Changing the Culture of “Ding†: Education, Legislation and Research on Concussive Brain Injury in Youth Athletics

The number of emergency department visits concerning sport related TBI in youth increased 57% from 2001 to 2009 and while a fraction of that increase may be attributed to injuries that were once missed now being identified due to greater general awareness, the fact remains that there are nearly 200,000 children every year who suffer sport related concussion or other TBI serious enough to prompt a visit to the ED. 40% of sports related concussions involve children between the ages of 8 and 13, and in this group the rate of concussion doubled between 1997 and 2007. The risk of concussion is highest in football and there are nearly 67,000 diagnosed concussions in high school football every year. In other sports that males and females play, such as basketball, girls seem to be at a higher risk. In high schools, concussions account for 15% of all sports related injuries resulting in at least one day of play lost. The risk of a suffering a concussion when participating in a contact sport may be as high as 20% per season. In both girls’ and boys’ soccer and basketball 20% of the concussions were repeat concussions. These statistics just further illustrate the gravity of the problem of sport related concussions. Here we describe the need for more work on education, legislation and research in order to change in the concussion/mTBI culture.