THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN FITZGERALD, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
LENGTH: 110 lines
THE GAME looks fairly tame.
No crashing helmets. No bulky bodies piled up in a heap. Just a bunch of kids running and kicking the ball up and down the field.
Soccer certainly seems like a safe sport. But the recent death of a Pennsylvania 13-year-old who suffered a brain injury after ``heading'' a soccer ball begs the question: Well, is it?
The coroner's office in Dauphin County, Pa., where Justin Rutland died, listed the cause of death as hemorrhaging in the brain and said the injury occurred when the boy's head was hit by the ball. Justin's family has said he had headed the ball in a game and then complained of ringing in his ears and a headache before losing consciousness.
``Soccer remains one of the safest sports for children,'' said Dr. Robert Contiguglia, who serves on the sports medicine committee of the U.S. Soccer Federation. ``The type of injuries that occur in soccer are usually minor, and when there is serious injury it's extremely rare.
``We're obviously very concerned because we know of no incident in the history of soccer in which heading the soccer ball in and of itself caused a death,'' Contiguglia said.
Soccer is the fastest-growing sport among children. Youth Soccer, a division of the U.S. Soccer Federation, estimates that 5 million to 6 million boys and girls in this country play the game on a regular basis. Parents of boys are often especially glad to have their sons enrolled in soccer, seeing it as a less risky alternative to peewee football.
Experts say that soccer is indeed a safer bet than football for children, though the rate of injury picks up as players grow into teen-agers and the game becomes rougher and more competitive.
Last year, about 71,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 went to a hospital emergency room after getting hurt playing soccer, compared with about 179,000 children who were treated for football-related injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Of the soccer injuries, 11 percent involved the face and head. The other 89 percent were injuries to other parts of the body.
Justin's death, while clearly an unusual accident, is bound to add fuel to a simmering debate over the safety of heading, a soccer move in which the player attempts to redirect the ball by hitting it off the forehead.
The debate began in the late 1980s with the first of several studies that suggest that the cumulative effects of repeated heading may cause chronic brain damage.
Researchers studying some professional Norwegian soccer players found that a substantial proportion of them demonstrated deficits in tests to measure mental skills.
Another study of teen-age and young-adult soccer players by Adrienne Witol, a neuropsychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia, found that those players who headed the ball most frequently had, on average, a lower IQ than players who did not head as much.
The design and methodology of that study and the Norwegian research have been criticized by some experts.
The latest word on the ongoing debate came last March from researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. They compared a group of male U.S. National Team soccer players to elite track athletes to see if repetitive heading of the ball caused either symptoms of brain injury or changes in the brain that could be detected by MRI scans. They found no differences between the two groups.
Soccer organizations cite the UCLA study as sound evidence that the worry over heading is unwarranted.
But some researchers believe the issue is still not resolved.
Another study is being done by David Janda, an orthopedic surgeon who runs the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine in Ann Arbor, Mich. He is just completing a two-year study of 9-, 10- and 11-year-old players.
He spent time on soccer fields, watching as coaches lined the kids up for drills that involved heading the ball over and over.
``Before you knew it, you had a bunch of kids staggering around the field,'' he said. When he asked young players what they most disliked about soccer, they often zeroed in on heading, saying it made them see double, have headaches and feel sick to the stomach, Janda said.
Janda and other experts wonder if heading might be a bad idea for children because their brains are still developing and they don't have the physical prowess to do the technique correctly.
Many experts think that heading should not be taught until at least age 10. Janda has been working on developing a lightweight soccer helmet that would lessen the impact of the ball hitting the head. He said it could be worn by youngsters for drills, if not for the entire game.
``We're not trying to change the game,'' he said. ``We're just trying to make it safer.''
While the debate continues over the dangers of repetitive heading, there is clearly some danger of suffering head injury while playing soccer. Two players can knock heads when both go to head the ball, and players can also crash into the goal or get kicked in the head by another player.
Such collisions can cause a concussion - a temporary loss of consciousness that may last only a few seconds. A particularly severe blow to the head can cause bleeding and nerve damage.
While no one expects that pint-size soccer players will soon be running around with helmets, experts say there are already things that parents can do to make sure their child is as safe as possible.
For one, children should always wear shin guards.Many soccer injuries are the result of getting kicked in the lower leg.
Parents should also check out the goals on the fields where their children play. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been working to educate soccer coaches on the dangers of movable goals, which can weigh 150 to 500 pounds. If they aren't properly anchored with stakes or other devices, they can tip over and crush a child.
Experts say that parents should not treat soccer like a baby-sitting service, and that they should keep an eye on their child.
John McShane, director of primary-care sports medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and medical team physician for the Philadelphia Eagles, said that if a child complains of dizziness, headache, nausea or blurry vision, he should come out of the game immediately.
KEYWORDS: SOCCER INJURIES HEADING < by CNB