Published: March 10, 2016
A head start
UW to conduct first test regarding headbands in soccer
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
Tim McGuine has seen data that shows the force of a soccer
ball going against a person’s head is similar to being hit in the head by a
brick.
He’s also seen data that shows no connection between headers
and concussions.
It’s time to find out which is the truth.
McGuine of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine
and Public Health and Alison Brooks, assistant professor in the UW Department
of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Division of Sports Medicine, have
commissioned a study to explore head injuries in soccer, centering on the use
and effectiveness of headbands.
“There’s conflicting results, just like with helmets in
football,” said McGuine, who is a senior scientist and researcher in the sports
medicine program at UW. “There have been studies where they’ve shown on dummies
that there is some force (from soccer balls). On the other hand, they’ve shot
soccer balls and the balls deflate to an extent where the force is minimal.”
McGuine added he’s fielded seemingly hundreds of calls and
emails from medical providers, parents and coaches about the effectiveness of
headbands in soccer and whether they truly reduce concussion risk. McGuine
hopes to finally answer the question with more confidence once the study is
completed.
“That’ll give us a definitive picture,” he said. “Don’t
mandate it if it’s not proven. We want to provide evidence.”
The study, which will be the first to explore this topic,
will take two years starting in August. McGuine and his research team want
about 3,000 high school soccer players (male and female, ages 14 to 18 and in
ninth through 12th grades) from 88 Wisconsin high schools to enroll in the
study. The subjects will fill out a baseline survey and then schools will be
randomly assigned to either wear the head gear, which will be provided at no
cost to schools or parents, or not wear head gear.
McGuine said the study needs “several hundred thousand
practices and games” in order to get confident data.
There will be five models of headbands for students to choose
from and they will be provided by researchers. All of the gear is approved for
use by FIFA and NFHS and schools will be provided $100 to $200 per season. Once
the study is complete, all unused gear will be donated to participating
schools. The study is funded by a $300,000 grant from the National Operating
Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment.
Kewaskum is one local school that has expressed a desire to
participate. Athletic trainer Emily Anderson said she immediately jumped at the
opportunity.
“It’s overdue,” she said of the study. “It needs to be done.
I know a lot of researchers have done studies on the helmets in football. I
think the whole concussion thing needs to be extended to soccer.”
Anderson added she hopes Kewaskum is picked. “It’s going to
be a great study,” she said.
McGuine hopes more schools are willing to participate. But
he also said he’s not trying to scare people from participating in soccer or
other contact sports.
“If you care about the sport of soccer, you should ask (the
school district) why we’re not participating in this study,” McGuine said. “I
agree with soccer purists. Head gear is something they may not want to embrace,
but we need to research. I don’t want to ruin it or scare people.” According to
the synopsis with the study, an estimated 40,000 head injuries happen to soccer
players, with girls having the higher frequency.
“The rate of concussion in girls’ high school soccer is
fourth highest, behind only football, boys ice hockey and lacrosse, and
high-school girls soccer players get concussed at almost twice the rate as
their male counterparts,” Brooks said. “The reason for this increased risk in
girls is not clearly understood. This study is incredibly important in helping
us to learn more about concussion in a nonfootball sport, and to specifically
look more closely at gender differences as well as monitor rates of other types
of injuries that may be affected by use of the headgear.”
❑
Following Daily News’ story
In August, the Daily News published a story looking at the
debate of headers and protective head gear in soccer.
At that time, West Bend West boys and girls soccer coach
Kyle Cruse said, “I’d hate to see the game lose its purity.”
He also acknowledged the seriousness of head injuries in all
sports.
Also in that story, Deb Hauser from the WIAA suggested
headbands could make players more reckless under the belief that, if proven,
head bands could reduce concussions. McGuine and Anderson each agreed that is
possible and cautioned players about that.
“They may still fall on the ground and hit their head,”
Anderson said, adding most of the soccer concussions she’s seen in her 10 years
at Kewaskum is because of body-to-body contact or hitting their head on the
ground.
“I’m not trying to scare people,” McGuine said. “I want to
keep sports accessible. We have to be careful when we mandate things. If I’m a
parent, I should have some certainty if I’m asked to go purchase these things.”
“The more we can do to prevent, the better we’re going to
be,” he added.
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