News
Concussion Still Leads as the Most Common Severe Sports Injury
In the United States, a young athlete is sent to an emergency room for a severe sports injury every 25 seconds. 
The research studied injuries across the 14 most popular sports, and their data showed that concussions made up 163,000 emergency room visits throughout 2011. That is an emergency room visit related to concussion happening every three minutes.
According to the data from 2011, football was the sport with the most injuries and the highest concussion rate. Wrestling, cheerleading, and ice hockey were the runner-ups, but none could compare to the concussion rates of football.
It isn’t just the high school and college age athletes dealing with this issue. The Standard reports that nearly half of the concussions were diagnosed in children between the age of 12 to 15. These younger children tend to take longer to recover.
“The more common injuries that we see in school-age children vary between sports,” said Dr. Michael M. Hess, an orthopedic surgeon in Utah. “Football has some of the more significant injuries. … Concussions have become a significant problem. Repetitive concussions are also a major concern.”
There are numerous other types of injuries common across sports, but none have the high risk rates that football does for concussion. Hess encouraged any player who feels as if they may have suffered a concussion to be evaluated by health care providers, but he notes any player who has been knocked unconscious should be treated as if a head or neck injury has occurred.
Head guards actually make players more likely to get concussed as they have a falsified sense of protection and will be less careful in contact. The guard only protects the cranium and not the brain within the skull, this is still extremely vulnerable to knocks and in cases of high impact, prone to concussions.
Thanks for pointing out that anyone who thinks they might have suffered a concussion should be evaluated by a health care professional. My son plays football on his high school team, and he took a couple hard hits in his last game that looked potentially concussive. I don’t know much about sports medicine, so I’m glad you pointed out he should see a doctor!