美国国家公共电台 NPR Women's Soccer Stars Concerned About Trauma From Repetitive Head Impact

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

With a new NFL season starting tonight, concerns about head injuries in football are expected to ramp¹ up again, and now the discussion is expanding to women's soccer. After the Women's World Cup, researchers are preparing to study how a lifetime of head impacts could affect women, including heading the ball. NPR's Tom Goldman reports.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE²: Using the head to redirect a soccer ball or to score a goal - that's an integral part of the game, especially as players become more skilled. But in an era of increased concussion³ awareness⁴, heading is fraught⁵ with potential risk, and the science exploring that risk hasn't been inclusive.

ROBERT STERN: We really have needed to expand this research to include women.

GOLDMAN: Dr. Robert Stern studies chronic⁶ traumatic encephalopathy - that's the degenerative brain disease known as CTE. He and others at Boston University have focused a lot of their attention on CTEs linked to head trauma⁷ in men who play tackle football. But next month he'll start working with former female soccer players, some well-known, on a study called SHINE - it stands for soccer head impacts and neurological effects.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: The shot saved, rebound⁸ - score. Michelle Akers' first goal. And the U.S. goes on top, 1-0.

GOLDMAN: Former national team star Michelle Akers, now 53, was the catalyst⁹ for Stern's study. She's concerned about her peers and wonders whether certain mental lapses¹⁰ are early signs of soccer-induced brain problems, including CTE. Akers and former U.S. teammate Brandi Chastain spoke¹¹ on CBS about their involvement in the study. Akers said she now regrets what she estimates to be at least 50 headers per game during her career.

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MICHELLE AKERS: I would not be heading a million balls like that. There is no way on earth I would do that again.

GOLDMAN: Robert Stern says prior research shows a relationship between the amount of heading and cognitive¹² and even chemical changes in the brain, enough so that, in 2015, the U.S. Soccer Federation¹³ banned heading for kids 10 and younger.

DAN PINGREY: So how do we head the ball? We look with what?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Our eyes.

PINGREY: OK?

GOLDMAN: Youth coach Dan Pingrey has led his Seattle United club team through its first year of heading. By the time they start playing games this fall, most of the girls will be 11, meaning no more ban. At a practice on the University of Washington campus, Pingree runs a refresher drill.

PINGREY: Upper body straight. Don't bend your head. Nice and easy. Right to the forehead. Good. Don't bend over, Ella. Don't bend over, Ella.

GOLDMAN: What Pingrey doesn't want to see is heads wobbling. Neurologists say girls can be more prone¹⁴ to concussion because they sometimes have weaker neck muscles that cause the head to flop¹⁵ and the brain to shake. Pingrey also trains his kids to keep their elbows out, creating a protective buffer¹⁶ to help prevent smacking¹⁷ skulls¹⁸ when someone else is flying in to head the same ball.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Up.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: Ella.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: I got this.

GOLDMAN: Shahram Salemy daughter Hannah plays on the Seattle United team. He says the new study isn't creating extra concern among parents. He hasn't sensed the kind of concussion hysteria that's gripped some parents of young boys playing football.

SHAHRAM SALEMY: I will say that I know parents who have kids that are older - they're teenagers - and what I hear from them is more of a concern about ACL injuries and knee injuries more than head injuries. We just don't see a whole lot of that at - maybe it's just the age of the kids.

GOLDMAN: In 2017, research by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons found high school soccer-playing girls did have a significantly higher rate of concussions¹⁹, even more than boys who play football. The study points to headers as part of the problem. That's where Dr. Stern now is turning his attention, with an open mind.

STERN: I'm one of the people who does the bulk of this research, and I'm not really sure exactly what leads to CTE and how it's manifest and what the risk factors are.

GOLDMAN: But, Stern stresses, repetitive head impacts of any kind, even ones that don't cause concussions, are not good. And he hopes the 20 women signed up for his soccer study will help science inch closer to understanding the risks of playing the games we love.

Tom Goldman, NPR News.

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1 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

4 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

5 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

8 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

9 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

10 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

13 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

14 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

15 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

16 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

17 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

18 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

19 concussions   

n.震荡( concussion的名词复数 )；脑震荡；冲击；震动

参考例句：

• People who have concussions often trouble thinking or remembering. 患脑震荡的人通常存在思考和记忆障碍。 来自互联网
• Concussions also make a person feel very tired or angry. 脑震荡也会使人感觉疲倦或愤怒。 来自互联网