Are Girls More Likely to Suffer Brain Injuries? Brain Injury Claims may be more common in females.

Permanent and Disabling Consequences

Suffering a traumatic brain injury can have serious long-term consequences and one of the most common types of mild traumatic brain injury is a concussion. While the chances of suffering a concussion may be remote for many of us, for athletes in any sport concussions are all too often a real and serious risk.

Girls Injured More Often and Longer

Now, new research published in the Journal of Athletic Training suggests girls are up to 68% more likely to suffer a concussion when playing sports than boys. The research examined athletes who play basketball or soccer at the high school and university age and found that girls suffer significantly more concussions than boys and take longer to recover.

The type of “mild traumatic brain injuries” that the research addresses can occur either from the head suffering direct trauma (when it is either struck by an object or hit against a hard surface) or as the result of movement akin to whiplash when the brain undergoes rapid movement back and forth (what doctors refer to as an acceleration-deceleration injury).

Know the Signs of Minor Traumatic Brain Injury

Anytime one of these types of incidents occurs, it is important to keep an eye out for the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.

Any interruption of normal brain function is cause for concern, but the required symptoms for a diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury are:

• Any period of loss of consciousness;
• Any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the incident;
• Any changes in mental status at the time of the incident—such as feeling dazed or disoriented; and
• What are known as “focal neurologic deficits” such as loss of smell or hearing.

In addition to these basic symptoms required for diagnosis, there are a number of physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms that are likely to show up as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

When a traumatic brain injury does occur, there may be lifelong effects, and depending on the source of the injury, the victim may be entitled to file a brain injury compensation claim through the courts.

Brain Injury victims, as well as their families, need to be well-informed not only about how to identify a possible brain injury but the legal options available if you have suffered a traumatic brain injury.

That’s one reason I wrote my book “Brain Matter: The Survivor’s Guide to Brain Injury Claims”. It’s a great resource for anyone going through the difficult aftermath of a brain injury. The book is for sale on Amazon.com, but you can get a copy, at no charge, if you contact me through this blog.