Sod it, might as well post the full article, saves faffing about eh?
They can sue me...
Soccer Headgear: Does It Do Any Good?
By JERE LONGMAN
Published: November 27, 2004
Associated Press
Kevin Rivoli for The New York Times
Patrick Fisher, product manager for Full90, modeling the headgear that
the company sells to soccer players. The device weighs less than 2
ounces.
Most soccer players on the Santa Clara University women's team will
enter the N.C.A.A. quarterfinals today wearing protective equipment -
headgear - that is as controversial as it is lightweight.
In the 15 months since FIFA, soccer's world governing body, began
permitting its use, headgear has been worn by thousands of American
players from youth leagues to high schools to colleges to the pros.
The headgear gained international visibility during the 2003 Women's
World Cup and the Athens Olympics this summer.
This has triggered skepticism within the United States Soccer
Federation, which contends that marketing to the fears of parents has
trumped science regarding the effectiveness of headgear in preventing
concussions.
This resistance has not dissuaded some youth clubs from requiring the
use of headgear.
"I remember when baseball players didn't wear batting helmets," said
Steve Ryan, commissioner of the Major Indoor Soccer League, which
approves of headgear. "You see some resistance in soccer, which is
natural. But I expect, over time, you will see it broadly accepted."
The founder of a San Diego-based company called Full90 said he had
sold 100,000 pieces of headgear. The headgear resembles an enlarged
headband, weighs less than 2 ounces, and covers the forehead, temples
and occipital bone in back of the head. The device is made of
shock-absorbing foam situated between an outer layer of Lycra and an
inner layer of sweat-absorbing polypropylene. Several models are
available for $24 to $39.
Full90 does not claim that its headgear prevents concussions. But the
company does say the headgear can reduce, by up to 50 percent, the
peak impact forces that occur during typical collisions when a
player's head strikes another head, the ground, an elbow or a goal
post.
The headgear debate is occurring at a time when some studies indicate
that concussions occur in soccer at a rate similar to the rate in
football.
There also is disagreement on whether heading the ball can cause
concussions or long-term brain impairment. Studies have presented
contradictory results, and the matter remains disputed as the soccer
federation undertakes a long-term examination of head injuries.
The resolution of these head-related issues could have far-reaching
health and financial impacts, given that nearly 18 million people play
soccer in the United States.
On one side of the headgear argument is Jeff Skeen, founder of Full90.
He said he developed the protective device after his daughter Lauren
suffered two soccer-related concussions in high school, causing her to
quit the sport.
At 46, Skeen possesses the righteousness of the aggrieved parent. He
believes his product can reduce head injuries without giving an
illicit advantage in heading the ball.
The soccer federation, which permits headgear but does not endorse it,
fears that its wide use would undermine the assertion that soccer is a
safe alternative to football, Skeen said. He likens the doubt of
soccer officials to familiar but failed arguments once made against
the use of bicycle helmets, automobile seat belts and soccer shin
guards.
"They are trying to thwart the evolution of headgear in soccer because
they think it will scare soccer moms away from the sign-up table,"
Skeen said of soccer federation officials. "And because they think it
could be viewed as an admission that heading the ball itself is
dangerous."
Calvin Williams, founder of the Kangaroo headgear company, said he
thought soccer officials resisted the equipment because they felt "it
is sissified."
Soccer federation officials disagree, saying their caution is based on
scientific uncertainty.
Insufficient independent evidence exists to confirm that headgear can
reduce the risk of head injuries, they say. Doctors affiliated with
the federation also say that headgear is being marketed primarily to
children, who least need them because there is little incidence of
concussions in players under the age of 12.
Players might develop a false sense of security, relying on headgear
instead of proper medical evaluation after suffering a concussion,
federation doctors say. Or, they say, players might feel invincible in
headgear and play with reckless aggressiveness, displaying behavior
known as the Superman effect.
Rather than headgear, federation officials advocate better technique,
stricter rules enforcement and improved officiating to reduce the
number of head injuries. Some also recommend mouth guards and padded
goal posts instead of padded headgear.
"There is no evidence headgear are going to help, and some theoretical
stuff that it could hurt," said Dr. Gary Green, a clinical professor
at the U.C.L.A. division of sports medicine who is on the soccer
federation's medical advisory committee. "Why take a chance until this
gets studied?"
