'Stubborn' football chiefs urged to strengthen concussion rules
Wed, November 2, 2022
Football's "stubbornness" towards dealing with head injuries is endangering the health of players, a British brain injury charity said on Wednesday.
Headway highlighted the inconsistencies in the treatment of such injuries, citing the cases of Tottenham's Son Heung-min and Liverpool's James Milner in Champions League matches on Tuesday.
While the South Korean forward was substituted after a clash in Spurs' match against Marseille, Milner played on after suffering a head injury against Napoli before coming off early in the second half.
It followed an incident in the Premier League at the weekend where Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was initially allowed to play on despite suffering a head injury in his side's 4-0 defeat against Newcastle.
He was eventually replaced later in the first half by a concussion substitute. Such a change does not count towards a side's substitute limit but is permanent, unlike in rugby where players can return to the field if they pass a head injury assessment.
Luke Griggs, Headway's interim chief executive, said the assessment of players for potential concussion remained "extremely challenging" for medics.
"They are not helped by football's continued and unjustifiable reluctance to introduce temporary concussion substitutes that would enable extended assessments in the quiet confines of a dressing room, away from the intense atmosphere of the pitch," he said.
"We have repeatedly warned football of the risk it is taking with the short and long-term health of players."
Multiple studies have shown a link between brain injuries and an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease, and that ex-professional athletes are at an increased risk of developing such conditions.
"Football's stubbornness to accept the clear evidence that has emerged in recent years can no longer be tolerated," said Griggs.
The Professional Footballers' Association on Monday called for trials of temporary concussion substitutes, and urged European governing body UEFA to introduce permanent concussion substitutes to its competitions.
Arsenal ended their recent women's Champions League clash at Ajax with 10 players after England forward Beth Mead suffered a blow to the head.
The Gunners had used their full allocation of substitutes, but were not allowed to replace Mead with the Euro 2022 top goalscorer calling for action from UEFA.
"At the time it was a bit of a scary situation," said Mead. "It’s such a serious injury, I think that’s a little bit disappointing that’s (concussion substitutes)not in place at the moment and something that they maybe need to look at.”
UEFA has a defined head injury procedure and has set up a concussion charter which clubs and national teams in men's and women's competitions have been encouraged to sign up to.
The governing body trialled permanent concussion substitutes at the men's European Under-21 Championship in Hungary and Slovenia last year.
Rising star footballers among young athletes to benefit from new screening tool
Elite young athletes are set to benefit from a novel screening tool with the potential to change clinical practice by ruling out a serious heart condition frequently misdiagnosed. The research is thanks to a jointly led study by the Universities of Exeter
Peer-Reviewed PublicationElite young athletes are set to benefit from a novel screening tool with the potential to change clinical practice by ruling out a serious heart condition frequently misdiagnosed. The research is thanks to a jointly led study by the Universities of Exeter and Bristol, working with rising athletes from around the world.
Cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease in the muscle of the heart, is a genetic condition in which the walls of the heart chambers no longer develop as they would normally, taking many forms. This can lead to collapses on the pitch, or affect the heart's ability to pump blood around the body.
For one in twenty healthy adolescent athletes, training alone leads to changes in how the heart appears during ultrasound. This means diagnosing a cardiomyopathy can often be difficult, and being told there is even the suspicion of disease can lead to a huge amount of psychological distress, which often stops them taking part in training and competition until a clear decision is made.
In this large international study, more than 400 youth athletes from Manchester United Youth Academy, Football Club Barcelona, and Qatar Aspire Academy were screened using novel and non-invasive ultrasound techniques. These techniques, already used in clinical diagnosis of patients, are an important step forward in developing a new pathway to screening for cardiomyopathy in athletes. The team now hope the new techniques will reduce rates of false diagnosis, potentially saving the NHS time and resource in providing follow up tests to rule out the condition and prevent health scares.
Professor Craig Williams, Director of the Children's Health & Exercise Research Centre at the University of Exeter said: “Our results show the power of novel ultrasound techniques, when screening athletes where suspicion of cardiomyopathy has been raised, but who are otherwise perfectly healthy. The difference this makes results is more accurate cardiomyopathy diagnosis, especially in young athletes, thus better protecting the athletes of tomorrow.”
Dan Dorobantu, PhD student in cardiology at the University of Exeter, added: “Often times when screening athletes, we would see changes that could be due to a disease, but equally so because of how the heart adapts to training. Reaching a clear conclusion can involve more tests, follow-up visits, and considerable stress for the athletes. Any new technique that can help us better diagnose these cases would lead to improvements in screening, and the care we provide our athletes.”
The paper ‘The use of 2-D speckle tracking echocardiography in assessing adolescent athletes with left ventricular hypertrabeculation meeting the criteria for left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy’ is published in the International Journal of Cardiology.
JOURNAL
International Journal of Cardiology
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