health

Concussions are probably underreported because many mild cases resolve
on their own and because many athletes do not want to miss scheduled
competitions. One estimate is that there are six cases of concussion per
1,000 people per year in the United States, but this figure is probably
too low.
Among children between the ages of five and fourteen, the most
common causes of concussions are sports and bicycle accidents; among
adults, the most common causes are falls and auto accidents. Soldiers
in combat may have rates of concussion from bomb blasts as high as
15 percent.
The sports that place participants at the highest risk of a concussion
are boxing, football, ice hockey, wrestling, rugby, and soccer. At the high
school level, girls are more likely to be injured than boys (in sports played
by both sexes) because of their smaller head and neck structure.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, studies of high
school athletes show that the rate of concussions per 1,000 games is as
follows: 0.59 for football; 0.25 for wrestling; 0.18 for boys’ soccer and
0.23 for girls’ soccer; 0.09 for girls’ field hockey; and 0.11 for boys’ basketball
and 0.16 for girls’ basketball.