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 FEBRUARY 29,2012 Teenage Concussions: When In Doubt, Sit It Out Teenage boys who play football suffer more concussions than any other high school athletes, but girls who play soccer and basketball, and boys who wrestle, play ice hockey or lacrosse also are at risk of head injury.Nearly half (47%) of concussions among high school athletes happen on the football field, according to a new study published in the January issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine. This data comes from a large, national sample of US high schools who reported injury data for 20 sports during the 2008-2010 academic years. "Although interest in sports-related concussions is usually focused on full-contact sports like football and ice hockey, concussions occur across a wide variety of high school sports," conclude the authors from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, led by researcher Natalie McIlvain. Most of the head injuries happened when players collided with each other, but even some children in non-contact sports, such as softball, gymnastics, cheerleading and swimming, suffered blows to the head. Girls having a 70% higher concussion rate than boys in "gender-comparable" sports. It's not clear why, but it may have to do with lesser neck strength among girls, said Christy Collins, a senior research associate at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "The real danger is returning to play too soon," Collins says. To prevent concussions, young athletes should learn to play by the rules of the game and be in good physical shape when they start playing, writes Jane Gillett, MD, in Brainline "Someone who is unable to keep up with the pace of the game is more likely to get hurt," writes Gillett. "And practicing the skills of the game in a non-competitive manner through drills and structured workouts help athletes hone the necessary skills like being aware of where others are in play, where the ball is, and ways to improve balance, mobility, and hand/eye coordination. Another important component is to teach your young athlete sportsmanship. That means not to take things said or done as a personal attack and not to respond to an aggressive act by becoming more aggressive themselves. Being a role model in 'turning the other cheek' will help demonstrate this behavior." The coach should also be aware of the signs and symptoms of a concussion -- being dazed, confused, stunned, or even experiencing a brief loss of consciousness, according to Gillett. Other symptoms include headache, dizziness, and transitory memory loss of the event or of events earlier that day. "The coach should then keep the player out of the game and future games until the effects of the concussion are truly gone … and only with an official doctor’s note of approval," writes Gillett. "For players, coaches, and parents, the philosophy to remember is: when in doubt, sit it out.” |
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