Teen girls have double concussion risk of boys

Thanks @WarriorN for additional information- I didn't realize the difference in skull thickness. Great info!!

yes, I'm glad we have a coach who pays attention to the differences in boys and girls bodies with respect to risks...I would never have known about neck strength differences had he not given us that presentation-no doctor or other coach ever shared that information on girls and concussions!

And an easier to read example. www.childrenshospital.org/-/media/Centers-and-Services/Departments-and-Divisions/Sports-Medicine-Division/Female-Athlete-Program/FemaleAthleteSeriesConcussionV6.ashx?la=en&hash=37A16DB172F5482B93A1375C1D4E818DCBABFEB6

In the coach's presentation to parents, he noted the higher risk to girls for concussion, using this study, among others. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24334504/

While they treat boy and girls concussions equally seriously, the coach is adamant about his staff to seek immediate medical treatment after intense crashes and when some grumble they are "fine to race," he always quotes the "girl are at greater risk for severe concussion."

The ski team relies on this protocol testing:

impactconcussion.com/

The ski team has a concussion management protocol that includes baseline testing. Here is the general language:

Athletes in many sports are vulnerable to a blow to the head that may result in a concussion. Although you will be wearing a helmet whenever you are on the slopes with XXXX, the risk of suffering a concussion during the season remains. When concussions do occur, athletes are required to take a break from the sport and return only after being cleared to participate again by professionally trained concussion expert. One tool available to medical care personnel is a computerized concussion test. For this test to be most helpful, athletes are asked to take the test when the brain is “healthy”, that is, when it hasn’t sustained a concussion. The test measures multiple cognitive functions and gives each athlete a score for each area measured. Should the athlete suffer a concussion, the physician or attending care giver may elect to have you re-take the concussion test (after all the concussion symptoms have disappeared) in order to compare pre and post-concussion cognitive functions. If the scores don’t align well, your physician or other qualified medical care professional may continue to restrict your activity until your scores improve. When a concussion is sustained, your brain must fully heal before you can return to play. If someone with a concussion sustains a second concussion before the first concussion has fully healed, the risk of long-term cognitive damage increases greatly. So, please set aside on of the two dates and times listed above to take your baseline test. If you can’t attend either of these testing dates, you will need to contact the athletic trainer at your high school to arrange to take the test at another time.

MelissaVonStressel

There seems to be a significant gap between the knowledge that we now have about these injuries and policy to protect females against the injuries or mitigate the amount of damage.

It won’t catch up until the subject of inclusion is finally resolved. By then, how many more women and girls will have been harmed. That is where the scandal lies in making these inclusive policies before research proved the historically built up knowledge rather than after it might have been proven safe. I suspect the lobby groups knew exactly what they were doing. ‘Suspect’ is a mild word here.

minniemomo

Of course girls/women can play on boys/men’s teams as long as the parents or the women agree having been properly told of the risks. That is a long standing practice for certain age groups.

It is the admission of males into female sports where females don’t have a choice except to leave that sport that is the issue. It is the lack of acknowledgement of the risks that are known and are being proved via studies coming out regularly that compounds the issue.

www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/02/exclusivefa-accused-treating-womens-footballers-second-class/ This is the article about how the FA requires less medical personnel at women's games despite the science saying they are more likely to be injured.

@HopeClearwater

My dd played football until 18, several of her friends played football on boys teams (because they are a better standard) until 16, it's allowed. Not everything is about trans

The Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group is a co author on this.
gbirg.inp.gla.ac.uk/publications/

Prof Stewart was on a programme about concussion in rugby where he talked about the greater risks for women. It’s not just neck strength it’s that our neurones are finer. Cycling is another risky sport. They have a partnership with a US charity pink concussions.
www.pinkconcussions.com/

That is really interesting delphinium.

It is supported by the findings of the Swansea Uni study into women and rugby. They too stated it was the way females hit the ground because of less muscles in their necks. And then the double whammy of the more delicate brain fibres that take much less impact to sustain permanent or cumulative damage.

I read this article this morning and it was heartbreaking.

Zac Easter: He left his brain behind to save others from his fate www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/56894868

I suspect these brain injuries in the American football will be very similar if not the same. As the article states though,

CTE tends to develop over several years, with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease, and can so far only be detected after death.

So, proper diagnosis only after death at the moment.

Obviously, Football, may not be as high a risk. The Rugby codes may be up there in the risk factors.

And boxing and other fighting codes.

Each year, we get to know more and more about this. I wonder what the next steps will be for these sports.

More importantly though, how to protect our girls and women due to the known differences in our brain physiology.

I should have noted that ski/snow board hits to the head are often due to crashes on ice, rocks or poles, but often happen on the ground, so if you are landing on your head, it's easier for males' necks to get rigid and not repeat hit the ground vs girls who are more likely to get a double hit after whiplash.

I mentioned this on another thread, but ski and snowboarding head accidents are often more severe in girls than boys as our neck muscles aren't as strong.

When you hit your head, the whiplash can make your head swing back and get hit again. The stronger your neck muscles, the lower the chances of secondary strikes to the head, making head injuries less severe.

Female skiers and snowboarders are at higher risk than males for this and testing them pre-injury (it's an annual concussion baseline test) and watching them after head injuries needs to be a different process than boys.

Aren't the FA rules for how many doctors or First aiders different for men and women's games too? Less required for women, naturally.

Heartening at least to see repeated and explicit mention of sex-based differences, without a single reference to gender.