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Helmets for Soccer? What do you think?


msjones
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Here's the article:

 

http://www.today.com/moms/helmets-soccer-why-some-parents-are-saying-no-thanks-8C11359522

 

My son plays tackle football and my husband coaches a high school tackle football team.

 

 I have had quite a few parents share their reasons that their child would never be allowed to play football, and concussions usually seem to top the list.

 

But, around here everybody and his brother plays soccer.  I know quite a few soccer players who have suffered concussions while playing soccer.

 

Obviously, our family isn't hugely risk-averse;  but if helmets make sense for bikes and skateboards and pogo-sticks, why not soccer?  

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I disagree with you. I think more helmets are not the answer.

 

To me kids need to learn to play cleanly and there needs to be MUCH more instruction and MUCH less competition for younger kids.

 

Kids also need to be left to play. Outdoors. In trees and bikes and in the yards. Kids are so protected they have no clue how their bodies work and how to manage them. Let them grow into them. Play in the yard. Get parents out of the play business.

 

I played sports my entire youth. We played hard but clean. I never got significantly injured other than a broken nose in basketball. That happens. Sports can be dangerous, but well coached and well parented teams mitigate that. Right now the pressure is on winning, traveling teams, etc in youth sports. Kids don't play - they compete. In the US we have head injury issues but I am guessing that's a first world problem.

 

So, well, I think helmets in soccer are ridiculous. To me it's like skipping driver's Ed and adding more bumpers - it seems helpful but it doesn't address the real issue.

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I'm guessing that if they start requiring helmets it will actually lead to more servious injuries on other parts of the body.  So, we would decrease the number of concussions but I can just see what would happen if they put helmets on the heads of all the 9 and 10 year old boys my son plays with . . . the sport is already getting very physical at that age just because some of the boys are growing quickly and some aren't.  My son gets banged all over the field now just because he weighs less than the other kids . . . if those kids had helmets where heads with helmets were connecting with arms, legs, shoulders, even stomachs and backs (which I can easily see happening) there would be numerous injuries resulting.

 

What are we going to do?  Put them in full football pads for soccer?

 

Every sport has risks . . .

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I don't think they will fly at the older ages.  My oldest, 19yo, played until it got more rough than fun.  My 16yo is still playing.  

 

A lot (not all) concussions in soccer are from heading the ball.  I've read that.  So stop teaching them to head the ball.   I've told dd not to head the ball when it's coming off someone's foot, let it ounce once first.  She doesn't listen well.  DH cringes every time she heads the ball.  I think "I taught her that!"  

 

The others, not from heading the ball, seem to be complete accidents.  The one I remember was a goal kick.  The ball some how caught the girl under the chip and whipped her head back and knocked her down.  Whiplash as much as a concussion really.

 

 

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Well, I watched the PBS Frontline special on Chonic Traumatic Brain Encephalopathy last night. So yeah, helmets would be good, but more so teaching htem not to use their head. Those saying, "I played with no problem" might be lucky, or might not have problems YET, or might not recognize the problems they have. Memory can be effected. Mood. Many things, and it doesn't take a full concussion. It is pretty scary stuff. The special was very interesting.

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There is research that shows that soccer players become even more aggressive when they wear helmets, causing more concussions rather than preventing them. Remember that the "helmets" that some players (mostly girls) wear for soccer are really just padding. There is great debate about whether they really do any good even in a direct head to head hit. There's also research that shows repetetive heading (without ever suffering a concussion) causes more brain damage than a single concussion from a head to head hit.

 

They will never make heading illegal in soccer - it would be a change too fundamental to the sport. Limiting heading at younger ages and lower levels of play, however, might happen. And more instruction on proper heading is definitely needed.

 

ETA: I hadn't read the article first, and it seems that I repeated some of what they said. They did not, however, mention the research about repetetive heading being cumulative as far as causing brain injury vs. single-event concussions. There's also an argument that mouthguards do as much as helmets in preventing concussions and might be more appropriate for soccer.

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Helmets do not help the issue in football, and evidence exists that helmets and better pads actually lead to more high impact collisions.  The last research I read on this topic indicated that the next step in football my be reducing the amount of protection, which will lead to fewer/lower speed impacts and less "brain rattle".

