By Joshua Huff, sports editor
A new study published in the journal of Pediatrics on Tuesday found that the rates of concussions during football practice and recurrent concussions across all sports have gone down, but the concussion rates have increased during actual football games.
The study looked into data on 9,542 concussions across 20 high school sports that occurred between the 2013-14 and the 2017-18 school years. Those sports analyzed were:
Boys — football, wrestling, soccer, basketball, baseball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, and track and field.
Girls — volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, and track and field; as well as coed cheerleading.
Photo by Ron Burkett
The data was pulled from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study.
Overall, the concussion rate was 4.17 per 10,000 athletic exposures. Concussion rates were higher for girls (3.35) than boys (1.51) per 10,000 athletic exposures.
In sports played by both sexes, girls are more prone to sustain repeat concussions: 9.3% to 6.4%.
The data showed the three sports with the highest rates of concussions were football, girls’ soccer and ice hockey. Football had on average 10.40 concussions per 10,000 athletic exposures (throughout the study period, football competition-related concussion rates increased from 33.19 to 39.07 per 10,000 athletic exposures); Girls’ soccer had 8.19 concussions per 10,000 athletic exposures; Ice hockey had 7.69 concussions per 10,000 athletic exposures.
The study did not make clear as to why concussions are rising during football games. Some assume that more reported cases are the reason.
Concussions sustained during football practices, however, have dropped significantly from 5.47 to 4.44 per 10,000 athletic exposures. The one sport where concussions are most prevalent during practice: cheerleading.
In all sports, recurrent concussion rates decreased (0.47 to 0.28 per 10 000 AEs).
The Alabama return to play law, signed by Gov. Robert Bentley in 2011, forbids young athletics from returning to a game if a concussion is suspected. The law requires parents and coaches to learn about the dangers of concussions and will not allow payers suspected of having a concussion to play until they have received permission from a doctor.
The journal concluded that, “Rates of football practice-related concussions and recurrent concussions across all sports decreased. Changes in concussion rates may be associated with changes in concussion incidence, diagnosis, and management. Future research should continue to monitor trends and examine the effect of prevention strategies.”
The study only included concussions reported by athletics trainers, which could hinder the accuracy of the data. Most affluent schools have athletics trainers, while less affluent programs might have trouble obtaining resources to detect concussion-like symptoms.
