Head injury in sports

[00:00:00]I keep thinking about this World Cup match injury that I watched earlier this week that I cannot get out of my head and I want you guys to watch it with me and see if you can figure out why.

[00:00:13]>> [cheering] >> That goalie went back in pretty soon after, like a few minutes after. For anyone who says soccer is not a collision sport, what was that? Huggy huggy.

[00:00:38]No, I'm sorry.

[00:00:40]Playing soccer.

[00:00:41]Collisions. I'm Dr. Quaj, I'm a board-certified pediatrician, urgent care doc, and mom of three. And like the rest of the world, we are watching all these World Cup games and we were particularly watching this Switzerland versus Qatar game. And during this game, this goalie gets hit. Now, when first when you watch this happen, it just looks, you know, like most soccer injuries where there might be a little bit of exaggeration or acting going on, but then we got a different angle and watched his neck snap back. This goalie had a head injury. He was unconscious for several seconds afterwards. Seemed a little bit confused after he got up and I was extremely surprised that he was allowed to go back in and continue to play. Especially with pediatrics, any concern for head injury or concussion, your child should be pulled out immediately. Err on the side of caution.

[00:01:25]They should not be allowed to continue to play until they've been evaluated by a doctor. And if there is any concern at all for a possible concussion, they are permanently pulled. You only get one brain, guys. All that to say, I understand that this is the World Cup.

[00:01:37]This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many people, but I'm not sure that that was the best example of how to handle a potential head injury.

[00:01:46]Yeah, no. Mhm.