Concussions prominent issue for female athletes
Michelle Nicoud
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Sports
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Female athletes suffer more concussions than male athletes playing the same sports at both the college and high school levels, according to an upcoming study in the Journal of Athletic Training.
TCU team physician Dr. Sam Haraldson defined concussion as "a complex patho-physiological process affecting the brain induced by traumatic biomechanical forces."
Haraldson said the majority of female concussions at TCU occur in soccer and basketball as the result of player-to-player contact.
Concussions have risen 7 percent per year since 1988, while other sports-related injuries have remained constant or dropped, according to the study. The study shows female soccer players are twice as likely as males to report a concussion. Female basketball players are 24 percent more likely to report concussions than males.
According to 2005 data from the NCAA and the National Athletic Trainers' Association, female soccer players averaged 2.3 concussions per 1,000 exposures in matches compared to 1.24 concussions per 1,000 exposures for their male counterparts. Practices have females getting 0.29 concussions per 1,000 exposures while males average 0.15 concussions under the same conditions.
The basketball numbers from the same data follow the trend. Females average 0.91 concussions per 1,000 exposures in games compared to 0.69 concussions per 1,000 exposures for males. Practice yields 0.48 concussions per 1,000 exposures for females and 0.35 concussions per 1,000 exposures for males.
Haraldson classified concussions into two groups: simple and complex. He said a simple concussion clears up in seven to 10 days, and he said any one beyond that time is considered complex.
Haraldson said nationally, soccer has the highest rate of concussions for a female sport.
Lauren Crawford, trainer for the soccer team, said some reasons concussions are rising might be more research and increased education. More articles on concussions have appeared in the previous five years than in the five decades before that, neurologists said in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education..
TCU team physician Dr. Sam Haraldson defined concussion as "a complex patho-physiological process affecting the brain induced by traumatic biomechanical forces."
Haraldson said the majority of female concussions at TCU occur in soccer and basketball as the result of player-to-player contact.
Concussions have risen 7 percent per year since 1988, while other sports-related injuries have remained constant or dropped, according to the study. The study shows female soccer players are twice as likely as males to report a concussion. Female basketball players are 24 percent more likely to report concussions than males.
According to 2005 data from the NCAA and the National Athletic Trainers' Association, female soccer players averaged 2.3 concussions per 1,000 exposures in matches compared to 1.24 concussions per 1,000 exposures for their male counterparts. Practices have females getting 0.29 concussions per 1,000 exposures while males average 0.15 concussions under the same conditions.
The basketball numbers from the same data follow the trend. Females average 0.91 concussions per 1,000 exposures in games compared to 0.69 concussions per 1,000 exposures for males. Practice yields 0.48 concussions per 1,000 exposures for females and 0.35 concussions per 1,000 exposures for males.
Haraldson classified concussions into two groups: simple and complex. He said a simple concussion clears up in seven to 10 days, and he said any one beyond that time is considered complex.
Haraldson said nationally, soccer has the highest rate of concussions for a female sport.
Lauren Crawford, trainer for the soccer team, said some reasons concussions are rising might be more research and increased education. More articles on concussions have appeared in the previous five years than in the five decades before that, neurologists said in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education..
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