Head injuries in football are a sensitive topic – and football is repeatedly criticized for dealing with them. Because players with head injuries are often sent back onto the field. The risk of consequential damage, such as dementia in old age, increases.
“If you look at head injuries, you have to say that football is not a high-risk sport. It’s more like collision sports like rugby, American football or ice hockey,” says Claus Reinsberger, a sports doctor at the University of Paderborn on Deutschlandfunk. Although there are fewer head injuries in football than in the sports mentioned, the number of incidents is “considerable”, said Reinsberger. “That’s why this topic is very, very important.”
Protocol is an important step
Therefore, an awareness of the seriousness of head injuries should be formed, said Reinsberger. The protocol for the uniform handling of head injuries, which all first and second division clubs signed at the end of March and on which he worked, is an important step.
In this protocol, the clubs undertake, among other things, to carry out a neurological baseline screening, in which the “normal condition” of a player is to be determined. In the game, critical scenes should also be checked again via video with regard to injuries. And also in the training of trainers and supervisors, an awareness of how to deal with head injuries should be created. “This then goes on to the application of various diagnostic measures and the application of a return-to-play protocol based on international standards,” explains Reinsberger.
Dealing with head injuries a ‘dynamic process’
The fact that all teams have committed themselves to this protocol is new, says Reinsberger. In addition, “many things from science are always being put into practice. This is a topic that we deal with very differently today than we did five years ago, because science keeps coming up with new things that may then result in changes to the guidelines for managing head injuries. It’s a dynamic process.”
According to Reinsberger, there should already be new guidelines in mid-June. “There will also be some adjustments that we will implement immediately. This means that this protocol will always be based on current data and international recommendations.”
Reinsberger believes that it will take time for everyone to realize how important head injuries are. The self-commitment of the clubs through the protocol is a first step. “All in all, it’s about the fact that we don’t talk about one specific measure, but rather there are many measures that start at different points. And I believe that this awareness-raising only happens by starting at different points and then taking one step at a time step by step.”
Additional replacement not necessary
The protocol does not provide for the idea of an additional substitution in the event of head injuries. Since five substitutions are already allowed in German football, there is no need for that, says Reinsberger. “It’s definitely the case that you could have an extra substitution shortly before the end in the event of an injury,” he says.
There are always discussions about headers. Here you have to proceed differently, says Reinsberger. “Unfortunately, the discussion is very, very often emotional. But you have to distinguish a few things here.”
Although headers are a risk situation for craniocerebral trauma, “but not in ball-head contact, but in the context of header duels. That means, through contact of the skull with another part of the body, or the post, or the ground. ” Then you are no longer on the subject of headers, but on the subject of head injuries, where the protocol would take effect.
A header is not the same as a header
In addition, a header is not the same as a header. It depends on the distance and the speed of the ball, explains Reinsberger. And whether a player is prepared for a head-to-head duel to cushion the impact. “You have to look at that in a differentiated way. That’s why a ban on headers for children and young people would not necessarily solve the situation for adults if, for example, header duels had to be carried out in a more uncoordinated manner because you hadn’t trained beforehand. This is about the header game and above all, to make header training as gentle and effective as possible for the brain.”