According to researchers the University of North Carolina, college athletes were nearly twice as likely to suffer a serious knee, ankle or lower body injury in the 12 months after a concussion than in the 12 months prior to the head injury.

As we recently discussed on the blog, many athletes return to sporting activities rather quickly after a concussion, but symptoms can linger even after normal blood flow has returned to the brain. This can lead to balance issues and gait problems, and researchers wanted to see if those kinetic effects could put a person in danger for other injuries.

To test their hypothesis, researchers analyzed health data from 102 students in a variety of sports who had been diagnosed with a concussion. The concussed athlete was then “matched” with a control athlete of the same age, body type, sport and number of practices/games that could contribute to injury. Injury rates for both groups were tracked at three months, six months and one year.

Concussions and Related Injuries

At the conclusion of one year, researchers uncovered:

• 61 lower body injuries, like sprains, strains and fractures were recorded in the year before the concussion. 34 percent of those injuries occurred in athletes who would later suffer a concussion.

• A year after the concussion, 87 injuries were recorded. 58 percent of those injuries occurred in the concussion group.

• Researchers said that there was no significant difference in the injury rates between the two groups in the year before the concussion, but the concussion group was 1.6 times more likely to suffer an injury in the year after a concussion than the control group.

Researchers concluded by saying they hoped to conduct a similar study on a larger scale, but the findings on the small scale still merit attention. If your child suffers a concussion, perhaps they could benefit from balance and mobility training to ensure their biomechanical movements haven’t been negatively affected. Even small changes in how we move can make us more susceptible to injury, especially in contact sports.

Related source: Wall Street Journal

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