Soccer fans around the world are enjoying the building excitement over the World Cup. The quadrennial event has been filled with nail-biting games, but also a fair number of injuries.
The way those injuries have been treated has led many to question whether FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is treating the dangers of concussions adequately. Soccer is just the latest sport where head injuries have been the source of controversy. And, of course, it’s not just elite-level athletes who are sustaining concussions.
Doctor Michael McCrea sees many concussions in his work as a researcher and professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
McCrea believes there should be caution, rather than fear about the potential for head injury in sports. "The risk to your son or daughter or mine is extremely small and certainly much smaller than the benefit they realize from participation in sports," he says.
Over the past 15 years, the sports world has seen athletes being withheld from games following head injuries for 15 minutes to now 15 days, McCrea explains.
He notes that the advances in both the science of concussions and the scientific community has made a big difference. "The good news there is the research community has really rapidly translated from science to clinical practice."
