Penny Rott, MS, is a brain injury case manager for Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute at Brookhaven Hospital, providing resources and support for TBI victims and their families across the United States.

Aric Thorpe, MHR, is Brookhaven Hospital's Pastoral Liaison Representative. He conducts the quarterly Minister's Lifeline series and provides mental health information to pastors and clergy.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 2:35 PM
posted by Penny Rott, MS

Gender differences in Concussion Mending

According to ScienceDaily the 2008 American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes shows that females recover differently from males after sustaining a concussion, and even from others with a history of concussion.

The authors studied concussion recovery patterns in 234 soccer players (61 percent female, 39 percent male) ages 8 to 24. The individual’s were tested on attention, memory, processing speed and reaction time, following a concussion. The results were then analyzed to determine “group differences in performance between male and female participants and those with a previous history of concussion.”

According to the article the results found that females performed significantly worse than males on tests of reaction time and were more symptomatic. “Additionally, there was a trend, although not significant, towards females testing poorly regarding verbal memory and processing speed when compared to males.” Furthermore the individual’s who had a “history of concussion performed significantly worse on verbal memory testing after another concussion”. ScienceDaily reports:

"There's a theory that males typically have a stronger neck and torso that can handle forces better," said Dr. Colvin. "But when we accounted for Body Mass Index in this study, we still found a difference between males and females. Therefore, there are differences in recovery between genders that cannot simply be attributed to size difference. More studies are needed to determine the reason for differences in recovery between males and females."

Click here to read the full article