World Cup fever is here, but the most renowned international soccer tournament is capturing headlines for the wrong reasons. Concussions. And, more shocking, questionable concussion protocol.
In this episode, we were joined by The Futbol Physios to discuss concussion protocol in soccer as well as a very scary situation with Moroccan national player, Nordin Amrabat. During a FIFA World Cup group stage game versus Iran, the player had clearly suffered a concussion injury, showing obvious signs, including the fencing position. Check out the video below.
https://instagram.com/p/BkN4WXBF5g-/
To make matters worse, the player participated in the next group stage game, only 5 days after the injury! Based on appropriate return to play protocols, this could have put the player in serious risk for further injury and long-term complications. The player was also wearing a rugby scrum cap! As we know, helmets are not proven to protect or reduce the incident rate of concussion injuries.
It will be interesting to see how the Moroccan team and FIFA respond to the incident. Below are some more details and news articles about the incident.
Fifa: Morocco decision to play Nordin Amrabat after concussion ‘questionable’ via The Guardian
Concussion row breaks out at World Cup as Morocco field Nordin Amrabat five days after head injury via The Telegraph
Morocco defend Amrabat’s return from concussion via Reuters
Special thanks to The Futbol Physios for joining us! Check out their description and video of the events.
https://instagram.com/p/BkI7VnElMer/
During the episode, we also discussed how to determine whether or not concussion symptoms are caused by whiplash or concussion as well as if “asymptomatic” means that an athlete is ready to return to play. We also reviewed the study of the week, which looked at the prevalence of concussion injuries caused by fighting in ice hockey.
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