Concussions are more likely to occur in football practices than in games, according to a recent study from two Indiana researchers.
As NPR reports, the report published in the journal Pediatrics found that in high school and college football, 58 percent of concussions happened during practices.
The numbers are gleaned from three large injury surveillance systems that evaluated the 2012 and 2013 seasons of 118 youth football teams, 96 high school programs and 24 college programs. They were gathered by the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention Inc., in Indianapolis. They don't reflect the number of concussions, but rather players who reported having at least one concussion during the season.
"The number of people exposed during practice is always higher than in games," says Tom Dompier, president of Datalys and lead author of the study, because not all kids at the high school and college level will play in games." Players at that level log many more hours of practice time than do younger athletes.
The findings aren't surprising to Indiana High School Athletic Association Commisioner Bobby Cox.
"We always knew there were probably going to be more concussive events than games because there are many more practices than there are games," Cox says.
But Cox says the data might give more legitimacy to steps the organization is already trying to take.
"We're working toward better awareness, more exposure to the most recent literature about concussions, talking to our football coach association about coming up with some recommendations on limitations in practice, because that's where we're finding more concussive events," Cox says.
The IHSAA is in the middle of surveying its football coaches to ask them for recommendations on how to reduce concussions in practice. For example, the IHSAA might limit the amount of contact practices players participate in each week.
Indiana law requires a health care professional to clear a player before he or she can re-enter play if a concussion is suspected. Parents must also sign a concussion waiver form for their student athletes, indicating they understand the risks associated with contact sports.
Indiana law mandates high school football coaches take a concussion education course.
The legislature considered a law that would have expanded that requirement to all high school sports. It failed to pass, but the IHSAA instead wrote the requirement into its guidelines for all public schools.
