Head First: All About Concussions

Women are concussing at higher rates than men, but these female athletes receive almost no attention compared to their male peers. What’s going on, and what should you know about concussions as an active woman?

- Karen Asp

Heads aren’t only turning, they’re also getting knocked around more, which is upping concussion rates. Concussions, especially among male athletes, are a hot topic these days, even getting Hollywood treatment in the 2015 movie Concussion, starring Will Smith. Yet here’s the surprise: Women have higher rates of concussions than men and can struggle more with recovery. So why is nobody talking about concussions in female athletes?

The Untold Story

As with some other health conditions, women have largely been ignored in concussion research. The main reason? “Women don’t play football, and that’s where some of the highest rates of concussions occur,” says Summer Ott, Pys.D., neuropsychologist and director of the Concussion Program at Memorial Hermann Ironman Sports Medicine Institute in Houston. evaluated injury rates in 15 different collegiate sports. And, according to a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, girls had higher concussion rates than boys among high-school athletes. The study compared concussion rates among 20 different high-school sports. 

Bouncing Back Isn’t Easy