Concussions and Emergency Action Planning in Soccer (Part 1) with our Guest, Dr. Rachel Frank

On today’s episode we’re focusing on concussions and emergency action plans with Dr. Rachel Frank, head team orthopaedic surgeons for the Colorado Rapids soccer team and USA Soccer Network Physician. We have some great articles for you that contribute well to our conversation on the recognition and management of concussions, as well as the importance of emergency action planning. 

We’ll start off our discussion today with a review article published in the January 2019 issue of Orthopedics titled “Concussions in Sport”. Authored by our guest today, this paper dives into the current understanding of concussions, including the increasing incidence in youth sports as well as the role of orthopaedic surgeons in appropriately recognizing and managing concussions acutely.

Then, from the March 2022 issue of AJSM this, we review the publication titled “Association Between Symptom Burden at Initiation of a Graduated Return to Activity Protocol and Time to Return to Unrestricted Activity After Concussion in Service Academy Cadets.” This level 2 prospective cohort study found that cadets who endorsed greater than or equal to 2 concussion symptoms had a significant longer duration in the return to activity protocol that those who endorsed fewer symptoms. Other factors associated with a longer duration in the protocol included non varsity status, female gender, academic breaks and longer time to initiating the protocol.

We finish up our conversation today with the publication titled “Prevention of sports-related concussion in soccer: a comprehensive review of the literature” from the March 2023 issue of Annals of Medicine and Surgery. This systematic review identified several strategies that can be implemented to lower the rate of concussion in soccer. These include: Concussion education; rule and regulation changes to reduce player-to-player contact; and prevention training programs such as behavioral skills, vision training to improve sensory and anticipation, and cervical strengthening.

We are joined today by Dr. Rachel Frank, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist. She is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of the Joint Preservation Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Frank is also a team physician for the University of Colorado Buffalos, head team orthopedic surgeon for the Colorado Rapids and a USA Soccer Network Physician. She is the editor and Chief of the Journal of Cartilage and Joint Preservation and has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and 50 book chapters.

Welcome to the show, Dr. Frank!