Because Full90 pays some pro players (the equivalent of $50 to $100
per game, it says) and some state soccer associations ($4,000 to
$10,000) to endorse its product, the soccer federation says the
company's claims are suspect.
"We're talking about marketing and fear and manipulation," said Dr.
Bert Mandelbaum, team physician for the United States national teams.
Not all medical soccer experts oppose headgear.
Dr. J. Scott Delaney of McGill University in Montreal said laboratory
data, not yet published, does indicate that headgear could reduce
impact forces by 10 to 30 percent. (The soccer federation says this
involves low-level forces that don't cause concussions.) Delaney said
an industry standard for headgear has been drafted and could be
instituted in May.
In a study, published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine,
Delaney queried 328 Canadian university football players and 201
university soccer players as they reported to fall training camp in
1999. He found that 70.4 percent of the football players and 62.7
percent of the soccer players had experienced symptoms of a concussion
in the previous year.
"We've shown concussions are a problem, and in the lab these things
work," Delaney said of headgear. "What else do you need? Why wouldn't
you start protecting people?"
Studies involving large numbers of players can occur only after
headgear is used widely, said Delaney, who is team physician for the
McGill soccer team and the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football
League.
The concern over concussions, and whether headgear can protect against
them, is a growing issue for youth soccer associations. In September,
the New York State West Youth Soccer Association, which governs more
than 200 clubs and 80,000 youths in the Buffalo-Rochester area, voted
to require headgear for all players under 14.
The association later retreated over concerns about liability and
protests from some coaches and officials. Several coaches interviewed
in Rochester wondered why headgear were proposed for young children
and not for older teenagers, who are more likely to get concussions.
Others said risk was inherent in any sport.
"Where are you going to draw the line? Make everyone wear knee
braces?" said Tom Maines, who coaches an under-10 boys team in
Brockport, N.Y.
Some players resist headgear on aesthetic grounds.
"It looks goofy," said Brittany Myles, 13, of Syracuse.
Ross Paule, a midfielder for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer,
wore Full90 headgear for a dozen games in the recently completed
season, seeking some security after suffering three earlier
concussions.
"I'm on the fence," said Paule, who was not paid to endorse the
headgear. "I don't agree it should be mandated. If something makes you
comfortable, why not?" He added: "I can't tell you if it was a huge
help. When I got hit one time, maybe it gave me a little extra
cushion."
Any club or association that makes headgear compulsory risks losing
its affiliation with the United States Soccer Federation, Dr. S.
Robert Contiguglia, its president, said.
But that threat is either unknown or ignored by the Temecula Valley
Soccer Association in Southern California, which for three seasons has
required headgear for players under 8. Peter Schilperoort, president
of the association, said headgear prevented bumps and cuts previously
suffered by his players, calling the equipment "the best thing since
sliced bread."
The De Anza Force soccer club of Cupertino, Calif., will require
headgear for players under 17 beginning in March, said Tom Pridham, a
club official. Both the Temecula and De Anza clubs are sponsored by
Full90.
Jerry Smith, coach of the Santa Clara women's team, which received
free headgear from Full90, said the equipment made his players more
confident in challenging balls in the air, and more assertive, but not
overly so.
Anson Dorrance, who has coached the women's team at North Carolina to
18 national championships, said compulsory use of shin guards had not
changed the nature of soccer, as many feared. He predicted that
headgear would not, either.
"I'd challenge any of these doctors who feel this has no value to run
into the goal post without a Full90 and with it, then tell me, if they
were forced to do it a third time, whether or not they would wear it,"
said Dorrance, whose team is also sponsored by Full90.
Several players, including Joy Fawcett of the United States women's
national team, who endorses Full90, discounted the so-called the
Superman effect, saying the headgear did not make players dangerously
aggressive.
"It's like a flag that reminds you not to go up for stupid plays,"
said Jill Conaboy, a defender at Downingtown West High in suburban
Philadelphia, who wore headgear last weekend as her team won the
Pennsylvania Class AAA state championship.
Kathy Conaboy, Jill's mother, said she held no illusion that her
daughter, who has suffered two concussions, would never be hurt again
while wearing headgear. What she hopes, she said, is that a blow that
might have caused a third concussion will result in only a bruise.
"A seat belt is not going to save a life in a 90-mile-per-hour crash
into a wall," Kathy Conaboy said. "A 30-mile-per-hour crash, a fender
bender, it helps. I'm looking at this as a seat belt."
--
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