until the head impacts the shell of the helmet, so the deceleration is rapid. One can overcome softer foam by making it thicker but obviously there is a practical limit. the result of all this is that a helmet does reduce the severity of head injuries somewhat. A soft padded helmet will reduce injury with milder blows; with more rigid padding it will do nothing for milder blows but help more with more severe ones. How much injury is prevented or reduced is impossible to say.

This is not a direct comparison but here is what researchers are saying about the effect of ski helmets on head injuries, not much.. It has been suggested that helmets in football is the primary reason for the increase in concussions. Players would not launch themselves if they did have helmets with a face mask protecting them.

The increase in helmet use has had positive results. Experts say helmets have reduced the numbers of less serious head injuries, like scalp lacerations, by 30 percent to 50 percent. But growing evidence indicates that helmets do not prevent some more serious injuries, like the tearing of delicate brain tissue, said Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Shealy, who has been studying snow-sports-related injuries at Sugarbush resort in Vermont for more than 30 years, said that could be because those injuries typically involve a rotational component that today’s helmets cannot mitigate. He said his research had not found any decline in what he called P.S.H.I.’s, for potentially serious head injuries, a classification that includes concussion, skull fracture, closed head injury, traumatic brain injury and death by head injury.

In fact, some studies indicate that the number of snow-sports-related head injuries has increased. A 2012 study at the Western Michigan University School of Medicine on head injuries among skiers and snowboarders in the United States found that the number of head injuries increased 60 percent in a seven-year period, from 9,308 in 2004 to 14,947 in 2010, even as helmet use increased by an almost identical percentage over the same period. A March 2013 study by the University of Washington concluded that the number of snow-sports-related head injuries among youths and adolescents increased 250 percent from 1996 to 2010.
Photo


Anecdotally they think helmets might be adding a false sense of security which is encouraging reckless behavior. While helmets may be a part of this I suspect better equipment is encouraging higher speeds. I see more novice skiers getting into terrain that they would never have skied 20 years ago on skinny 195 cm boards. The stability of wide skis with rocker, camber, space age components has to play a part.

[TNKen]

We all should just wear one of these around 24/7

[old goat]

This is not a direct comparison but here is what researchers are saying about the effect of ski helmets on head injuries, not much.. It has been suggested that helmets in football is the primary reason for the increase in concussions. Players would not launch themselves if they did have helmets with a face mask protecting them.

The increase in helmet use has had positive results. Experts say helmets have reduced the numbers of less serious head injuries, like scalp lacerations, by 30 percent to 50 percent. But growing evidence indicates that helmets do not prevent some more serious injuries, like the tearing of delicate brain tissue, said Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Shealy, who has been studying snow-sports-related injuries at Sugarbush resort in Vermont for more than 30 years, said that could be because those injuries typically involve a rotational component that today’s helmets cannot mitigate. He said his research had not found any decline in what he called P.S.H.I.’s, for potentially serious head injuries, a classification that includes concussion, skull fracture, closed head injury, traumatic brain injury and death by head injury.

In fact, some studies indicate that the number of snow-sports-related head injuries has increased. A 2012 study at the Western Michigan University School of Medicine on head injuries among skiers and snowboarders in the United States found that the number of head injuries increased 60 percent in a seven-year period, from 9,308 in 2004 to 14,947 in 2010, even as helmet use increased by an almost identical percentage over the same period. A March 2013 study by the University of Washington concluded that the number of snow-sports-related head injuries among youths and adolescents increased 250 percent from 1996 to 2010.
Photo


Anecdotally they think helmets might be adding a false sense of security which is encouraging reckless behavior. While helmets may be a part of this I suspect better equipment is encouraging higher speeds. I see more novice skiers getting into terrain that they would never have skied 20 years ago on skinny 195 cm boards. The stability of wide skis with rocker, camber, space age components has to play a part.

As I said before--football helmets probably do increase head injuries.
As far as increases in head injuries in skiing--looking at raw numbers is meaningless. As you said better skis increase speeds, especially by people who can't handle the speed. A bigger cause is probably the increasing prevalence of videos, movies, and ads showing people skiing at breathtaking speed and doing increasingly insane aerials--stuff that people copy.
There's no way to know if a helmet made a concussion a little milder or a more severe head injury a little less severe in an individual case. My guess is that helmets reduce the incidence or severity of mild or very mild concussions--the kind that never get reported or make it to an ER but can cumulatively cause CTE--but not more serious injuries. But there's no real data on their effectiveness and I doubt there will ever be.

[bigdude2468]

I understand your thoughts on helmets reducing the severity of concussions, seems only logical. However the experts don't agree.

But growing evidence indicates that helmets do not prevent some more serious injuries, like the tearing of delicate brain tissue, said Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.

[old goat]

I understand your thoughts on helmets reducing the severity of concussions, seems only logical. However the experts don't agree.

But growing evidence indicates that helmets do not prevent some more serious injuries, like the tearing of delicate brain tissue, said Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.

how does that disagree? ". . .helmets do not prevent SOME more SERIOUS head injuries." Doesn't say they don't prevent any. Doesn't say they don't reduce severity. Says nothing about mild head injuries. You seem to want to extrapolate that sentence you quote to say that helmets do no good at all when the sentence says nothing of the sort.

[LightRanger]

I got a Smith with the koroyd straws for road biking. Good research still isn't there though, unfortunately. I had a code though and it looks cool as fuck.