A new study released on Wednesday, October 30th revealed evidence that high school football players are almost twice as likely to sustain a concussion as college players. However, existing data is still inconclusive as to whether repetitive head injuries can lead to long-term brain diseases that many former NFL stars have said they’ve had to battle in retirement; including depression, suicidal impulses, Alzheimer’s disease or the neurodegenerative condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Study Specifies Concussion Rates in High School and College Sports
The study involved a general analysis of previous peer-reviewed studies on head trauma within a variety of high school sports. The results found that high school football players suffered approximately 11.2 concussions for every 10,000 games and practices. Among college players, the rate was only 6.3 on the same scale. The researchers added an important “foot note” to the study, pointing out that their estimates are likely conservative because thousands concussions go unreported or undiagnosed every year and reliable data samples on such injuries are extremely limited.
The study was conducted by the Institute of Medicine and funded by the NFL. Researchers discovered that in the majority of cases, concussions are mild and symptoms tend to disappear within two weeks. “In 10 to 20 percent of individuals, however, concussive symptoms persist for a number of weeks, months, or even years,” researchers noted.
The report provided a credible link between concussions and memory loss, but also emphasized the need for further research to help determine whether football-related head trauma in young players can lead to a range of other long-term brain diseases and degenerative conditions.
Helmets Only Offer some Protection against Traumatic Brain Injury
Despite growing concerns over concussions and a possible link to long-term brain damage, the authors recognized “there is still a culture among athletes”; an alarming pattern in which younger athletes tend to resist reporting their own concussions. Moreover, they explained:
“Youth profess that the game and the team are more important than their individual health and that they may play through a concussion to avoid letting down their teammates, coaches, schools and parents.”
The report also emphasized some new and existing concerns over how well protected athletes truly are against concussions. As early as 2000, the NFL’s official helmet provider, Riddell, was warned by independent reports that even a modern helmet that passed industry safety standards for protection against skull fractures and other types of traumatic brain injury could still leave a player with a 95 percent likelihood of receiving a concussion.
Current innovations in synthetic gel and polymers are under currently development and new materials could be added to the lining football helmets over the next few years to help bring the probability of receiving a concussion down by as much as 25%. Such a polymer was recently developed by a UCLA professor and discussed in one of our earlier blogs.
Helmets have been proven to reduce the risk of injuries such as skull fractures, according to the study, “and thus the use of properly fitted helmets should be promoted.” The study’s authors reiterated several times, however, that “there is limited evidence” that current helmet designs can significantly diminish the risk of concussions.
Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics in High School Sports
- High-school athletes sustain between 136,000 and 300,000 concussions per year.
- Athletes ages 16 to 18 account for 29% of all sports-related concussions.
- 15.8% of football players who sustain a concussion severe enough to cause loss of consciousness return to play the same day
- 50% of all “second impact syndrome” incidents – a rare but severe brain injury caused from a premature return to activity after suffering initial injury (concussion) – result in death.
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