New study shows majority of youth soccer concussions from athlete-to-athlete contact

Soccer was once thought of as a safer alternative to more physical sports like football, basketball, and baseball. But given the rise in concussion rates, some have called for a ban on heading among soccer players younger than 14. However, a new study has shown doctors have determined heading a ball is not the full problem.

The study from the Journal of the American Medical Association said that over a nine-year span monitoring nearly 3 million athlete exposures, 627 concussions were diagnosed for girls (4.50 concussions per 10,000 AEs) and 442 for boys (2.78 concussions per 10,000 AEs).

The study showed that athlete-to-athlete contact was the most common reason for concussions (68.8% in boys, 51.3% in girls), where contact with the players’ head and the soccer ball, or a header, was roughly half that (30.6% in boys, 25.3% in girls).

Garrett Estrin and his 13-year-old daughter Caitlin Estrin have both experienced concussions because of playing soccer and making athlete-to-athlete contact.

“We were playing State Cup and I ran into a girl and I hit the back of my head and had a bloody nose,” said Caitlin. “Well after it, I was really out of it and was really dizzy and I was seeing dots and I had blurred vision and I just sat out the rest of the game.”

She was held from soccer for six weeks after the injury before her parents allowed her back on the pitch, albeit with a new protective head gear to help guard against another potential head injury.

Garrett, the new College of the Desert women’s soccer head coach, said athlete-to-athlete contact is common in contact sports. It’s not because of any desire to hurt the opposing player but instead competitors giving maximum effort and, unfortunately, colliding with great force.

“It is difficult when you’re out there competing, to understand, ‘how do I let up’ or ‘how do I stop playing the way I’m accustomed to playing’,” said Estrin, who was concussed as a goalkeeper in college back in 1999. “You don’t want to be that overprotective parent, but at the same time you want to have your child’s best interest at heart.”

Some parents have taken the measure of getting protective head gear like the kind Caitlin wears from the San Diego-based company Full 90. Head safety gear has been on the international soccer stage since 2003 and even members of the U.S. women’s national team like Carli Lloyd and Ali Krieger have worn it for safety precautions after injury.

“Well, one of my teammates has had a concussion too, so we both have [head gear] on,” Caitlin said. “I mean, it’s safer than not having anything on and it’s like a safety airbag that protects your head.”

Concussions are still a small number in overall participants according to the study, but there will always be risks in any physical contact sport. The study suggests to reduce athlete-to-athlete contact across all phases of play, however how to implement that remains to be seen. But concussions should be taken seriously because athletes only have one brain to last them throughout their whole lives.