More Time Spent in Sports, Faster Healing From Concussion

WEDNESDAY, April 10, 2019 -- It's a classic Catch-22: While kids who play sports are more likely to suffer a concussion, they seem to recover faster if they had already spent a lot of time on the field.

So finds new research that discovered kids who played a sport for at least seven years and had experienced a concussion recovered more quickly than kids with less experience who experienced a concussion. The study authors think the more experienced players may have a motor skill-related "reserve" that helps them recover.

Kids Who Specialize in One Sport Too Early Are Likely to Get Hurt: Study

FRIDAY, March 29, 2019 -- For young athletes, focusing on only one sport at an early age ups their odds for injury, a new study warns.

Sixty million kids play organized sports. By age 14, a growing number of them specialize in one sport with the goal of a college scholarship or professional career.

Most Parents Want Age Limits on Football Tackling

MONDAY, April 1, 2019 -- With concern over concussion dangers rising, most U.S. parents now say that they would support bans on tackling in youth football, a new survey shows.

Researchers found that of more than 1,000 parents in a national sample, 60 percent were in favor of age restrictions on tackling. Another quarter were in the "maybe" camp.

Fewer Boys Are Suffering Head Injuries, But Rate Rises for Girls

THURSDAY, March 14, 2019 -- There's good news and bad news from a new study of children visiting U.S. emergency departments for head injuries: The rate of these potentially serious events has fallen among boys, but risen for girls.

In recent years, the danger of concussion from contact sports -- most notably football -- has garnered much media attention. So the authors of the new report theorized that new "safety-minded rule changes" for high school football, or even more parents saying no to boys participating in the sport, might be driving the decline in head injuries.

When Can Kids Return to Play After a Concussion?

WEDNESDAY, March 13, 2019 -- Though coaches and parents are more alert to the need for emergency attention after young athletes suffer a concussion, many may not realize how long symptoms and other effects can linger.

A study in JAMA Pediatrics found that 31 percent of concussion victims had persistent symptoms after four weeks, as well as lower quality-of-life scores than kids whose symptoms had resolved. For some, lower quality of life was still an issue at 12 weeks, even after concussion symptoms were gone. And even kids without persistent symptoms had lower quality-of-life scores than typical.