FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Major League Soccer is looking to take the lead with the best protocol for handling concussions.
Team doctors and athletic trainers from both inside and outside the sport attended the MLS Medical Symposium on Saturday.
While football and soccer each have had their share of head injuries, men’s soccer ranks fifth in terms of game-related concussions, according to Dr. Ruben J. Echemendia, a clinical neuropsychologist for the MLS who led the symposium. How concussions are suffered differs in each sport, but identifying and treating them should be the same across various sports, Echemendia said.
Like some other leagues, the MLS has added to each team a neuropsychologist who specializes in the treatment of concussions.
“The management of the injury remains basically the same,” Echemendia said. “What’s different are the rules as in soccer, we have rules about substitution that make it difficult to do the kinds of evaluations that we would do in the NHL or even in the NFL.”
In the MLS, a player suspected of having a concussion in a game or practice must be removed immediately and evaluated. Team physicians are the ultimate authority.
The Associated Press
