Abby Bergman ‘18
Contributing Writer
According to the National Institutes of Health, a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is any type of brain injury that leads to temporary or permanent brain impairment.
The most commonly diagnosed type of TBI is a concussion, which can be caused by any sort of blow to the head, either during athletics or daily life. The Brain Injury Research Institute approximates that around 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions are diagnosed each year as a result of sports. Although concussions have been studied in detail in the past, biological differences between the way concussions present in males and females are only just beginning to come to light.
In the past, many research studies investigated only male subjects in both human and animal studies, regardless of whether the condition under study affected both sexes. Now, scientists must work hard to improve the body of research into the unique female responses to concussions and other brain pathologies.
A study from Georgetown University recently demonstrated that male mice appear to show a faster progression of symptoms than female mice. The British Journal of Sports Medicine published a report that suggests that while females experience fewer concussions than males in the overall population, female athletes appear to experience more concussions than their male counterparts and recover less completely. However, concrete reasons for observed differences in humans are not yet known.
The possible explanations for this phenomenon include biological and hormonal differences between men and women, weaker neck muscles in women and a higher incidence of reporting among women.
Investigations published in Scientific American that looked into the biological factors of concussions showed that hormones, particularly estrogen and progesterone, play an important role in the severity of concussion symptom. Yet, it is necessary to note that some investigations have demonstrated a protective effect of these hormones, while others have seen aggravated symptoms in the presence of these hormones.
The physical strength differences between men and women, especially in the neck, may also play a role because this decreased strength may mean that female brains are more likely to be injured in a collision or fall.
Although research into concussions affecting female athletes has improved in recent years, there is still a lot to be done to fully understand this devastating phenomenon. One cultural reason that females may experience more severe concussion symptoms is that they typically receive less education on preventing and recognizing these types of injuries. By learning the main symptoms of traumatic brain injury – including headache, nausea, dizziness and confusion and promoting adequate recovery time – athletes and coaches can work together decrease the effects of these devastating injuries.
