Reports are coming out of the Canadian province of Ontario indicating that the incidence of head injuries has gone up. Between the years 2003 and 2010, numbers of young people turning up in hospitals for concussion treatment in Toronto went up 50 percent. While this may be an indication that parents are becoming better informed about the risk of head injury, the increase is still cause for concern.
The Mayo Clinic defines concussion as a traumatic brain injury that alters the way the brain operates. Such alteration may be temporary or permanent and varies in severity. The symptoms include problems with balance, coordination and concentration or loss of memory. The seriousness of the injury does not always correlate with the level of symptoms. Even a slight blow to the head can cause serious or permanent damage.
The evidence of concussion may be very subtle and not even noticeable for days, weeks or months. Symptoms include headache, confusion and memory loss, as well as nausea/vomiting, ringing in the ears, seeing stars, slurred speech or a sense of pressure from within the head. Pre-schoolers may lose interest in their favorite toys, change their sleeping and eating habits, cry a lot and become even more cranky and irritable than the typical toddler.
A trauma to the head does not have to seem serious in order to cause serious brain injury. Many sports players, when injured, insist on continuing to play after receiving a blow to the head. Sadly, this can end in tragedy, as the death of British actress Natasha Richardson, shortly after refusing treatment for a bump on the head while skiing.
Concussions are particularly common in people who participate in contact sports. Hockey players are in a particularly high-risk group. Bodychecking is a defensive maneuver in which the player forcibly drives his shoulder, hip, elbow and upper arm into an opponent. According to the rules, this move is only legal when carried out against the player who has control of the puck.
Bodychecking was outlawed in 2010 in order to protect younger players from suffering concussions from a body check to the head. However, this strategy does not appear to be working. Not only are the overall numbers of concussions on the increase, but women are receiving more head injuries than the guys.
The increase in numbers of concussions in female hockey players, and indeed sportswomen in general, is not confined to professional or even college players. Pee wee coaches of girls aged 9 and 10 are reporting high numbers of head injuries. Despite the absence of bodychecking in the women's game, women are experiencing similar, or even higher, levels of concussive head injury.
A chief neurosurgeon at a hospital in Massachusetts suggests that women may be more susceptible to concussions than men and that this merits further study. This increased vulnerability may be because women do not train their neck muscles as aggressively as do men. Higher rates may also indicate that women are more honest about reporting their head injuries.
The Mayo Clinic defines concussion as a traumatic brain injury that alters the way the brain operates. Such alteration may be temporary or permanent and varies in severity. The symptoms include problems with balance, coordination and concentration or loss of memory. The seriousness of the injury does not always correlate with the level of symptoms. Even a slight blow to the head can cause serious or permanent damage.
The evidence of concussion may be very subtle and not even noticeable for days, weeks or months. Symptoms include headache, confusion and memory loss, as well as nausea/vomiting, ringing in the ears, seeing stars, slurred speech or a sense of pressure from within the head. Pre-schoolers may lose interest in their favorite toys, change their sleeping and eating habits, cry a lot and become even more cranky and irritable than the typical toddler.
A trauma to the head does not have to seem serious in order to cause serious brain injury. Many sports players, when injured, insist on continuing to play after receiving a blow to the head. Sadly, this can end in tragedy, as the death of British actress Natasha Richardson, shortly after refusing treatment for a bump on the head while skiing.
Concussions are particularly common in people who participate in contact sports. Hockey players are in a particularly high-risk group. Bodychecking is a defensive maneuver in which the player forcibly drives his shoulder, hip, elbow and upper arm into an opponent. According to the rules, this move is only legal when carried out against the player who has control of the puck.
Bodychecking was outlawed in 2010 in order to protect younger players from suffering concussions from a body check to the head. However, this strategy does not appear to be working. Not only are the overall numbers of concussions on the increase, but women are receiving more head injuries than the guys.
The increase in numbers of concussions in female hockey players, and indeed sportswomen in general, is not confined to professional or even college players. Pee wee coaches of girls aged 9 and 10 are reporting high numbers of head injuries. Despite the absence of bodychecking in the women's game, women are experiencing similar, or even higher, levels of concussive head injury.
A chief neurosurgeon at a hospital in Massachusetts suggests that women may be more susceptible to concussions than men and that this merits further study. This increased vulnerability may be because women do not train their neck muscles as aggressively as do men. Higher rates may also indicate that women are more honest about reporting their head injuries.
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