Headers are NOT the Culprit of Soccer Concussions
Author: Matt Couch
Publish Date: June 13th, 2019
To be straight up and honest, I am extremely bias toward the topic of headers causing concussions. I am quite sure I have suffered my fair share of concussions from multiple sources, but I truly believe it was not do to headers. From my own personal observation as a coach, watching numerous soccer games and players, I believe much of the concussion causing mechanism is when players get hit by the ball in the head or make incorrect contact. Headering the ball and getting hit in the head with the ball are two different experiences. When headering the ball you prepare your body from the core to you shoulders and arms to your neck so that you make proper and contact with the ball. When getting hit by the ball in the head, players are rarely prepared and it is from a deflection or clearance. The other mechanism that is not related to heading the ball which could account for far more injuries including concussions are player collisions. I have seen time and time again players run into the side or back of other players causing a whiplash effect and causing the player to hit the ground with so much force is is like getting into an accident. I believe they made a serious mistake when they banned heading for the younger youth ages. To truly reduce the occurrence of concussions I believe it would have been better to make it mandatory for coaches to spend time on proper heading technique and player to player contact.
A study done in 2015 found that “contact with another players was the most common concussion mechanism.” However, the study also found that the soccer specific activity that causes most concussions was headers. Now I ask myself how could this be so contradictory. Then I review multiple header situations that I have been apart of and have seen, it comes down to players challenging for aerial contest make contact with each other causing the concussion not necessarily the ball causing the concussion. This was also explained in the study where the finding “indicates that player to player contact occurring during contested heading is more frequently linked to concussions than ball-head impacts alone.”
Headers are not the issue that needs to be addressed, it is player to player contact. We as coaches encourage players to make contact with other player, but we need to train our player on how to make proper contact and how to protect themselves from poor contact. Instead of banning headers this should have been the first step in solving the soccer concussion issue. U.S. Soccer has failed the soccer community by banning headers and has taken a skill away from the future generation. All to often do I see players running from the ball or jumping into some uncontrollable acrobatic feat to control the ball, which usually ends up hurting the player or players involved. We have substituted the header for poor skill and different injuries. I continue to work with my players on heading, no matter the age, knowing the proper way to head a soccer ball will provide far more benefits than it will concussions. I encourage all who read this to work with their players, son, or daughter on headers, do not be fearful, fear only breeds more fear but practice and confidence breeds success. We want our players to be successful on the field not fearful of the next ball coming out of the air.
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