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 The reasons boys gave for not wanting to report a concussion tended
to center around not wanting coaches or teammates to think they were
weak or to "get mad," researchers report in the Journal of Athletic
Training.
"Although males and females have similar concussion symptom
knowledge, we still see a negative stigma" with reporting them, lead
author Jessica Wallace told Reuters Health by email.
"Especially within male dominated sports, we are seeing that many
male athletes are not reporting because they are highly sensitive to
how their peers and coaches view them," said Wallace, an athletic
trainer and researcher at Youngstown State University in Ohio.
Wallace thinks better concussion education programs are needed to
teach kids the dangers of continuing to play with a concussion.
Concussion symptoms can include headache, dizziness and difficulty
concentrating or sleeping. In all, 22 concussion symptoms are
typically included in sport-related concussion education programs,
the study team writes.
Athletes who continue to play with a concussion risk re-injury and a
longer recovery time.
To determine how well high school athletes recognize these symptoms
and how likely they are to report a concussion, as well as why they
wouldn’t, the researchers enrolled 288 athletes (198 boys and 90
girls) at three Michigan high schools.
The participants answered a single survey that included a test of
recognition of concussion symptoms. The survey also asked whether
the student had ever experienced a concussion, how many concussions
they had reported to a trainer, coach, parent or other authority
figure, and reasons for not reporting the symptoms.
Of the 58 participants who had sustained a concussion, 25 reported
having had two or more.
Knowledge of symptoms was similar between the sexes, with scores
ranging from about 11 to 18 out of a possible 21 on the test.
The top reason for both boys and girls to not report a concussion
was because they did not think it was serious. Other common reasons
included not wanting to lose play time and not wanting to let the
team down.
The boys were anywhere from four to 11 times less likely than girls
to report concussions, for reasons having to do with how they were
perceived by peers and coaches.
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It is important for athletes, parents, and coaches to understand
that concussion is a treatable injury, but "an athlete has to report
the injury for it to be treated," Wallace said.
"If an athlete fails to report the injury and continues to play
while symptomatic, it can either delay recovery or potentially
result in a catastrophic outcome," she said. Coaches need to
emphasize that concussions are serious and that reporting concussion
symptoms is expected, Wallace added.
She suggests using a “buddy system” of reporting concussions.
"Often, athletes will not report their own concussion, but they will
be mindful and protective of their teammates. So the 'buddy system'
would help me as the athletic trainer because the athletes would
come and tell me if they thought their teammate/friend was
experiencing a concussion or concussion symptoms," she said.
“Studies such as these are building blocks to helping us understand
how to provide effective and impactful interventions to help
athletes better report their injuries,” said Zachary Kerr, an
exercise and sport science researcher at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Barriers to concussion reporting by athletes need to be resolved,
with an emphasis not only on education and knowledge, but also the
pressures that athletes face from peers, adults, and their own
perceptions,” said Kerr, who wasn’t involved in the study.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2rJBmdb Journal of Athletic Training, online
May 31, 2017.
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