Tbi in High School and College Athletics

Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs quite frequently in high school and college athletics. Impaired cognitive functioning is often observed in athletes who have had multiple concussions.

Younger Athletes Recover Less Quickly

Athletes at several colleges and high schools participated in a recent study to compare cognition pre and post concussion. Concussions were defined by loss of consciousness and the length of time needed for changes in mental status to substantially improve. Study results showed that college athletes had lost consciousness at a higher rate than their high school athlete counterparts. Twenty-four hours after injury, athletes with concussions and control subjects had substantial memory differences. However, injured high school athletes experienced longer memory difficulties than did the injured collegiates. The researchers speculated that less mature brains are more vulnerable to brain injury and recovery less quickly.

Girls More Vulnerable to TBI

Another recent study determined that girls appear to experience higher concussion rates than boys in sports played by both boys and girls.

Researchers reviewed U.S. high school athletes’ injuries among youths participating in the following sports: boys’ football, basketball, soccer, wrestling, baseball, girls’ soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball. They concluded that during the 2005-06 school year, high school athletes experienced approximately 135,901 concussions.

Young women participating in soccer had a 68 percent higher concussion rate than males participating in the same sport. In basketball, girls were an astonishing 200 percent more likely than their male counterparts to be injured with a concussion.

No Gain from Playing Through the Pain

The researchers expressed surprise at the huge discrepancy in injury rates, and hypothesized that boys’ larger neck muscles might serve to better absorb shock and prevent injury. They also hinted at socio-cultural reasons for the different rates of injury. Boys are taught not to let others know when they are in pain and typically continue playing while injured unless knocked unconscious.

Playing through the pain of a concussion is one of the worst mistakes an athlete can make, leading to potentially lifelong debilitating injury.