A new study at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health shows the use of protective headgear among high school soccer players does not result in fewer or less severe sport-related concussions compared to players who wear no headgear at all. The study’s principal investigator Tim McGuine says the study found that only 35 percent of the sport related concussions were a result of a player heading a soccer ball, while head to player contact was by far the most common cause. McGuine says the study found that concussions occurred at more than twice the rate among females than males. McGuine says the soccer community needs to fully recognize the high rate of these concussions in female players and take steps to address the issue. “We went out to high schools in Wisconsin and two-thirds of the high school coaches didn’t want anything to do with this study,” McGuine told AM 1170s Between the Lines program. “I had someone flat out say this is a myth, these girls aren’t concussed, you guys are making this up, these girls are faking these injuries.” McGuine says if headgear is not the answer then the community needs to examine whether rule changes, stricter penalty enforcement, fewer matches or specific player training can reduce concussions. “Every parent should be able to look at their coaches in the high school or club and say what are you doing? Do you do baseline testing? What’s your procedure for dealing with a kid with a concussion? We do that with football, why shouldn’t we do that with soccer?”
