All Articles by Lindsey Barton Straus, JD

The most recent international consensus statement on sport-related concussions identifies several important differences in the way concussions are diagnosed and treated in children and adolescents, including the need for age-appropriate symptom checklists, additional cognitive rest and a longer recovery period before return to sports.

Concussion experts agree that the taking of a detailed concussion history as part of a student-athlete's preparticipation physical evaluation is valuable because it can identify athletes at high risk of further injury, provides an opportunity for concussion education, and modifying playing style to reduce risk.

Balanced neck strength may reduce the acceleration of the head during the act of heading a soccer ball, thus reducing the risk of brain injury from such low grade hits, says a 2013 study. The study adds to a growing body of evidence that strengthening neck muscles may be a way to reduce head injury risk from concussion and repetitive sub-concussive trauma.

There is good news and bad news on the youth sports injury front. The good news is that sports and recreation musculoskeletal injuries declined 12.4 percent in the U.S. over the past 10 years for children ages 5 to 14 years. The bad news: injuries in football and soccer went up, says a new study.

The 5th International Consensus Statement On Concussion In Sport leaves unchanged the definition of sport-related concussion but notes that it provides no insights into the underlying process through which the brain is impaired, fails to distinguish between grades of severity, and leaves unresolved the question of whether concussion is on the same spectrum as severe traumatic brain injury.

A survey of high school athletic directors, coaches, and certified athletic trainers in Michigan finds that, while concussion education is very common in football, less than half of girls' soccer players received such education.

A growing number of concussion experts, strength and conditioning trainers, and physical therapists believe that one important way the risk of sport-related concussion can be reduced is to strengthen the neck, the theory being that stronger neck muscles will help cushion against the forces that cause concussion.

Lacrosse may be the fastest-growing high school boy's sport in the United States, but only football and ice hockey have higher concussion rates. A 2013 study pinpoints the possible culprit: widespread and intentional use of helmets during player-to-player contact, often to defenseless players, and usually without a penalty being called.

A new study provides additional evidence that the King-Devick Test, a simple two-minute test of rapid eye movement, is an accurate "remove-from-play" sideline concussion assessment tool which can accurately identify athletes with concussion, even when they neither display obvious concussion signs nor report any symptoms.

A significant number of concussed student-athletes may be cleared to return to play despite being cognitively impaired, finds an important new study, which recommends adding post-exertion computerized neurocognitive testing to the return-to-play protocol.