Concussions In High School Sports: A Case Study

Awareness about the severity of concussions, particularly on young brains, has increased, but researchers are still seeing a rise in high school concussions. According to the National Academy of Sciences, out of 10,000 high school football games and practices there are approximately eleven concussions reported; two times more than college football. But researchers strongly believe the number for high school football concussions would be significantly higher if there were more reported concussions and less unreported. Safety guidelines for concussions in the NFL and NCAA have increased, but there is still an insufficient amount of safety in high school sports. Many high schools in the United States should have stricter guidelines to better

For instance, researchers at Wake Med Health and Hospitals recently found out that even if an athlete knows the symptoms of a concussion, only about 13 percent will report events considered “bell ringers” or temporary transient alterations in neurologic function. In most cases “bell ringers” are considered a concussive injury to medical personnel. Many of the athletes’ reasons for not reporting possible concussions were connected to not wanting to let teammates and coaches down (Mihalik et al, 2013). Another study conducted in 2004 by twenty high schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, asked 1,532 high school football players whether the concussions they sustained during the season were reported or not. Out of 1,532 athletes 47.3 percent reported their concussion and 52.7 percent admitted to not reporting their concussion. The most common reasons for a concussion not being reported in this study were the following: the player did not think the injury was serious enough, the player did not want to be withheld from the game, and the player lacked awareness that a concussion could be possible (McCrea, Hammeke, Olsen, Leo, & Guskeiwicz, 2004).Stricter guidelines would help athletes understand why lying about their symptoms just creates a larger issue. The

Idaho is one state that lacks coaching education. A study conducted in 2007 by Faure wanted to determine if Idaho high school football coaches were following policies when a player suffered a concussion. Faure determined they were following policies, but Idaho’s policies did not require coaches to become educated before the sport season began. For example, Faure found in her study that 20 percent of high schools in Idaho have athletic trainers, but 80 percent of schools do not have an athletic trainer which means the coach is the one who makes the decision whether or not an athlete is injured. Although Faure’s study documented 80 percent of coaches make their own medical decisions during the game because athletic trainers are not available, coaches at larger schools, 4A and 5A levels, have more knowledge on concussions because they have more concussion funding. Faure also found in her study that Idaho’s coaches have expressed much interest in learning more about concussions but little training is available. The study also asked 128 Idaho high school coaches whether or not they knew how to properly fit a football helmet. Out of the 128, half knew how to properly fit a helmet and the other half did not know a properly fitting helmet was important, even though the best way to prevent a concussion in football-related