If the results of a study presented Monday are any indication, there's still a long way to go in efforts to educate high school football players about the dangers of concussions. In fact, many of the 120 players from the Cincinnati area who participated in the study claim it's okay to play with a concussion - even though they know they are at increased risk of serious injury.
In fact, of the one-fourth of all players who had suffered a concussion, more than half acknowledged that they would continue to play with concussion symptoms. And while 91 percent of all players recognized a risk of serious injury if they returned to play too quickly, only half would always or sometimes report their concussion symptoms to their coach.
"These attitudes could leave young athletes vulnerable to injury from sports-related concussions," says Brit Anderson, a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who co-authored the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Washington, D.C. "Despite their knowledge, many athletes in our sample reported that they would not tell their coach about symptoms and would continue to play. A small percentage even responded that athletes have a responsibility to play in important games with a concussion."
Those results are similar to ones generated by ESPN The Magazine in late 2010, when it surveyed 300 high school football players by asking the following question: "Your team is in the state title game, and your star gets a concussion. Would you rather lose the game as he sits out, or win because he chose to play with it?" The majority of players (54.1 percent) would keep the concussed player on the field.
Additionally, more than half of all players surveyed by ESPN The Magazine (55.4 percent) thought that if a teammate complained of a headache during a game, it was okay for him to return to play - even though studies have shown that a headache is the leading symptom of a concussion.
Anderson and her colleagues administered two surveys to the Cincinnati-area football players to measure their knowledge of concussions and symptoms, as well as their attitudes about playing after a head injury. Survey results show that 70 percent of the players had been educated about concussions, and most could identify common signs and symptoms. Headache was identified as a symptom by 93 percent, dizziness by 89 percent, difficulty remembering and sensitivity to light and/or sound by 78 percent, difficulty concentrating by 76 percent and feeling in a fog by 53 percent.
The abstract, titled " 'I Can't Miss the Big Game': High School Football Players' Knowledge and Attitudes about Concussions," can be found here.
"Athletes who had more knowledge about concussions were not more likely to report symptoms," Anderson says. "Although further study needs to be done, it is possible that concussion education alone may not be enough to promote safe concussion behaviors in high school football players."
