Pennsylvania Injury Lawyer Blog

Everybody loves school sports – promotes family fun, provides lots of exercise, and trends to soccer-mania. Soccer is among one of the sports, most prone to head injuries, traumatic brain injuries to be exact.

How can something like soccer that is so much fun and build character and sportsmanship put student athletes particularly girls at so much risk for potential brain injuries?

Athletes who often head soccer balls were found to have brain abnormalities similar to those found in patients with traumatic brain injuries according to the Radiological Society of North America. Repetitive heading can set off a cascade of responses that lead to brain cell degeneration.

There is compelling evidence that brain changes that look like traumatic brain injury as a result of heading a soccer ball with high frequency. Since soccer is the most popular sport worldwide and is played by children and teens, these findings should be taken into consideration in order to protect soccer players.

Enter the protective head gear sales. Will protective head gear protect youthful soccer players? Head injuries are the hot topic in youth athletics. Taking precaution to avoid head trauma are reaching beyond football and hockey.

Some states like Colorado have endorsed some of the nation's most stringent laws regarding concussions. As of January 2012, coaches are now required to bench players as young as 11 years old when believed to have a head injury. Players are required to have medical clearance before returning to the field. Also coaches must take free annual online training to recognize concussion symptoms.

Here are 10 ways to reduce soccer injuries.

While fractures, broken bones, and other more tangible sidelining injuries have often received the most attention by organized sports officials, concussions have always posed an insidious yet serious danger. Due to a recent increase in concussion awareness, including a very high profile class action lawsuit in which former National Football League players are suing the league for turning a blind eye toward the problem, this important issue is getting more and more focus. A new Pennsylvania bill joins the growing initiative by implementing new safety measures to battle traumatic brain injuries in young athletes.

The suggested law, the Safety in Youth Sports Act, provides additional rules for educating parents, training athletic coaches, and sets protocol regarding when an athlete is permitted to return to the field or court following a potential concussion.

Specifically, the bill mandates:

• Student athletes, as well as parents, will be educated on the subject prior to participation in any sports teams or events.
• Coaches will be required to complete a yearly course on the prevention and treatment of concussions and brain injuries.
• Coaches will be required to remove any player suspected of, or showing signs of, a concussion during gameplay, and that player may not return to activity until provided written clearance by a doctor or certified medical professional.

Many Pennsylvania schools already have similar systems and guidelines in place, according to Penn Live, so the new law will affect the approximate 20 percent of those that do not employ certified trainers or other related resources for sporting events. Concussions are a serious threat to athletes of all ages and performance levels and can occur in most any sport. If your child has suffered concussion injuries during participation in organized sports, contact a Philadelphia sports injury lawyer with Anapol Schwartz at 1-866-735-2792.

In the first prospective class action lawsuit of its type, which may eventually include any NFL player who has ever suffered head trauma while playing in the league, seven previous professional football players have sued the NFL due to alleged negligence toward concussions and concussion-related injuries.

According to the Associated Press, in the lawsuit filed on August 17, the plaintiffs are charging the league with instructing players to hit using their heads, neglecting to adequately address the resulting injuries, and masking the potential links for decades between contact football and brain trauma.

Among the former players suing is two-time Super Bowl winner Jim McMahon, who claims he played through five concussions and now suffers from long term cognitive health problems as a result. The other previous players named in this claim are: Wayne Radloff, Charles Ray Easterling, Joseph Thomas, Steve Kiner, Gerald Feehery, and Michael Furrey. The lawsuit calls for increased medical observation as well as monetary compensation for the care of injured athletes.

“We have to ultimately determine how many people are in the (legal) classes,” players’ lawyer Larry Coben of Philadelphia firm Anapol Schwartz told the AP. “How many people from the ‘70s are experiencing this, how many people from the ‘80s, from the ‘90s? And then, what are the losses?”

While the NFL lawsuit is a high profile example of sports safety liability and large scale injury negligence, head injuries are a problem for contact football players of all levels, as well as those involved in other sports. If you or a loved one has suffered a head or brain injury that is sports-related, call the Pennsylvania sports injury accident lawyers at Anapol Schwartz at 1-866-735-2792 for a complimentary review of your claim.