Concussions

It takes a team to manage a concussion. Let our experts lead the way.

Facts about Concussions, courtesy of The Centers of Disease Control (CDC):

• Each year, U.S. emergency departments (EDs) treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, among children and adolescents, from birth to 19 years.
• During the last decade, ED visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including concussions, among children and adolescents increased by 60%.
• Overall, the activities associated with the greatest number of TBI-related ED visits included bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball, and soccer.

You don’t have to be “knocked out” to have a concussion. In fact, fewer than 10% of concussions result in loss of consciousness.

The Dangers of Concussions

If recognized and treated properly, most children will recover fully from a single concussion. However, kids who sustain multiple concussions over a young sports career tend to take longer to recover each time and are more likely to experience prolonged post-concussion symptoms or cognitive impairment.

A more important risk is something only seen in kids called Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). With SIS, under rare and unpredictable circumstances, a child sustains a second (even minor) trauma to the head while not yet recovered from a previous concussion, which can result in a potentially deadly cascade of events that causes rapid brain swelling.

Learn more about SIS and everything else you need to know about concussions by exploring our pages below.