Preliminary study suggests certain activities lead to more head impacts in youth soccer seasons
By Hannah Moran. This article was initially published in our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.
A preliminary study suggests that younger soccer players encounter more total head impacts during “repetitive technical training activities,” while scrimmages and games resulted in fewer head impacts of “greater magnitude.” The study was discussed in a press release by the American Academy of Neurology and was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Sports Concussion Conference.
This study involved eight soccer players aged 14 and 15 for two seasons. The players were watched closely, with “researchers [recording] all activities on the field with a time-synchronized camera, and identified each time head contact was made.” Observers recorded head impact rate, rotational head movement, and duration of activity exposure.
They calculated that the average impact rates for the different activities “ranged from 0.5 head impacts per player hour to 13.7 head impacts per player hour.” Technical drills produced the highest average impact rate of 13.7 per player hour. Technical drills include any practice activity designed to improve a player’s coordination and motor patterns and encourage more frequent player and ball interaction. Increased exposure to the ball, such as heading drills, explains why the head impact rate is so high since players are engaging with the soccer ball alone more often to develop their skills. Furthermore, the scrimmage drills averaged the lowest rate, at 0.5 per hour. Interestingly, observed games averaged 1.3 head impacts per player hour, only slightly higher than scrimmages.
Researchers used rotational head movement to measure the magnitude (or force) of a player’s head movement when impacted with a soccer ball. They found that technical drills caused lower impact forces and less rotational head movement. In comparison, head impacts during scrimmages and games were generally more forceful. These results indicate that though head impacts were much more frequent during drills, the impacts themselves were less dangerous. Scrimmages and games produced fewer head-to-ball impacts overall, but every clash caused more damage.
Though this study was limited in its population, the findings provide a starting point for further research into head impact rates during soccer seasons. Jillian Urban, one of the authors of the preliminary study, suggested targeting different soccer activities to reach different goals. Urban recommends focusing regulation on “technical training drills and how they are distributed within a season” to reduce the number of head impacts. To lower the incidence of more significant magnitude head impacts, Urban recommends targeting “factors associated with high-magnitude head impacts that can occur during scrimmages and games.”