Athletic Advantage: Girls Concussions
By: Tobin McDuff
Updated: October 23, 2012
Concussions are a hot topic of conversation when it comes to athletes today.
In last week's athletic advantage, we learned the consequences and treatment for male athletes, but what about the female athlete?
In this week's Athletic Advantage story, Tobin McDuff shows us how girls and women are actually more likely to suffer from a concussion and recovery time can take even longer than their male counterpart.
More than 400,000 high school athletes will be treated for concussions this year.
Dr. Finbar Woitalla is a sports medicine physician at United Regional and says, "Even though there are overall less numbers concussion-wise with girls the rate is much, much higher. If you look at sports which boys are also playing, girls will have two to three times the number of concussions. Cheerleading is getting more and more competitive. You have lots of different stunts. You've got you're flyers and things go wrong and absolutely concussion happen like neck injuries."
Studies indicate girls' neck muscles are generally weaker than boys', making them more susceptible to concussions.
And while the diagnosis is the same, the recovery time for girls is not.
"There are different studies that show girls recovery times may take two to three times the length of time as boys," says Woitalla. "On average most boys and girls within a week will fell better but sometimes with girls its two to three times as long."
It's important to remember you don't have to be knocked out to suffer a concussion.
If there's any doubt, get it checked out.
