While most of us do not associate life in Oceanside, CA with ice hockey, there are certainly ice hockey teams in Southern California, and many high school students play hockey with an aim of playing in college or afterward. The universities in the UC system also have hockey teams, and both men and women enjoy club hockey at the nearby University of California, San Diego campus. Although California might not be known for its hockey, young people do play ice hockey here. According to a recent report in CBS News, they may be at greater risk of a concussion than researchers previously reported. Women, in particular, may sustain concussions at a much higher rate in ice hockey than scientists previously believed.

Risks of Ice Hockey and Head Trauma

According to the recent report, concussions in women’s ice hockey are much more common than you might think. Many of the players are beginning to think more carefully about how they are exposed to serious risks of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A recent study conducted by researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health determined that “girls, particularly girls who play hockey, are more likely to get concussions than boys.” Some of the reason is “biological,” according to Dr. Uzma Samadani, a brain surgeon. As Dr. Samadani clarified, “boys have stronger necks and thicker skulls.”

In addition to biological differences, there are social and cultural differences that make boys potentially less likely to suffer concussions in the same ways as girls. As Samadani explained, “from a young age, boys engage in rough play.” While this is certainly not a given based on biology or sex, that type of rough play tends to be socially normalized for boys but not for girls. As a result, Samadani went on, “they tackle each other . . . they learn to tumble . . . [and] many girls don’t do this.” As such, boys may be less likely to sustain a TBI in a sport that involves the same kinds of interactions.

While Samadani underscored that it may not be practical or even a good idea to prevent kids from playing sports like hockey in high school or college, it is important to understand the risks, and to think about the ways our sociocultural systems may lead to head injuries in some populations but not in others.

Learning More About Sports-Related Concussions

Sometimes a coach or even an institution—such as a high school or a university—may be liable when a student athlete sustains a head injury. Coaches have a certain duty to students, and anyone who is suspected of having a head injury must go through a protocol to help avoid putting an athlete with a head injury back on the field.

According to HealthyChildren.org, all sports have some risk of concussion, but certain sports are riskier than others. For example, football, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, basketball, and cheerleading have higher risks of concussion than other sports. As many parents and athletes alike now know, multiple hits to the head may put a student at higher risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) even decades after they initially played a contact sport.

Contact an Oceanside Brain Injury Attorney

If your child sustained a head injury while playing sports, it may be possible to file a claim for compensation. An experienced Oceanside brain injury lawyer can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we can assist with your case.

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More research funds are going toward sports-related concussion studies and concussion risks for youth athletes. We often think about football and other contact sports when we consider traumatic brain injury (TBI) risks, yet many different sports and recreational activities can put young athletes at serious risk of sustaining a concussion.

A recent study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University found that concussions are more common than we previously thought among female soccer players. Nearly 30% of all soccer injuries are concussions. To put that number in perspective, about 24% of all football injuries are concussions. To put that another way, more girls suffer sports-related concussions playing soccer in high school than do boys who play football.

Girls Soccer Players Suffer Head Injuries More Often Than Boys Soccer Players

Male youth athletes frequently are the focus of sports-related concussion studies given that football—the contact sport with the most prominence when it comes to head injury risks—is populated largely by males. However, female athletes also are at serious risk of sports-related concussions, especially female youth soccer players. When we look at both men’s and women’s soccer, youth women’s teams “tend to have more concussions than boy,” according to the authors of the study.

Soccer is actually among the most dangerous sports for young female athletes when it comes to head injuries, according to the study. The researchers explored concussions risks and rates in numerous high school sports, including but not limited to soccer, basketball, softball, baseball, wrestling, and volleyball. In those sports, female soccer players tended to have the highest number of concussions.

Concussions are Becoming More Common in Youth Sports

One of the most worrying aspects of the study is that the researchers concluded concussion rates are rising in youth sports generally, despite the attention coaches and schools are paying to concussion and TBI protocols. Why are more girls who play soccer suffering concussions?

Some commentators believe there is a gender gap in athletic training. In general, youth athletes do not have as much experience as college-level or professional players. Yet sometimes parents question whether girls soccer players are receiving the same training as boys soccer players surrounding proper ways to fall on the field, as well as how to head a soccer ball. Even with the best training, however, sports-related concussions can still occur.

Schools do have concussion protocols in place, but it is always important to think about improvement — better ways to train players to avoid and to deal with injury, and better ways of emphasizing the importance of self-reporting symptoms of a concussion. Many youth athletes do not tell coaches or parents when they have signs of a concussion, which can make recovery much more difficult.

Seek Advice from a Poway Brain Injury Lawyer

Youth concussions often occur because of another party’s negligence. If your child suffered a TBI while playing high school sports, you should learn more about your legal options. An experienced Poway brain injury attorney can speak with you today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we assist injury victims throughout San Diego County.

See Related Blog Posts: More Than Concussions Cause CTE, New Study Says FDA Approves New Blood Test to Detect Concussions

(image courtesy of Jeffrey F Lin)

If your teenager plays contact sports or engages in other activities in San Clemente that increases his or her risk of a concussion, is it better to avoid these sports altogether? Do the benefits of team sports and individual recreational activities outweigh the potential harms associated with a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI)? According to a recent report from NPR, teens may be sustaining concussions at a higher rate than most parents would like to believe. The report cites a research letter that was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA, which indicates that “approximately 20 percent of teens . . . have been diagnosed with at least one concussion.”

What is causing teen concussions at such a high rate? What steps can parents take to reduce the risk of a TBI altogether, and to ensure that their child heals properly after sustaining a head trauma?

High School Students Surveyed About History of Head Injuries

The recent research letter in JAMA examined questionnaire responses from Monitoring the Future (MTF), an annual study run by the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. It surveys high school students from states across the country “about their behaviors and attitudes.” In total, the authors of the letter in JAMA looked at approximately 13,000 questionnaire responses in crafting their letter.

One of those authors, Philip Veliz, asked that the survey pose a new question to students completing the survey for the 2016 year: Have you ever had a concussion? As Veliz explains, simply knowing the rate of concussion among teenagers can help us to understand “prevalence rates and factors that correlate with the injury.” The MTF survey gathered information from teens in a relatively broad age range, from grades eight through twelve (in other words, kid aged 13 through 18). About 50% of the students were female, 47% were white, 19% were Hispanic, and 13% were Black.

Teens Who Play Contact Sports Have High Rates of Concussion

When teens sustain head injuries while playing contact sports, relatively few seek treatment in an emergency department. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only about 4-5% of teens who suffer head injuries go to an emergency room. Some visit their family doctors instead, and some simply do not seek treatment at all. Previous surveys have reported that around 25% of all adults have sustained at least one concussion in their lifetimes. Based on the results of the current survey, it looks as though a large number of those concussions occur during the young adults years.

In most cases of teen concussions, the head injuries occurred during contact sports. The authors of the research letter noted higher rates of concussions among older white male teens, but more generally, they tended to see concussion rates spike for those who played the following sports:

• Football;
• Ice hockey; and
• Wrestling.

After a teen sustains a concussion, it is extremely important to seek medical attention and to follow a physician’s instructions for proper healing. Can parents also prevent concussions? The results of the survey suggest that contact sports simply may not be safe for teens, especially when so many concussions occur. At the same time, the survey does rely on students’ responses (as opposed to official medical documents). As such, the actual rate of concussion could be lower or even higher, depending upon students who misidentified injuries as well as students who sustained concussions but did not seek medical treatment.

Contact a San Clemente Brain Injury Lawyer

If your teen sustained a serious head trauma, an experienced San Clemente brain injury attorney can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today.

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(image courtesy of Joao Victor Xavier)