Do girl's lacrosse players need helmets

This article discusses the need for helmets in lacrosse, especially girls lacrosse which is perceived to he less of a contact sport than boy's lacrosse.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing high school sports in the country. It also has one of the hottest debates regarding its rules — specifically, whether girls who play should be required to wear helmets, as boys are.

Boys lacrosse is a physical sport with heavy doses of contact. Girls lacrosse is regarded as more of a skill sport, with less contact. Players in the girls game are required to wear protective eyewear and mouth guards, but not helmets.

A study recently published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine looked at the types of injuries high school lacrosse players suffer. The study, conducted by researchers from the Center of Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide's Children Hospital and the Colorado School of Public Health, evaluated injuries players suffered from 2008-12. The research found that the most common injury, at 38 percent, were sprains and strains, followed by concussions at more than 22 percent.

Dawn Comstock, a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and one of the researchers, said the most surprising discovery was how players got concussions.

"In boys, nearly 75 percent of all of the concussions were due to athlete-athlete contact," Comstock said. "Not surprising, since boys lacrosse is a full contact sport. But girls, over 60 percent of the concussions resulted when a girl was struck in the head by a ball or the stick."

Even though girls lacrosse is regarded as a noncontact sport, researchers found that almost 25 percent of concussions came from athlete-to-athlete contact. About 63 percent of the concussions resulted from being hit in the head by a ball or a stick.

According to rules from U.S. Lacrosse, which the National Federation of State High School Associations endorses, girls may wear soft headgear but not hard helmets. Only goalies can wear helmets. Field players wear protective eyewear and mouth guards.

Denver East High School coach Mallory Cleveland would like to see helmets mandated in girls lacrosse. Cleveland played one year of lacrosse without goggles before they were required.

"At that time it was kind of a pain and people didn't like them and there was some lash out," Cleveland said. "But I would say now that it's just a part of the sport, it's something that's a given and everyone is used to them and wears them now. Helmets will definitely be the same thing once they are implemented."

Cleveland said a handful of players on the Denver East varsity and lower-level teams suffered concussions this past school year.

In June, the Florida High School Athletics Association announced that in 2015 all girls lacrosse players will be required to wear helmets.

Comstock said helmets can't eliminate concussions but can help minimize head injuries. When two players run into each other, often the head of one of the players snaps back. This results in brain sloshing, when the brain moves around inside the skull, and can result in a concussion. Comstock said a helmet can help protect against the direct transfer of force when a player gets hit in the head.

Some players and coaches worry that adding helmets will change their game. Cherry Creek assistant coach Ashley Thompson said girls lacrosse is about finesse and technical skills, not physical play. If helmets are required, she's afraid the cost might turn away interested players. Thompson added that coaches are more aware about concussions than in the past.

Denver East senior-to-be Shelby Parks said she would be upset if helmets are required to play girls lacrosse. She said she's never had a concussion and has seen only one player get a concussion during a game. Implementing helmets would make the players more aggressive, she said.

"When you're wearing a helmet or you see someone wearing a helmet, it means they're protected and anything goes," Parks said. "Lacrosse can get aggressive, but the refs are there for a reason and people shouldn't get hit in the head, because that's not a part of the game."

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How To Prevent Sports Concussions Among Children

A great article from the New York Times discusses ways to prevents concussions in children by sport.

This fall, about three million children younger than 14 are playing organized tackle football in the United States. Is that a good thing?

For many parents and coaches, that means three million children are getting some pretty serious exercise, hanging out with old friends and making new ones, and unplugging from technology, for a few hours at least.

I see those positives. Yet if it were my call, those millions would be playing touch football instead. Many would be learning the fundamentals of tackling and other football skills. But they would not be playing tackle football until they turned 14.

The reason is simple. Tackle football is too dangerous for youngsters. Exposure to head trauma is too risky. What we know about football and the vulnerabilities of children’s brains leads me to this conclusion. More worrisome is what we don’t know. How will the hits absorbed by a 9-year-old today be felt at 30, or 50?

