Eight hundred and seventy one high school students suffered concussions during last fall, according to a new survey conducted by the Missouri State High School Activities Association. Unsurprisingly, 75 percent of those concussions happened to football players. State lawmakers made this survey mandatory last year, so there isn’t any previous data with which to compare it.
by Gillian Stedman
Pat Forbis, member of the ‘Sports Medicine Advisory Committee’ wants to raise awareness for the dangers of high school sports. He says concussions affect people under 19 years old in a different way than for older athletes.
“If a student athlete would return to sports with symptoms and they receive another concussion they could receive what they call a second impact," Forbis explained. "50 percent of the students who do this have severe brain injury -- significant that it alters their life -- and then the other 50 percent die.”
The ‘Sports Medicine Advisory Committee’ will conduct another survey this summer to gain more detailed information.