Before this Minnesota United season, Joe Greenspan had never had a concussion. In the past five months, the defender has endured three.
The latest, suffered in conjunction with a broken nose in Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Houston after a collision with teammate Jerome Thiesson, will keep Greenspan out of the Loons' lineup for Saturday afternoon's nationally televised matchup against the New York Red Bulls at TCF Bank Stadium.
"It's strange. I don't know. It feels as though it's a modern phenomenon. Maybe we didn't know they were called concussions. We just thought we were dizzy and played," coach Adrian Heath said, recalling his playing days back in the 1980s and '90s. "But now, players get a bang on the head and then go to the doctor, and it's a concussion. And I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it just seems more prevalent now than it's ever been."
United athletic trainer Sean Kupiec said in addition to the training staff watching from the sidelines for any potential injuries, MLS also has a spotting program, in which texts are sent to team physicians, via an iPad at the fourth official's table, alerting them to concerns and showing videos of offending plays.
Concussions are risky business, Kupiec said, because they are nearly impossible to prevent — they can happen with or without contact — and deceptive. For Greenspan, his headaches could just as likely be from the broken nose as the concussion.
"Is it concerning? Absolutely, it's concerning," Kupiec said of Greenspan's concussions. "But another thing that we're looking for is how quickly do his symptoms resolve? … He is actually doing fantastic. His symptoms are very, very low right now, which is great."
Greenspan, who was not available for an interview after Wednesday's game, and several other key players will be on the sidelines as the Loons (5-11-4) continue their crucial four-match homestand Saturday against a Red Bulls club (9-8-2) looking to climb into the top four of the East standings.
Before each season (or when they first join a club), players undergo baseline concussion testing. Once a player has endured a concussion, he will sit with a neuropsychologist and test short- and long-term memory recall through such tasks as naming the months of the year in reverse or memorizing numbers and repeating them in a different order. There are several benchmarks he must meet in order to play again, starting with being symptom-free while at rest and eventually progressing to a full-contact practice.
