Middle-School Girls Continue To Play Soccer Through Concussion, Study Reveals

A latest study on concussions in school athletes claims that concussions are common among middle school girls who play soccer but more than half of these injured girls continue to play with the symptoms.

The study , published in JAMA Pediatrics, was based on email surveys and interviews. It included over 351 soccer players belonging to the age group 11-14 years and who were members of the soccer clubs in the Puget Sound region of Washington. The study focused on the frequency of sport related concussions in female middle school students. Analysis of the participants revealed that most of these school athletes continued to play soccer with concussion symptoms.

A large number of school kids suffer from concussion, a common head injury that triggers short lived loss of memory function. Data according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that every year over 3.8 million sports-related and recreation-related concussions take place in America. Brain trauma takes place every 21 seconds in the U.S.. And the key to recovery is physical and mental rest. Symptoms include nausea, headache, dizziness, memory loss and drowsiness.

According to the study background that was led John W. O' Kane, M.D., of the University of Washington, there is a lack of injury tracking system for the younger players due to which their population is largely unstudied. 

Careful analysis showed that among the 351 players with total athletic exposure hours of 43,742, there were about 59 concussion cases.  Among the female athletes heading the ball resulted in nearly 30.5 percent rate of concussions. And more than 58.6 percent of the players continued to play through concussion and only half of them sought medical attention.

The study found there were 1.3 concussions for every 1000 athletic hours, much higher than those reported for high school and college levels.

A study conducted earlier confirmed that girls suffer concussions at a higher rate than boys involved in similar sports.

The researchers concluded saying, "Future studies are needed to develop education strategies to ensure players understand and report concussion symptoms and that parents and coaches ensure appropriate medical evaluation and clearance before returning to play. Future studies should also compare short- and long-term outcomes for those who seek medical care and return to play according to recommended guidelines vs. those who do not seek medical care and/or return to play prematurely."