What Happened?: A Study on Concussion Knowledge

What if I were to tell you that 10% of athletes suffered a concussion in the past year? More troubling, what if you were to find out that 62% of these injuries were not reported? The existence and awareness of these concussions are at the heart of the research article, “Concussion occurrence and knowledge in Italian football (soccer). Co written by Steven P. Broglio, Roberto Vagnozzi, Matthew Sabin, Stefano Signoretti, Barbara Tavazzi, and Giuseppe Lazzarino, the article tackles the realm of concussions: from the reporting by players to recognition by coaches and the medical staff.This is an article whose relevance is ever present in the headlines. Each week in the United States, the ESPN ticker is littered with football players (albeit American football) plagued by injury and uncertainty as to the severity of their ailments. In an age where knowledge of the medical field is evolving constantly, athletics have come under scrutiny for their handling of concussions. It is in the author’s belief that all three (athletes, coaches, and medical staff) are in need of more educational materials to help with the recognition of warning signs, evidence, and assessing techniques of concussions.

It is with this figure in mind that in 2009, the researchers conducted surveys on athletes, coaches, and medical staff to assess their knowledge and treatment for concussions. The surveys reached out to 727 individuals (650 athletes, 43 coaches, 34 medical). The athlete survey was conducted to deduce the correlation between the occurrence of concussions and how often they were reported. The results were disturbing to say the least. Working with 303 returned surveys (46.6% return rate) the researchers deemed that 10% of those surveyed had sustained a concussion in the current season. As eluded to in the introduction, 62.1% of these athletes did not report their injuries. What is more troubling is that the average age of those tested was 16.8 years old. Juvenile athletes are being subjected to this type of punishment on the body. Worse yet, they are not saying anything about it and therefore increase their chances of injury in the future. Their own teammates reported in at 72.7% in knowing their teammate had a concussion but not reporting it because they believed it was not serious. It is clear in these findings that athletes have to be closely guarded and tested since they are unable or unwilling to keep track of their own health.

Unlike most studies on concussions, the research done for the findings of the article take place outside the United States. While much of the focus on concussions has been geared towards American football, little attention has been made to the sport that attracts the most attention worldwide; soccer. The reason for this possibly being since American football (along with rugby) is usually regarded as one of the most dangerous sports on the planet. Yet, the number of athletes playing American football pales in comparison to soccer.  In fact, it is reported that soccer comes out on top with over 240 million participants (Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), 2008). Yet with most of investigations on concussions coming out of the United States, little is known how the rest of the world conducts themselves when it comes to concussions and their treatment.l

With 43 surveys distributed to coaches, 27 (62.8%) were returned. In one occurrence of good news from the study, 72% of the coaches tested understood the risk of injury increases after just one concussion. Even more encouraging was 81.5% would support baseline testing of their athletes if it lead to a more informed medical decision. In addition, all coaches agreed that the decision of when a player can return to the field should be left to the medical staff. Of the three groups, the coaches surveyed showed the most promise as they seemed to be aware of the severity of concussions and to defer judgement to the medical staff.

In concluding with the survey, the medical stuff had the smallest sample size (12 out of 34) at 35.3%. Of those surveyed, 81.8% marked that they complete baseline testing of the athletes. Of this group surveyed, an identical 91.7% completed a clinical exam and relied on the use of athlete reported symptoms. Minimal use was reported in the areas of neurocognitive testing and grading scales, both of which came in at under 20% ( 16.7% and 8.3% respectively). In addition, no medical staff reported that they had ever knowingly returned a concussed player to the field..

The research is gloomily concluded with an analysis on the state of concussions in Italian soccer. It is said that more education materials need to be made available to coaches and medical staff. This is largely in reference to the fact that not all medical staff administered baseline testing. Furthermore, of this testing, medical staff and coaches need to be aware of using neurocognition and postural control, both of which were seldomly used by the surveyed medical staff. The researchers argue that the above stated techniques have to be used in conjunction with standardized base line testing to produce more concise results.

As it pertains to the society of the United States, concussions are present in our every day lives. For example, I had to bench three of my starting players in fantasy football because they were out due to concussions. All kidding aside, the National Football League (NFL) has made concussion analysis and prevention a priority in their league. From limiting where you are allowed to hit someone (no head to head contact) to ensuring an independent opinion is given before a player is allowed to step back on the field, concussion prevention is at the forefront of the NFL’s safety measures. Last Sunday night, as the Falcons played host to the Eagles, the starting quarterback for the Eagles (Michael Vick) was sidelined due to a concussion. After the game, the head athletic trainer for the Eagles reported that Vick was looking okay after the hit but they wanted to be on the side of caution and wait to put him back in. It’s preventative actions like these that are helping reshape the NFL as a league of safety.

Austin Hurwitz

Broglio, S. P., Vagnozzi, R., Sabin, M., Signoretti, S., Tavazzi, B., & Lazzarino, G. (2010). Concussion occurrence and knowledge in Italian football (soccer). Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 9(3), 418-430. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.