 Concussions and Headgear Tyler Kohmetscher

Definition  A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull

Signs and Symptoms  Thinking and remembering  Feeling slowed down  Not thinking clearly  Not being able to remember new information  Not being able to concentrate  Physical  Fuzzy or blurry vision  Headache  Sensitivity to light or noise  Feeling tired or having no energy  Dizziness  Balance problems  Nausea and vomiting

Signs and Symptoms (cont)  Emotional and mood  Sad  Easily upset or angered  More emotional  Nervous or anxious  Sleep  Sleeping less than usual  Sleeping more than usual  Having a hard time falling asleep

Factors affecting Concussions BPS Model  Biological  Female  Child  Psychological  Having to “suck it up” for parents, coaches  Pressure to perform  Social  Relationships with parents or coaches  Live up to social gender roles  Males show no signs of weakness

Diagnosis  ImPACT Test  Taken at beginning of year before beginning athletics  Baseline to test if you experienced concussion later  Memory, attention span, and reaction time  Physician  Check for attention span, memory and reaction time

Headgear  Became popular in the 2003 Women’s World Cup  Resembles an enlarged headband  Weighs less then 2 ounces  Covers forehead, temple, and occipital bone in the back of the head

Stats for Headgear  In a population studied,  47.8% had experienced symptoms of a concussion during the current soccer year.  26.9% of athletes who wore headgear had concussions  52.8% of those who did not wear headgear had concussions  More than one concussion was experienced by 50.0% of the concussed headgear athletes  69.3% of the concussed No-head gear group had experience more than one concussion

Pros and Cons  Pros  Prevents concussions  Makes you more confident in playing harder  Not scare  Cons  Not comfortable  Makes you look not very “cool”  Can still suffer concussion whether wearing it or not

References  Concussion - WebMD: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention. (n.d.). WebMD - Better information. Better health. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from concussion-overview concussion-overview  Broglio, S., Yu, Y., Broglio, M., & Sell, T. (n.d.). The Efficacy of Soccer Headgear. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from

References  LONGMAN, J. (n.d.). The New York Times > Sports > Soccer > Soccer Headgear: Does It Do Any Good? The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from ccer.html?_r=2& ccer.html?_r=2&  Sarafino, E. P., & Smith, T. W. (2012). Health psychology: biopsychosocial interactions (7th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

References  Concussion. (n.d.). MedicineNet. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from m m  Delaney, S., & Drummond, R. (2008). The effect of protective headgear on head injuries and concussions in adolescent football (soccer) players. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 42 (2), Retrieved December 13, 2012, from the Academic Search Premier database.