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 “The underreporting of concussions is estimated to be high, and the
No. 1 reason athletes do not report a concussion is because they do
not want to lose playing time,” lead study author Jessica Wallace of
Youngstown State University in Ohio said by email.
Although experts estimate that athletic trainers are present in 86
percent of U.S. high schools, only about 37 percent of high schools
employ one full-time. In high schools with no athletic trainer,
athletes are five times more likely to not report concussion
symptoms because they didn’t know they had a concussion, Wallace
told Reuters Health.
Sports-related concussions account for about 4 percent to 9 percent
of high school injuries and have symptoms such as headaches,
confusion, nausea, amnesia and trouble sleeping.
“This study sheds light on the multiple reasons why student-athletes
may not report a concussion, including not thinking the injury was
serious enough to require medical attention or not wanting to let
the team down,” Wallace said.
She and her colleagues surveyed 715 student athletes ages 13 to 19,
including 438 students who had access to an athletic trainer.
Athletes answered 83 questions about their own concussion history,
concussion knowledge, responses in specific scenarios, signs and
symptoms of a concussion and reasons why an athlete would not report
a concussion.
Overall, 55 percent of high school athletes underreported
concussions. Eighty-seven percent of athletes from schools without
athletic trainers understood the dangers of concussions, as compared
to 94 percent from the schools with athletic trainers.
Similarly, 61 percent of athletes from schools without athletic
trainers understood the signs and symptoms of a concussion, compared
to 78 percent from the schools with athletic trainers.
Overall, in the schools without athletic trainers, 16 percent more
athletes thought they could continue playing if they believed they
had a concussion and 12 percent more athletes thought they could
continue playing with concussion symptoms. This knowledge gap is
prominent and should be addressed, the study authors write in a
special concussion-themed issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.
“The athletic trainer serves a vital role in the health and safety
of high-school athletes,” Wallace said. “One of the athletic
trainer’s responsibilities is to help educate athletes, coaches and
parents about concussions that appear to be happening within high
schools.”
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At the same time, access to an athletic trainer wasn’t linked to a
higher proportion of concussions being reported, the study found.
In the survey, about 46 percent of the students said they had
experienced a potential concussion during play and only 21 percent
had reported it to an authority figure at the time. About 19 percent
of these incidents were reported in schools without athletic
trainers, compared to 25 percent in schools with athletic trainers,
a difference too small to rule out the possibility it was due to
chance.
“This multifaceted issue includes many reasons why students may
choose not to disclose an injury, including knowledge, intention and
attitude,” said Johna Register-Mihalik of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, who developed the concussion survey used in
the current study but was not part of the study team.
One limitation of the study is that the students came from 14
schools in two Michigan metro areas and participated in football,
volleyball, basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, soccer or
cheerleading, which may limit how broadly the results can be
generalized, the authors note.
The Michigan students received state-mandated concussion education
based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HEADS UP
program. Wallace and colleagues recommend that this or a similar
education program be used to target schools without an athletic
trainer in order to talk about the signs, symptoms and dangers of
concussion.
“Improving concussion protocol will extend into other issues with
student athletes, such as lack of mental health disclosure and
allowing play when athletes are injured or sick,” Register-Mihalik
said. “Involving parents, coaches and students can create a safe
playing environment.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pjWyFD Journal of Athletic Training, March
2017.
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