Medical practitioners have long exhibited concern over the dangers posed by participation in sporting activities to the human brain. Now, a new study, which was presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), has confirmed these fears with evidence that athletes engaging in a variety of extreme sports are at risk of sustaining head and neck injuries.
The study entailed a literature review of eleven years of data concerning seven popular extreme sports featured in the Winter and Summer X Games: mountain biking, skateboarding, motocross, surfing, snowmobiling, snow skiing, and snowboarding. Utilizing the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database, researchers compiled data for each sport, focusing on a variety of common neck and head injuries. Next, they calculated the risks of concussion, skull fracture, and neck fracture by combining this data with extreme sport participation rates reported in the 2013 Outdoor Foundation Participation Report.
Among the 4 million injuries reported, over 11 percent of these involved head or neck trauma, with a staggering 83 percent of these involving the head and 17 percent the neck. Concussions represented the most frequent form of head or neck injury, and teenagers and young adults represented the most commonly injured subjects of the study. The three most dangerous sports in terms of head and neck injury were skateboarding, snowboarding, and skiing, with the former yielding the highest risk of skull fractures. Moreover, the study indicates that in the decade between 2000 and 2010, head and neck injuries sustained while participating in extreme sports have increased significantly in number, from 34,065 to 40,042.
The findings of this study have important implications not only within the world of extreme sports, but also for the grander sphere of athletics. As a recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association illustrates, for instance, even players of such ubiquitous sports as football are at an elevated risk of sustaining concussions and other head injuries, which in turn can lead to significant structural differences in the region of the brain that is vital to the preservation of memory. Moreover, even among players of significantly less dangerous sports, complaints of minor head injuries and pinched nerve neck pain are common.
In light of the present study, researchers hope to witness the improvement of both preventative measures and injury treatment throughout the world of sports. According to one researcher, wearing a helmet is key to reducing the risk of sustaining a serious head or neck injury, and this recommendation applies not only to extreme athletes, but also to bicyclists and others who are likely to experience a crash or fall. Additionally, the study adds weight to sports medicine practitioners and orthopaedic surgeons’ ongoing efforts to see safer equipment and better on-site medical care introduced in the current athletic sphere.
At Rowe Neurology Institute, we have the most current diagnostic tools, and a staff of neurologists and integrated caregivers who specialize in back and neck pain. We’ve treated thousands of acute back and neck pain patients and helped them recover without surgery.