Concussions in Football

el_loco_bielsa

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There is no shortage of comprehensive concussion protocols around for the football authorities to implement. This one dates back to 2016 and covers pretty much everything that is necessary when managing a concussed player -

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/early/2017/04/26/bjsports-2017-097699.full.pdf

The NFL has had a similar guideline in place dating back to 2009.

There are as far as I can see 2 main issues at play if you’re analysing why the system is so antiquated when it comes to football -

1) the conflict of interest a club doctor has between the necessities of managing his patient safely (concussed player) vs the demands of his employer (pushy manager wanting his player to play even when injured).

This is not a choice other doctors have to make - if the same doctor was working in a trauma unit they’d be undertaking a far more comprehensive assessment and it’d be frankly ludicrous for them to recommend that a patient with a serious head injury be sent back to work immediately.

2) the inherently noisy, evidence free, unscientific, thoughtless nature of football in this country. This permeates everything - from debate around serious subjects like heading a ball and its links to dementia (as we speak the strong, peer-reviewed evidence linking repeated heading of a ball to axonal tau protein disruption in the brain leading to CTE type dementing processes in ex-footballers is being pooh-poohed on another thread because ‘x headed a ball all his life and he’s fine’), all the way to how players’ health is managed.

For example, it’s frankly ludicrous how little time a player’s medical takes because of the fan-led pressure around making signings. The idea that every year we hear at least one story of a player collapsing on a pitch and dying of a congenital heart condition causing a life-threatening arrhythmia which should’ve been diagnosed during the medical if they were comprehensive enough is beyond bizarre, despite the fact that these clubs have no shortage of resources to undertake the necessary testing for every player they sign.

It’s not that they can‘t do it; it’s because they won’t, because the pressure to get the signing over the line from a baying mob of fans and a barely-literate manager just interested in the short-term is too great, so the player’s health is sacrificed.
 

Pogue Mahone

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There is no shortage of comprehensive concussion protocols around for the football authorities to implement. This one dates back to 2016 and covers pretty much everything that is necessary when managing a concussed player -

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/early/2017/04/26/bjsports-2017-097699.full.pdf

The NFL has had a similar guideline in place dating back to 2009.

There are as far as I can see 2 main issues at play if you’re analysing why the system is so antiquated when it comes to football -

1) the conflict of interest a club doctor has between the necessities of managing his patient safely (concussed player) vs the demands of his employer (pushy manager wanting his player to play even when injured).

This is not a choice other doctors have to make - if the same doctor was working in a trauma unit they’d be undertaking a far more comprehensive assessment and it’d be frankly ludicrous for them to recommend that a patient with a serious head injury be sent back to work immediately.

2) the inherently noisy, evidence free, unscientific, thoughtless nature of football in this country. This permeates everything - from debate around serious subjects like heading a ball and its links to dementia (as we speak the strong, peer-reviewed evidence linking repeated heading of a ball to axonal tau protein disruption in the brain leading to CTE type dementing processes in ex-footballers is being pooh-poohed on another thread because ‘x headed a ball all his life and he’s fine’), all the way to how players’ health is managed.

For example, it’s frankly ludicrous how little time a player’s medical takes because of the fan-led pressure around making signings. The idea that every year we hear at least one story of a player collapsing on a pitch and dying of a congenital heart condition causing a life-threatening arrhythmia which should’ve been diagnosed during the medical if they were comprehensive enough is beyond bizarre, despite the fact that these clubs have no shortage of resources to undertake the necessary testing for every player they sign.

It’s not that they can‘t do it; it’s because they won’t, because the pressure to get the signing over the line from a baying mob of fans and a barely-literate manager just interested in the short-term is too great, so the player’s health is sacrificed.
Surely a footballer’s cardiac health isn’t (and shouldn’t be) reliant on the medical that takes place when they change club? What about players who don’t ever change club? They don’t ever get any kind of medical assessment?
 

One Night Only

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So what do we think of today's sub?

