When thinking about high school sports and concussion, your thoughts probably lead to contact sports. The majority of concussions we HEAR ABOUT in school sports DO come from football, and soccer…but new findings show that among the 30 millions students that participate in school sports each year, injuries surpass just those received on the football field.

Lacrosse is a sport growing in popularity. A study showed the number of students playing Lacrosse at 145,000 and growing. It is now one of the leading causes of concussion among men and fifth among women. Because it’s a relatively “new” sport, not as much publicized about staying safe while playing. A recent proposal for school Lacrosse, where aggressive play amongst the males is the norm, is a softer ball. After all, these children aren’t playing college or professional LaCrosse, they’re still high school students and should take extra precautions that won’t change the level of competition or fun of the game.

Another sport not getting attention in concussion talk is Cheer. Predominantly thought of as a “girl thing,” cheerleading has gotten increasingly competitive over the past ten years. Combining gymnastics with athletics, it’s not out of the ordinary to see a cheerleader thrown 15 feet in the air by his/her teammate with no protection on the head whatsoever. Since cheerleading is a ‘player to player’ sport, accidents incurred have accounted for numerous head, neck and spinal injuries.

The Center for Disease Control states that more than half of high school sports injuries are preventable with an educated coach, full understanding of the sport, discussions on how to prevent injury and common sense.

ConcussedTeen.Org is YOUR website.  We want to hear from you so we can work together to educate people so teenage athletes are protected.  Email submissions@concussedteen.org with your story.