I’ve been treating young athletes for concussions and other head trauma for four decades. In an average year, I’ll meet with patients to discuss their concussion symptoms 1,500 times or more. I’ve treated children for concussions in any sport you can name, and a few you wouldn’t think of. I’ve seen pole-vaulters, BMX riders and tennis players. Not that long ago, I treated a young man injured playing Ultimate Frisbee.

I’m not in favor of abolishing any sport for children, football included. Sports have too much to offer young people. There is nothing like being part of a Little League team or competing as a swimmer, tennis player or golfer to promote perseverance, sportsmanship, fair play, to keep fighting until the last point in the match or the last out. These are traits that carry us through life’s challenges.

In light of what we now know about concussions and the brains of children, though, many sports should be fine-tuned. But many parents and coaches are satisfied with the rules as they are. They like seeing youngsters in helmets and pads, and watching them slide headfirst into second base. The closer the peewee games resemble those of the professionals, the happier we are. It’s natural for a parent or a coach. Even a neurosurgeon.

But children are not adults. Their bodies are still maturing. Their vulnerabilities to head trauma are far greater.

A child’s brain and head are disproportionately large for the rest of the body, especially through the first five to eight years of life. And a child’s weak neck cannot brace for a hit the way an adult’s can. (Think of a bobblehead doll.) A child’s cranium at 4 is about 90 percent the size an adult’s. That’s important to a discussion of concussions and concussion risk.

We cannot eliminate head trauma from youth sports. What we can change is our mind-set so protecting the head and the brain is always a top consideration.

The guiding principle should be that no head trauma is good head trauma. Let’s re-examine youth sports and take steps to keep young athletes safe. I would like to see these changes written into the rules across the country.

SOCCER Many parents and coaches are surprised to learn that soccer is not among the safer sports for head trauma. It is actually one of the riskiest. In 2010, more high school soccer players sustained concussions than did athletes in basketball, baseball, wrestling and softball combined, according to the Center for Injury Research and Policy in Columbus, Ohio.

Most of that risk comes from one play: heading the ball. When two or more leap to direct the ball with their heads, a number of collisions can occur with heads, shoulders and elbows. From a neurological standpoint, nearly all are bad. About 90 percent of the patients I see with soccer head trauma and concussion are related to heading accidents.

It’s an easy call for me: take heading out of soccer until the players are 14.

ICE HOCKEY The progressive leadership of USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have done most of the heavy lifting in this sport. Hockey Canada outlawed checking to the head throughout amateur hockey. In 2011, USA Hockey approved a ban on body checking before the age of 13. I would extend the ban on body checking to 14. (The previous rule permitted body checking for players as young as 11.)

BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL Batting helmets are mandatory at every level of baseball, yet it’s surprising how little we do to ensure that they stay on. Some youth leagues around the country have mandated chin straps for years. All youth and high school leagues should require them.

In addition, headfirst slides should be eliminated. When a child’s head plows into an ankle or a shin, the leg always wins. Worse are home-plate collisions in which the head of the base runner can crash into the catcher’s hard shinguards.

FIELD HOCKEY AND GIRLS’ LACROSSE

I have heard that girls would be emboldened to play more aggressively if helmets were required in these sports, and that the net effect would be more injuries, not fewer. I say hold officials accountable for enforcing the rules, and that will not happen.

In lacrosse, some officials now favor something like a bike helmet to protect the top of the head. That is not good enough. When helmets that cover the entire head are required, fewer young women will sustain concussions.

Field hockey rules state that players should not raise their sticks above the knee. But that rule is broken in every game, often resulting in concussions, eye injuries, cuts, broken noses and more. Helmets are needed, although they do not have to be as robust as football helmets.

]I would expect resistance to these recommendations from parents of the 16,000 players in Pop Warner football’s tackle division for 5- to 7-year-olds, for example. But let’s begin the debate.

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