Why Do So Many People Get Concussions?

Concussions Are Much More Common Than You Think… From Sports, Falls, Car Accidents, and More

Our brains are especially susceptible to injury because of so many factors including it’s soft composition, it’s extreme wiring complexity, the hard skull in which it’s enclosed, the skull’s position on the relatively long and less stable neck, and our habits of driving, playing sports, and often-times doing dangerous things.

Shocking Stats on Concussions and mild Traumatic Brain Injury:

• According to a March 2015, CDC report – in just one year, traumatic brain injuries (or TBI) accounted for nearly 2.2 million emergency department visits, 280,000 hospitalizations, and 50,000 deaths.
• 99% of NFL players in a brain donation program were diagnosed with brain damage from chronic brain injuries called chronic traumatic encephalopathy after death.
• 26,212 non-fatal bicycling brain injuries occur every year.
• 19.5% of high school athletes have had a concussion and this is probably vastly under-estimated.
• 5.5% of high school athletes have had multiple concussions (again likely very under-estimated).
• 153 deaths occur every day from people with a brain injury.
• 3.2 to 5.3 million Americans are living with a TBI-related disability.
• Concussions are involved in 70% of all sports and recreation-related brain injuries were reported in people ages 19 and younger.

These numbers are very important. They tell the story of how big a problem this is for us. So many people suffer lifelong problems from concussions.

These generally aren’t just self limiting problems, even if the symptoms seems to go away after a short period of time.

The problem is that it sets the stage for some very serious problems in so many people.

This was discussed in other posts about neuro-inflammation that describes what current research has found happens in the brain and other areas with a concussion. This can be a very serious situation.

There are things that can be done to improve healing and function in people (kids, teens, and adults) that suffer a closed head injury. Unfortunately these treatment options have not yet made their way into the vast majority of healthcare practices.

If you haven’t watched the movie, Concussion, starring Will Smith then I highly recommend checking it out.

Concussion is an entertaining movie but more importantly helps provide a better understanding of the very serious problem of concussions in football and in general.

The movie also really helps better understand how devastating the effects of traumatic brain injuries are for the person and their families.