Female, Male Youth Report Different Concussion Symptoms

Female athletes who sustain a concussion report different symptoms than their male counterparts, according to research performed at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education. Sue Saliba, an assistant professor of kinesiology in the Curry School, and Leah Frommer, now an assistant athletic trainer at the University of California at Santa Barbara, conducted the study while Frommer was a graduate student at U.Va. Frommer graduated from Curry in 2006 with a master's degree in athletic training and sports medicine.

The research revealed that in addition to headache, high school girl athletes were more likely to complain of neurological symptoms like sensitivity to light or sleeplessness. Their male peers, conversely, are more likely to report neuro-cognitive issues, like loss of memory or balance control. "We found a difference in the symptom type, and that's never been documented before," Saliba said. However, there was no difference in the students' recovery time. There are more than 1.6 million sport-related concussions reported each year in the United States. More than 5 percent of participants in high school contact sports are affected by concussions.

Their paper, "Sex Differences in Concussion Symptoms of High School Athletes," was published in the January/February issue of the Journal for Athletic Trainers. Read the rest of the article here.