Girls competing in sports like basketball and soccer appear to be more susceptible to concussions than boys in the same activities.
A study by researchers at Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital said that girls competing in high school soccer sustained concussions 68 percent more often than their male counterparts. Among basketball players, female concussion rates were three times higher than among boys. The study was based on data from 425 certified athletic trainers across the United States during the 2005-06 academic year.
The findings were reported in the October 2 issue of The New York Times.
“Generally speaking, the medical profession does not do a very good job in recognizing that female athletes sustain concussions at an equal or even higher rate as males,” said Dr. Robert Cantu of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, an expert on concussion management. “It’s flying under the radar. And as a result, looking for concussions in women is not pursued with the same diligence, and it’s setting girls up for a worse result.”
The Times article drew no firm conclusions about why girls in certain sports might be more prone to concussions, although it did cite speculation that girls might be more honest in reporting injuries or that girls’ neck muscles may be less developed, leading to more shock during impact.
The study showed that football produced the most concussions of any sport.
Researchers believe that underdeveloped neck muscles among young women may not absorb shock well, leading them to have more brain concussions than male athletes. (NCAA Photos)
College costs race ahead of inflation
The College Board reported in October that increases in published prices for two- and four-year public institutions were slightly larger than in 2007-08 than 2006 but lower than the average increase over the last five years. At public four-year institutions, in-state tuition and fees averaged $6,185, 6.6 percent more than last year.
For private institutions, the 2007 increase was similar to 2006 but higher than the norm over the last five years. The average annual cost was $23,712, up 6.3 percent over 2006.
In both cases, the increase was about double the rate of inflation.
Click to view chart: Tuition And Fees
Nutritionists see real value in real food
Real food not only is the safest body-building fuel for athletes, it also is the most effective, according to the third-quarter issue of Insight, the publication of the National Center for Drug Free Sport.
“Whole food is entirely different than its parts broken out,” said Ingrid Skoog, director of sports nutrition for the Oregon State athletics department. She added that athletes who rely excessively on protein supplements fail to understand body chemistry and miss out on the many benefits that come from whole food, such as vitamins, anti-oxidants, phytochemicals and probiotics.
Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that protein is better assimilated in multi-nutrient eating episodes. “And that doesn’t have to be complicated,” she said. “It could mean a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk.”
The University of Washington football team has taken that message to heart and now consumes a carton of chocolate milk, along with water and Gatorade, after every practice. “We’ve always used Gatorade,” Trent Greener, Washington’s director of sports performance, told the Tacoma News Tribune. “But we’re always trying to find ways to get natural foods into people. So if we can find a natural product at the end of practice that aids with recovery, keeps them hydrated and gives them the energy that they need, we’re going to go with it.”
Job-search sites finding their niche
When an interactive component was added to the NCAA’s online job-posting site in 1998, users could not have known that they were on the front edge of a trend.
Ten years later, the Wall Street Journal reports that niche sites like the NCAA Market are mentioned in the same breath as CareerBuilder and Monster.com.
“Advertisers are increasingly looking for more-targeted audiences and better-reach sites where they can find candidates that are more qualified,” said Eric Yoon, chief executive officer of JobThread, which sells recruitment ads.
In September, the Association partnered with Boxwood Technology to create an intercollegiate athletics career center that effectively links job posters with job seekers. The site (http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/employment) has been an unqualified hit with the membership in the early going, with the average job being viewed more than 1,500 times and the most popular positions attracting about 80 applicants.