concussion – SEMS-journal

exercise is medicine

Should headers be banned in children’s and youth soccer?

A few months ago, a high school graduate contacted me with a request for an interview for her “Matura thesis”. The topic of her thesis was the (possible) ban on headers in children and adolescents in soccer. Shortly afterwards, the same question came up at the general assembly of the Society for Paediatric Sports Medicine (GPS): why are headers banned in youth soccer in England/US, but not in Germany and Switzerland? Reason enough to take a closer look at this topic and try to find evidence-based answers to this question.

sports and youth sports injury concussion

Concussion in sports in children and adolescents – to play or not to play?

A lot has been published on the topic concussion in sports during the last years, conscience was sharpened, much was structured and defined more precisely, help tools were developed and rules changed. This article summarizes the fifth edition of the recently published guidelines of the “International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport”. In addition, new findings regarding gender differences and recovery will be presented, as well as the modified “return-to-sport” and the novel “return-to-school” protocols.

exercise is medicine

Concussion in youth athletes: key aspects

Sports-related concussion in young athletes is a major issue in sports medicine. Although it attracts a lot of media attention, at the same time it suffers from insufficient spread of the knowledge regarding its identification and the adequate protocols to be implemented in the return to sport sequence. Underreporting and trivialization of potential concussions is too frequent, although it can have serious consequences, ranging from an increase in repeat concussion or second impact syndrome, to academic difficulties and persistence of cognitive or physical symptoms.