Needed: Clear protocols to deal with soccer-related concussions

Uruguayan mid­field­er stirs debate about con­cus­sions in soc­cer (The Globe and Mail):

“The team doc­tor stepped away from his patient and motioned to the coach­es on the far side­line. He rolled his hands one over the oth­er, the sig­nal that the stum­bling play­er beside him, Uruguay mid­field­er Álvaro Pereira, would have to be substituted.

In many sports, Pereira’s day would have been over. Moments ear­li­er, he had been flat on his back, unre­spon­sive after tak­ing a knee to the side of his head dur­ing a World Cup match against Eng­land on Thurs­day after­noon. A con­cus­sion was a seri­ous pos­si­bil­i­ty, at least accord­ing to FIFA’s pro­to­cols on the issue. At worst, his con­di­tion mer­it­ed a full evaluation.

But even in his weak­ened state, Pereira was hav­ing none of it. Notic­ing the doctor’s hand sig­nals through his grog­gy haze, Pereira angri­ly pulled those hands down, wagged his fin­ger in the physician’s face and insist­ed he be allowed to remain in the game. When Pereira’s coach­es went along, he returned after less than two min­utes on the sideline…In doing so he also plunged his sport into a new dis­cus­sion about how it han­dles head injuries in an age when their effects are chang­ing the way oth­er sports are played.”

Relat­ed articles:

• Beyond con­cus­sions: foot­ball-relat­ed hits impact brain’s white matter
• Under­stand­ing the impact of con­cus­sions on the brain