athletics
CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON GIRLS
A SERIES OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATIONAL PUBLICATIONS BY LCRG
“Putting the world’s best research to work for girls.”
by Tori S. Cordiano, Ph.D. and Lisa Damour, Ph.D.
PROTECTING THE FEMALE ATHLETE: RESEARCH ON CONCUSSIONS, ACL INJURIES AND NUTRITION Participation in athletics contributes to health but can, for girls, pose some special challenges.
GIRLS AND CONCUSSIONS Girls show higher rates of concussion than boys participating in the same sports Research1 consistently indicates that girls experience more concussions and show worse outcomes2 than boys in similar sports, including soccer and basketball, though the rates at which they differ vary. A sport-related concussion (SRC) may include immediate, short-lived neurological impairment and longer-term effects such as disorientation or confusion, impaired balance, slower reaction time, impaired verbal learning and memory, among others.3 Diagnosis and treatment of concussion is complicated by the fact that symptoms are often subtle and difficult to detect, can be non-specific to concussion and might not present immediately following the injury.4
Girls’ impact and recovery from concussion Though young children do not show significant sex differences in their rates of concussion, severity of symptoms or recovery time, sex differences in these areas begin to emerge around puberty.5 In addition to longer general recovery time from concussion, female athletes also show poorer visual memory6 and greater declines in simple and complex reaction times following concussion and more subjective and objective concussion effects.7 Research has begun to explore factors that may contribute to these differential effects of concussion.