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Oh geez.  A little overblown.  I'm a soccer coach and I played soccer.  Any sport, exercise, or hobby has risks.  I wouldn't have my kids play if they had to wear flipping helmets.  That's ridiculous. The foam headbands in the article look ok, but $60 each?  Yeah, everyone can afford that.  I have boys on my team that can't even afford the gas to get to practice or afford to buy used cleats. 

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I listened to a Freakonomics podcast about football helmets and safety a few months ago. They think that improvements in helmets led to more players attacking with their heads (instead of their shoulders). I believe they said NFL deaths were down, but overall head injuries were up because of the increase in aggressive play.

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Oh geez.  A little overblown.  I'm a soccer coach and I played soccer.  Any sport, exercise, or hobby has risks.  I wouldn't have my kids play if they had to wear flipping helmets.  That's ridiculous. The foam headbands in the article look ok, but $60 each?  Yeah, everyone can afford that.  I have boys on my team that can't even afford the gas to get to practice or afford to buy used cleats. 

 

Concussion rates in girls' soccer run near the rates in football, so looking at the issue is not overblown.  I don't believe helmets are the solution, but the issue needs to be looked at to see what can be done.

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I listened to a Freakonomics podcast about football helmets and safety a few months ago. They think that improvements in helmets led to more players attacking with their heads (instead of their shoulders). I believe they said NFL deaths were down, but overall head injuries were up because of the increase in aggressive play.

 

The additional padding/better padding on shoulders has played a role as well, as players delivering a blow with the shoulder can do so much harder than before without injuring themselves.

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Concussion rates in girls' soccer run near the rates in football, so looking at the issue is not overblown.  I don't believe helmets are the solution, but the issue needs to be looked at to see what can be done.

In the 5 years we've been on this league, there's never been a head injury.  The girls are not as happy about head balls. :D  However, my daughter has injured her wrist and rebroken her thumb playing goalie because *some* players are not taught or flagged for kicking the goalie when she has the ball already.  :glare:

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Concussion rates in girls' soccer run near the rates in football, so looking at the issue is not overblown.  I don't believe helmets are the solution, but the issue needs to be looked at to see what can be done.

 

Why are the concussion rates so high? What age is this for? When I played on my school team, the girls would head the ball, but I'm sure the boys did it much more often. It's hard to believe that there are as many concussions as football, unless football concussions are way under-diagnosed. Do girls get concussions more easily than boys?

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The link above says that 47% of concussions in the study (high school age) were from football. Girls' soccer was the second highest at 8%. From this data, it looks like girls soccer is much less risky for concussions than football. It still doesn't explain why girls are getting more concussions from soccer than boys. Do they truly get more? Or are they more likely to admit to symptoms?

 

70% of concussions were from players banging into each other and 17% were from players hitting a playing surface. To reduce concussions, it sounds like strictly controlling what contact is an isn't allowed would be the most useful, followed by things that making the playing surface safer.

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My son is just getting over a concussion from heading the ball, another boy on his team has a concussion right now, from heading the ball.  A girl on my husband's team has a concussion from getting a ball kicked in her face. 

 

I think we are instituting helmets, this is crazy.  Soccer is brutal.

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The link above says that 47% of concussions in the study (high school age) were from football. Girls' soccer was the second highest at 8%. From this data, it looks like girls soccer is much less risky for concussions than football. It still doesn't explain why girls are getting more concussions from soccer than boys. Do they truly get more? Or are they more likely to admit to symptoms?

 

70% of concussions were from players banging into each other and 17% were from players hitting a playing surface. To reduce concussions, it sounds like strictly controlling what contact is an isn't allowed would be the most useful, followed by things that making the playing surface safer.

I think they just complain about it more.  Rightfully so.  But people tend to just tell boys to suck it up. 

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Why are the concussion rates so high? What age is this for? When I played on my school team, the girls would head the ball, but I'm sure the boys did it much more often. It's hard to believe that there are as many concussions as football, unless football concussions are way under-diagnosed. Do girls get concussions more easily than boys?

 

Player collisions.  That's how my husband (the football coach) got his concussion.  While playing soccer he ran into another player at full speed.  Blood everywhere, stitches for one player, a concussion for the other.

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