Complete Concussion Management, a multidisciplinary network of health practitioners for better concussion management, has reviewed the literature on the incidence of concussions in sports to make a list of sports with the highest risk of concussion.
Here are the highlights:
First, it is important to mention that in this article, the incidence of concussions is measured in terms of exposure (“athletic exposure” or “AE”), which is defined as one athlete participating in one game or practice. So the numbers given below correspond to the number of concussions for every 1000 times an athlete participates in a game or practice. For example, in American football, a team has about 50 players. So a football game is about 100 athletic exposures (2 teams of 50 players each). In addition, the data were separated into 2 categories, during games and during practices.
In adults:
During games:
Rugby (men) (3.00/1,000 AE)
American football (men) (2.5/1,000 AE)
Hockey (women) (2.27/1,000 AE)
Hockey (women) (1.63/1,000 AE)
Soccer (women) (1.48/1,000 AE)
Soccer (men) (1.07/1,000 AE)
During practices:
Rugby (men) (0.37/1,000 AE)
Hockey (women) (0.31/1,000 AE)
American football (men) (0.30/1,000 AE)
Soccer (women) (0.13/1,000 AE)
Hockey (men) (0.12/1,000 AE)
Soccer (men) (0.08/1,000 AE)
In young athletes (under 18 years old)
Rugby (4.18 / 1,000 AE)
Hockey (1.20 / 1,000 AE)
American Football (0.53 / 1,000 AE)
Lacrosse (0.24 / 1,000 AE)
Soccer (0.23 / 1,000 AE)
Wrestling (0.17 / 1,000 AE)
Basketball (0.13 / 1,000 AE)
Softball (0.10 / 1,000 AE)
Field Hockey (0.10 / 1.000 AE)
Baseball (0.06 / 1,000 AE)
Cheerleading (0.07 / 1,000 AE)
Volleyball (0.03 / 1,000 AE)
These numbers are impressive, especially considering that 50% of concussions are not reported. To read the original article in full, visit the site here. To learn more about the role of acupuncture in concussion recovery you can read this article – Acupuncture in the treatment of concussions or contact us.
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