Is it time to ban heading in women's soccer? (or in soccer all together?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The Efficacy of Soccer Headgear (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC233175/)

"All 3 headbands were effective at reducing the peak impact force. The Protector headband appeared the most effective at reducing time to peak force and impulse within the design of this study. The clinical effectiveness of these products remains to be seen."

FYI: "In all age groups, however, proper heading technique is the athlete's greatest defense against injury from heading a ball."

2. Va Tech just published online an extensive study of ~25 different forms of headgear: https://www.beam.vt.edu/helmet/soccer-headgear-ratings.html
"Laboratory testing determined that better models reduce impact forces by more than 50 percent and concussion risk by more than 70 percent."

3. "Evidence Mounts for Headgear in Soccer": not a true study, but a good summary article
"FIFA researchers outfitted crash test dummy heads with various types of soccer headgear. Earlier studies had showed that soccer players' heads sometimes collide at speeds up to 2.5 m/s. So the researchers dropped one dummy head against another at approximately that speed. They found that the headgear reduced peak linear acceleration by about a third"

I don't know what you're promoting but what you stated above is complete BS. Everything you pointed out above stated "reduce", NOT eliminate. It is like wearing seat belt will reduce the risk of fatalities but not eliminating it. Unlike like car accidents which people want to avoid, heading in soccer is a MUST.

Why don't you put the headband around your head and hit your head against the wall repeatedly and see what happen?

The helmet is supposedly protecting football players, right? Why do they still have concussions?

Seatbelts and airbags should make us still safe. Yet people get injured. I say we ban cars.

The articles weren't posted for you. They were for people who have common sense and can balance risk, return, and reasonable levels of expectations. Since that's not you, please don't let your child play any contact sports. I recommend swimming, ping pong or maybe cross country running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It blows my mind that parents will let their kids risk long term brain issues to play a sport. The concerns over heading in soccer aren’t anything new but many parents just don’t seem to care.

I played soccer in middle school and high school, and I don't remember a single kid getting a concussion.

Maybe we Gen X kids had thicker skulls or something.

No, we just didn't understand the brain as well then as we do today. While a concussion represents a significant trauma to the brain, we now know that repeated impact to the brain within the skull (as happens when people head a soccer call), even when it never rises to the level of a diagnosed concussion, has a cumulative effect that affects the brain the same way a concussion does. They are finding more and more cases of CTE among former professional athletes who never had a significant concussion but played positions that involved regular impact to the brain.

And for those likening brain injuries to knee or arm injuries, seriously? Which would you choose -- knee pain that makes you give up running, or a brain injury that makes you prone to violent outbursts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It blows my mind that parents will let their kids risk long term brain issues to play a sport. The concerns over heading in soccer aren’t anything new but many parents just don’t seem to care.

I played soccer in middle school and high school, and I don't remember a single kid getting a concussion.

Maybe we Gen X kids had thicker skulls or something.

+1. Knee jerk reactions are ruining this country.

[Anonymous]

I believe the frequency of heading the ball (and frequency of concussions) is dependent on the type, skill and size of player. Players with the size and skills of Abby Wambach (or Ronaldo) heads the ball much more frequently compared to Mia Hamm (or Messi).

For US women soccer today, I see Alex Morgan heads the ball during corner kicks much more often compared to Mallory Pugh. She’s 5’7” compared to Mallory’s height of 5’4”.

Hence, if your DD is the type of player that plays like Abby, it would be beneficial to use head gears to reduce her chance of concussions.

If today’s NFL players still use leather helmets from the 1920s, they won’t have concussions......they will die.

[Anonymous]

“I played soccer in middle school and high school, and I don't remember a single kid getting a concussion.”

It’s well known that concussions causes memory loss. Sorry, but you set yourself up for this joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seatbelts and airbags should make us still safe. Yet people get injured. I say we ban cars.

The articles weren't posted for you. They were for people who have common sense and can balance risk, return, and reasonable levels of expectations. Since that's not you, please don't let your child play any contact sports. I recommend swimming, ping pong or maybe cross country running.

The difference between cars and soccer is that people will do everything humanly possible to avoid accidents. That's why you have seat belts and air bags designed to protect people in the worst possible situation. In soccer, heading is an integrated part of the game that people intentionally do it on purpose. That's the difference. People driving cars are doing everything they can to avoid accidents while soccer players are intentionally heading the ball. A lot of heading over the years will do damage to your brain.

Science today advances leap and bound. People are more informed today than ever before. Problem with soccer and football is that you have kids on the team that might be using PED to gain an advantage over other players. Because of that, the collision between players have become much more violence because players are now so much stronger and faster. The law of physics still applies today as it was 100 years ago, F=ma. The bigger and faster the players, the more force will happen in a collision between players when they jump up and head the ball. It is science 101.

I work in the university Neurology department and I've asked about 10 Neurologists there this question: would you let your kids play soccer or football knowing what you know now about concussions and CTE? 10 out of 10 responded with a resounding NO.

Then again, for those who feel soccer is safe and worth the risk, this is America and people have the rights to be stupid. That's a great thing about democracy.

[Anonymous]

I work on a Neuroscience ICU. And several of us have kids who play soccer. Nothing else you said was worth addressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work on a Neuroscience ICU. And several of us have kids who play soccer. Nothing else you said was worth addressing.

Some doctors smoke. What's your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It blows my mind that parents will let their kids risk long term brain issues to play a sport. The concerns over heading in soccer aren’t anything new but many parents just don’t seem to care.

That's why "educated" and wealthy parents steer their kids away from "contact" sports and toward sports like tennis, swimming or golf because those are "lifetime" sports with no damage to the brain.

Sorry, can’t stand those individual sports. I’ll take my risks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work on a Neuroscience ICU. And several of us have kids who play soccer. Nothing else you said was worth addressing.

Some doctors smoke. What's your point?

That your comment about 10 neurologists is anecdotal. Some people won't vaccinate their kids either but i don't listen to those idiots either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, can’t stand those individual sports. I’ll take my risks.

It is funny that people do stupid things and yet the first thing they do when things happen is to sue: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/08/parents-sue-fifa-over-soccer-concussions/379243/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, can’t stand those individual sports. I’ll take my risks.

It is funny that people do stupid things and yet the first thing they do when things happen is to sue: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/08/parents-sue-fifa-over-soccer-concussions/379243/

Again, the sport might not be for everyone. And that’s okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work on a Neuroscience ICU. And several of us have kids who play soccer. Nothing else you said was worth addressing.

Some doctors smoke. What's your point?

That your comment about 10 neurologists is anecdotal. Some people won't vaccinate their kids either but i don't listen to those idiots either.

There are multiple posters here, I’m the one who posted the smoking comment but not the ten neuroscientists thing. But for the record, your anecdotal evidence is no more of less valid than that poster’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work on a Neuroscience ICU. And several of us have kids who play soccer. Nothing else you said was worth addressing.

Some doctors smoke. What's your point?

That your comment about 10 neurologists is anecdotal. Some people won't vaccinate their kids either but i don't listen to those idiots either.

There are multiple posters here, I’m the one who posted the smoking comment but not the ten neuroscientists thing. But for the record, your anecdotal evidence is no more of less valid than that poster’s.

That's my point. The OP listed those 10 neurologists as if it were evidence. It's not, and no more valid than neurologists who disagree.

It's ALL anecdotal and meaningless.

[Anonymous]

It is a amazing to me how quickly people dismiss the research. This isn't the first study to show repeated impacts are as bad as concussions and women fair worse (weaker neck muscles, etc). But hey, continue to stick your head in the sand....