Ep73: Head Injury Assessments In Football: Should They Copy Rugby and the NFL?

This episode was inspired by the recent interview with Raphael Varane opening up about playing with a concussion twice in his professional career and his concern that he has damaged his body by heading a football which can potentially cause repetitive low grade head traumas.He spoke of his concern that even though he played well against Germany in the 2014 World Cup, what would have happened if he'd received another head trauma and developed 'Second Impact Syndrome'? I still feel head injuries are not taken seriously enough certainly in amateur sport where head injury checks appear to be non-existent..... but are we even doing them well enough at the sharp end of the game? Compared to rugby and the NFL, in my opinion, football still has improvements to make. Assessing a player on pitch side with the noise of the crowd and the distraction of the ongoing match is not the ideal environment for a clinical assessment to rule out concussion. The player is desperate to get back on the pitch to help his team mates, and the manager or head coach doesn't want to lose the game, and potentially his job! It's time to introduce temporary concussion substitutes into football just like in rugby so that a team is not disadvantaged for taking player welfare seriously. Take the pressure off the player, put the coach at ease, take the time element out of the equation and carry out a head injury assessment in a calm and quiet clinical setting. We must minimise the risk of these head injuries going undetected and accumulating through a persons life and career. Steve Thompson, who played Hooker for England's World Cup winning team in 2003 can't even remember taking part in that tournament due to early onset dementia. He's only 45 years old, and now wishes that he'd never played rugby.It's a sad story and one that we all need to take very seriously at all levels of sport. Useful LinksYoutube ChannelElevate Health Chiropractic and Wellbeing WebsiteElevate Health Online Membership Registration