Sports-Related Concussions & Subconcussive Injuries

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is implementing a new concussion rule for the 2010-11 academic year which not only requires immediate removal of any athlete suspected of having suffered a concussion but bans his return until cleared to play by an appropriate health-care professional. This rule also covers youth leagues that play under high school rules or modified high school rules, but does not apply in those states where even stricter concussion laws have been recently passed.

Concussion rates in thirteen high school sports from 1998 to 2008, as reported in three separate studies, vary widely by sport and, in some cases, by gender.

A 2010 national survey by the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and the University of Michigan of parents of chidren age 12 to 17 years playing school sports reported a surprising lack of knowledge by parents of concussion risks despite the fact that more than six in ten were at least somewhat worried their children will suffer a concussion while playing school sports.

New return-to-play rules for concussions rules highlight changes by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) for the 2010-2011 high school ice hockey season.

A Canadian study finding that the risk of concussion  in youth ice hockey leagues that allow body-checking is triple that in leagues that do not, is likely to fuel calls to extend the ban on body-checking to 11- and 12-year-olds playing at the Pee Wee level

The ACTive® sports concussion training and certification program is designed for volunteer youth sports coaches. Coaches taking the program have been shown to have much greater knowledge of concussion symptoms and increased confidence to make decisions about concussion management.

Teaching youth hockey players to anticipate collisions by using the "ready" position may reduce the risk of concussions in hockey, say the authors of a first-of-its-kind study of head impact severity among youth ice hockey players.  The study is reported in the June 2010 journal Pediatrics.

During the 2003 fall sports season, MomsTeam received numerous e-mails, phone calls and visits with news far exceeding our worst fears about the number of deaths in youth sports.

Honest self-reporting by athletes of concussion signs and symptoms, both their own and those of their teammates, and not returning to play until all symptoms have cleared both at rest and with exercise is critical for the short- and long-term health of youth and high school athletes.