Written by Lil K

Sports are the most likely reason people get concussions. Football has proved to be the sport with the most concussions followed by ice hockey and soccer. Concussions occur more often in competitive sports, with football accounting for more than 60% of concussions. Each year, an estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million sports and recreation-related concussions occur in the United States.

What are some risk factors for sustaining a sport-related concussion? The Sports Concussion Institute website states that for every concussion, the person is 1 to 2 times more likely to get a second one, 2 to 4 times more likely to get a third, and 3 to 9 times more likely to get a fourth. The factors contributing to concussions and their recovery is regularly revealing new information, and it's important that the people responsible for the health of the athletes stay up to date on the latest research on prevention and treatment.

What is known about sports concussion risk and recovery? The website brainline.org states that high school athletes' recovery times for a sports concussion are longer than college athletes' recovery times. High school athletes who sustain a concussion are three times more likely to sustain a second concussion. Not taking the proper diagnosis and management of concussion, can and may result in serious long-term consequences, or risk of coma or death.

Dr. Julie Gilchrist, a pediatrician and medical epidemiologist at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, says that severe, repeated TBI (like suffering multiple concussions​) can result in long-term cognitive changes. However, the long-term effects of concussions remain unclear. 4/10/17