CHICAGO – Soccer has lengthy been identified for inflicting concussions—it doesn’t matter what stage you might be enjoying at—and on the subject of youth sports activities, the CDC says boys sort out soccer has the very best price.
In a FOX 32 particular report, Cassie Carlson seems to be at what sport is subsequent in line on the subject of youngsters and concussions.
“Clearly accidents do occur, however we strive our greatest to not get hit within the head,” mentioned Alyssa Watson.
Watson is a junior on Hinsdale South Excessive College’s top-ranked women varsity soccer workforce. The CDC ranks women soccer as quantity two on the record of youth sports activities with probably the most concussions.
“I haven’t had any concussions. I believe I am fairly good with dealing with it with my head. I attempt to. I believe lots of people on our workforce strive to not hit it with our head as a result of it’s simply simpler to regulate it with our ft,” Watson mentioned.
However Watson has seen different gamers get a concussion whereas on the sphere. So has her coach.
“I noticed considered one of our women was going up for a header in a sport on a nook kick, not a goalie however one other participant went up at the very same time and so they hit heads, and that occurs usually,” mentioned Jen Belmonte. “In the event that they hit heads within the actual proper spot, it’s fairly painful.”
Belmonte has been on the helm of Hinsdale South’s women varsity soccer workforce for eleven years now. She says she’s not shocked the place women soccer ranks on the subject of concussions.
“It’s tough on the market after we’re doing as many headers as we’re, going up for as many 50/50 balls as we’re,” Belmonte mentioned.
“What we see as the commonest reason behind soccer concussions is when youngsters are leaping to go. What they do is hit one another. They bounce up and their arms hit one another,” mentioned Dr. Elizabeth Pieroth of Rush College Medical Heart & Midwest Orthopedics at Rush. “I’m the director of the concussion program for the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League and the Skilled Girls’s Hockey League.”
She’s additionally the concussion program director at Rush College Medical Heart and a marketing consultant for a number of different Chicago sports activities groups.
“So we see a variety of concussions in soccer usually, however after we have a look at sports activities that each men and women play – soccer, hockey, lacrosse – we see larger charges of concussion throughout all sports activities in females in comparison with males,” Pieroth mentioned.
On the subject of why, Pieroth says there are a selection of theories.
“One of many theories is that it’s a neck muscular challenge. That girls have weaker necks. So if there may be extra contact to the pinnacle, extra motion to the pinnacle due to a weaker neck, extra motion to the mind,” Pieroth mentioned.
She says analysis has additionally proven that hormone adjustments can have an effect on each a girl’s predisposition to obtain a concussion and her capacity to get well from one.
“There’s additionally some behavioral points. Girls usually tend to report a concussion than males,” Pieroth mentioned.
“I believe it’s serving to as a result of we don’t have that many concussions. However, I wish to see mother and father, actually, take this extra severely,” mentioned Mary Jane Bender.
Bender is the chief director of the Illinois Youth Soccer Affiliation (IYSA). It has roughly 79,000 gamers statewide, all age 19 and beneath.
“We distribute this kind to our leagues and our golf equipment and we require them to observe this protocol,” Bender mentioned.
She says IYSA began utilizing this concussion reporting type again in 2011. Anytime one is suspected, the shape is given to the participant’s coach and fogeys.
Earlier than the participant can return to the sphere, the mother and father should have their little one examined by a health care provider who makes a speciality of concussions and return the shape to the coach.
“I wish to see mother and father be extra proactive concerning head accidents. And which may be the explanation why we don’t have that many complaints or claims concerning concussions,” Bender mentioned.
However she says she has had some pushback from mother and father over the affiliation’s concussion protocol.
“We’ve had conditions the place we had a participant injured. We advised them to go get their little one identified by a medical skilled and so they weren’t comfortable about that,” Bender mentioned.
“After I see athletes, I at all times inform them that the analysis reveals us that when somebody has a concussion and so they return to play earlier than they’re recovered, their efficiency drops and that is true throughout sports activities,” Pieroth added.
Belmonte tries to guard her workforce towards concussions by getting the ball rolling early within the season.
“We’re speaking about it by the second day,” she mentioned. “After which we’re simply very cautious to not do drills that might trigger or put us right into a scenario the place we might have that collision.”
If something occurs throughout a sport or follow, Belmonte says the gamers get checked out by a coach earlier than they return to play.
“Anytime the ref sees there’s a 50/50 ball and a participant goes down with a doable head damage, they’ve to return off the sphere and be checked by a coach to return in,” she mentioned. “I can’t verify for them. The coach has to.”
Whereas it comes with a excessive threat for head damage, that doesn’t appear to vary some gamers’ love for the sport.
“I like being a part of a workforce. I believe it’s actually enjoyable to be in a full lady setting and be keen about enjoying a sport,” Watson mentioned.
Ladies soccer has been on the rise for the reason that U.S. Girls’s Nationwide Crew received the FIFA Girls’s World Cup in 1999. However on the subject of concussions in feminine athletes, that space is claimed to be understudied.
Pieroth says about half of all NCAA athletes are feminine and solely about 19 p.c of sports activities concussion analysis topics are additionally feminine.
The Supply: The FOX 32 Chicago Investigative Crew reported on this story.
