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A CUP OF HEALTH WITH CDC
Heads Up!
Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injuries from Sports and Recreation Activities —
United States, 2001–2005
July 27, 2007

[Announcer] This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC- safer, healthier, people.

[Matthew Reynolds] Welcome to A Cup of Health with CDC, a weekly broadcast
of the MMWR, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. I’m your host, Matthew
Reynolds.

About 38 million children and adolescents participate in organized sports every
year in the United States, and over 170 million adults participate in some type of
nonwork-related physical activity. We are bombarded with TV and radio
messages touting the health benefits of staying physically active. But these
activities also come with a risk, a risk for injury including traumatic brain injury or
TBI. Today I will be talking with Dr. Julie Gilchrist, a physician in CDC’s
Unintentional Injury Prevention Division. She is here to talk to us more about
traumatic brain injury in sports and recreation. Dr. Gilchrist, welcome to the show.

[Julie Gilchrist] Thanks for having me.

[Matthew Reynolds] Dr. Gilchrist, what is traumatic brain injury?

[Julie Gilchrist] Traumatic brain injuries, like concussions, are caused by a
bump or blow to the head or the body that can cause the brain to bang inside the
skull. These injuries can change the way the brain works and even a ding or what
seems to be a mild blow can be serious.

[Matthew Reynolds] Can you give us an idea of how big of a problem TBI is
within sports and recreation?

[Julie Gilchrist] Well, each year, almost 208,000 people are treated in
emergency departments for traumatic brain injury from participation in sports and
recreation, and kids 5 to 18 years of age account for almost two thirds of these
visits, and beyond that, the highest rates are in boys and girls 10 to 14 years.

[Matthew Reynolds] Which sports or activities had the highest number of TBIrelated
emergency department visits?

[Julie Gilchrist] TBI can occur in any sport or recreational activity, but we found
the greatest number of emergency department visits for TBI in kids 5 to 18 years
are from bicycling, football, basketball, playground activities, and soccer. But
these are also the common activities with many participants, so we can’t say that
they are the riskiest activities.

[Matthew Reynolds] You mentioned some relatively popular sports like football,
basketball, soccer. Were there other sports or recreation activities that stood out?

[Julie Gilchrist] Well since we don’t have the participation information to directly
compare activities, we compared the proportion of all injuries seen in emergency
departments for an activity that are TBI. For instance, more than one tenth of all
injuries in horseback riding that were treated in the emergency department
involved traumatic brain injury, and that’s a high proportion. Other activities with a
high proportion of TBI among kids, included ice skating, riding all-terrain vehicles,
hockey, and tobogganing or sledding.

[Matthew Reynolds] Should parents or coaches be concerned about the longterm
effects of a TBI?

[Julie Gilchrist] Certainly. TBIs can cause a wide range of changes in how the
brain works and it can affect thinking, language, learning, emotions, and even
behavior, and this important in growing children. Kids who return to play too
soon—while their brains are still healing from a concussion—risk having a
second concussion, and second concussions can be very serious. They can
cause permanent brain damage and affect you for a lifetime.

[Matthew Reynolds] Well let’s say then that I am a coach or a parent who has a
child playing a sport, and during the course of play they take a hit to the head.
What should I be on the lookout for?

[Julie Gilchrist] Well, you can’t see a concussion and some athletes may not
notice or tell you about symptoms until hours or days after the injury. They may
seem dazed or confused, they may not be able to recall things around the time of
the injury, they may seem more emotional, depressed or even easily angered,
and these can last from several minutes to weeks or even months. It’s important
to recognize the signs and symptoms and to get treatment right away.
Remember, a concussion can exist even if you haven’t been knocked out or lost
consciousness.

[Matthew Reynolds] What is CDC doing to help prevent sports-related TBIs?

[Julie Gilchrist] Concussions and other brain injuries can occur in any type of
sport or recreational activity, and since some activities have medical staff on the
field, CDC has created the tool kit targeting physicians, called “Heads Up: Brain
Injury in Your Practice,” with a palm card with a lot of the signs and symptoms,
useful information, and action steps for physicians. Additionally, CDC has
created a new tool kit called “Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports,” which is to
help coaches, parents, and athletes learn the signs and symptoms and the action
steps to take when a concussion is suspected.

[Matthew Reynolds] If people want this tool kit, where should they go to get it?

[Julie Gilchrist] The kit can be ordered free-of-charge by visiting CDC’s website
at: www.cdc.gov/ConcussionInYouthSports - all one word.
This tool kit we hope will be helpful since youth sports coaches – they’re on the
front line in the effort to identify and respond to TBI, and they’ll play an important
role in sharing this information with athletes and their parents.

The tool kit actually contains fact sheets for the coaches, the athletes, and the
parents in both English and Spanish, as well as a clipboard, magnets, and a
poster with concussion facts.

[Matthew Reynolds] Well Dr. Gilchrist, thank you for taking the time to talk to us
today.

[Julie Gilchrist] I am delighted to be here.

[Matthew Reynolds] That’s for this week’s show. Don’t forget to join us next
week. Until then, be well. This is Matthew Reynolds for A Cup of Health with
CDC.

[Announcer] To access the most accurate and relevant health information that affects you, your
family and your community, please visit www.cdc.gov.