Headers come under spotlight
HIA. RTPP. CTE. Acronyms rugby fans and players are becoming increasingly familiar with as awareness around concussion heightens.
Head Injury Assessment and Return to Play Protocol are the easy ones. If you get hit, you go off. Then you stay sidelined until the symptoms are gone.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – the neurodegenerative disease found in people, particularly sportspeople, who have had multiple head injuries – is reasonably well known because of American research focused on the NFL, although casual fans may not understand it all that well.
Rugby, league and American football, more than most other sports, are seen to have an increased duty of care around ensuring their players are protected due to the forceful nature of the collisions involved.
But what about the sport where the head is used as a tool to gain supremacy? Football has started to come under examination as to what the long-term effects of repeated, prolonged heading of the ball might be.
Such assertions started as early as 2002, when former England striker Jeff Astle died of a degenerative brain disease at the age of 59. The coroner in his case said his death was due to repeatedly heading heavy leather footballs throughout his career. In 2014, Scottish neuropathologist Willie Stewart re-examined his brain and found CTE.
A study released in February found four more former footballers who died of dementia had been suffering from CTE.
Stewart is set to lead a study from next January in the United Kingdom which will investigate the links between heading a football and brain damage.
New Zealand Football medical director Mark Fulcher was one person very interested in the results because, he said, at this stage a definitive link was yet to be proven.
‘‘There was a big review article which has recently been published which shows based on all the evidence that has been published and the scientific literature to date, there is no evidence that heading over a lifetime causes problems.
‘‘So there is what people might think, and then there is probably what is real, but at the moment the science is clear that there is no evidence of an association.’’
But he also didn’t have his head in the sand, and said his view was that over time it would be found some people are more susceptible to brain injuries, just as some people are more suscep- tible to ACL or shoulder injuries.
And while heading is in the limelight, concussion in football cannot be forgotten either.
There are 150,000 registered footballers in New Zealand, while there were 547 football-related concussion claims made to the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in 2016. Rugby has similar player numbers, but 2401 concussion claims were made in 2016.
But the number in football could be being under-reported.
Yes, they have stringent protocols in place like rugby, but you only need to attend a few ISPS Handa Premiership matches to know they don’t always get followed.
Speaking generally about toplevel football in New Zealand, Fulcher said adherence to GETTY IMAGES concussion protocols was an area that needed to improve.
‘‘We’re aware of those cases as well and we’re working with those teams. If we look at every sport, even in rugby where they have very highly qualified doctors on the sideline, we don’t always get it right.
‘‘So I’m pretty comfortable with the policy we have, I’m pretty comfortable that most people are trying to apply the policy, but I’m also a realist and know not everybody applies the policy. You’re reliant upon the person on the sideline doing the right thing.’’
If protocols are not being followed, or if players are suffering from long-term issues because of football, then they can turn to their union, the New Zealand Professional Footballers Association.