ATHLETES AND CONCUSSIONS: Keep playing or come out? This article discusses a comparative study of the recovery times of high school football players who suffered concussions in contact sports.

High school athletes who kept playing in the minutes after a concussion took nearly twice as long to recover as those who left the game immediately after the head trauma, a new study shows…The sample included 35 athletes who were removed from games right after getting a concussion and compared their symptoms and recovery to 34 athletes who kept playing in the game or match after taking a hit. The study found that players who stayed in the game after head trauma took an average of 44 days to recover. By comparison, athletes who left a game immediately after signs of concussion took only an average of 22 days to recover. While there were no meaningful differences in recovery time among girls or boys, and no differences by sport, that may be because of the size of the study. Researchers say that while the sample size was small and involved just one clinic, the results clearly highlight the importance of physical and cognitive rest promptly following concussion.

Additional point: “The study authors acknowledged that their data did not show whether the athletes who kept playing following concussion suffered additional head impacts or simply continued physical exertion.”