How safe is Bubble Soccer?
Traumatic neurologic injury in contact sports is a rare but serious consequence for its players. These injuries are most commonly associated with high-impact collisions, for example in football, but are found in a wide variety of sports. In an attempt to minimize these injuries, sports are trying to increase safety by adding protection for participants. Most recently is the seemingly 'safe' sport of Bubble Soccer, which attempts to protect its players with inflatable plastic bubbles. We report a case of a 16-year-old male sustaining a cervical spine burst fracture with incomplete spinal cord injury while playing Bubble Soccer. To our knowledge, this is the first serious neurological injury reported in the sport.
Department of Neurological Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
Sameer H
SH
Halani
Department of Neurological Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
Jonathan P
JP
Riley
Department of Neurological Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
Gustavo
G
Pradilla
Department of Neurological Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States. Electronic address: faiz.ahmad@emory.edu.
Faiz U
FU
Ahmad
D000293:Adolescent; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012449:Safety; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery
Bubble Soccer; Burst fracture; Paralysis; Spinal cord injury