Let him play on for 8 minutes till half time then decided to examine him and decide he was concussed?

Isn't that a bit of a shit show from the medical staff?
 

ShareEndorphins

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Overall it is the right move but the other day i saw a long range shot or freekick and the ball hit the head followed by a goal but it was taken back because of concussion fears.
I mean yes it is dangerous but this is sport it cannot be risk free and if refs start to stop play because a ball hit a head then it goes too far for my liking.
 

Acole9

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So what do we think of today's sub?

Let him play on for 8 minutes till half time then decided to examine him and decide he was concussed?

Isn't that a bit of a shit show from the medical staff?
Yeah I thought that. If you're concussed the medical staff should be picking up on that right away.
 

One Night Only

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Overall it is the right move but the other day i saw a long range shot or freekick and the ball hit the head followed by a goal but it was taken back because of concussion fears.
I mean yes it is dangerous but this is sport it cannot be risk free and if refs start to stop play because a ball hit a head then it goes too far for my liking.
So they took back a goal because of an accidental head injury? That's way wrong. Unless it was blew for before the goal went in.
 

big rons sovereign

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So what do we think of today's sub?

Let him play on for 8 minutes till half time then decided to examine him and decide he was concussed?

Isn't that a bit of a shit show from the medical staff?
Its not quite so cut and dry really. Maybe he felt ok then not so much when he sat down in the dressing room. I mean, you'll always feel.a little groggy after bashing your head so he could've just thought it would pass like normal. It seemed like martial took a far heavier hit and still carried on, then again, he plays like he's concussed anyway so who'd know?
I once cracked a couple of ribs in a match and finished the game, I didn't notice anything was up until way after when the addrenaline had worn off etc.
 

One Night Only

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Its not quite so cut and dry really. Maybe he felt ok then not so much when he sat down in the dressing room. I mean, you'll always feel.a little groggy after bashing your head so he could've just thought it would pass like normal. It seemed like martial took a far heavier hit and still carried on, then again, he plays like he's concussed anyway so who'd know?
I once cracked a couple of ribs in a match and finished the game, I didn't notice anything was up until way after when the addrenaline had worn off etc.
But isn't that what medical professionals are there though? They decide from the science. I understand it's not always so simple, but the first concussion sub is already a weird one. What's the cut off point for a concussion sub? Carry on for 25mins then decide they're concussed?
 

big rons sovereign

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But isn't that what medical professionals are there though? They decide from the science. I understand it's not always so simple, but the first concussion sub is already a weird one. What's the cut off point for a concussion sub? Carry on for 25mins then decide they're concussed?
Tbh, I'd have expected martial to have been more affected since he took the full whack to the side of the head.
They probably just figured it better to hold on the few minutes till half time and make a full assessment without the pressure of a game going on around them.
 

Adam-Utd

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Face down, unconscious and severely injured. While a game goes on around him.

Is someone going to have to die before football takes this shit seriously?
I genuinely think the referee missed the incident - sometimes the clashes can happen quickly and the ref can only look in so many places.

None of the people around him seemed to stop either which was also strange considering how much of a hit it was.

I really did fear the worst for him though, wouldn't have shocked me if he cracked his skull or broke his neck.

Lets hope the poor lad can recover quickly.

People might think it's over reactionary but I think goalkeepers leading with their knees should be immediately banned. There is just no need for it.
 

peridigm

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Face down, unconscious and severely injured. While a game goes on around him.

Is someone going to have to die before football takes this shit seriously?
That was one of the most horrific collisions I've seen in football.
 

Abizzz

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That's horrible. And probably yes to your question.

Hope he doesn't have any lasting problems from that bleeding.
 

Pogue Mahone

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After conducting x-rays, it was found that Yasser Al Shahrani had fractured the jaw and left facial bones, and that he needed rapid surgical intervention due to internal bleeding.

Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of the Saudi Arabia instructed that Yasser be transferred by a private jet to Germany for treatment, after his injury during the national team’s match versus Argentina.
Fecking hell.