Speed can be part of the excitement of winter sports, but it can put you at risk for injuries like concussions.
Dr. Joseph Benert, a sports medicine physician at Aspirus, says a concussion can happen when an impact causes the brain to move rapidly back and forth inside the skull.
He says any sport can lead to a concussion.
“The sports that occur in the winter have an increased risk due to the combination of the actual sports
that are played and the nature of the sports,” says Benert.
“So, for example, there's a higher risk of collision due to either things like downhill skiing and snowboarding, ice hockey, and wrestling, or the factors of speed, where you can indirectly cause it due to things like the fact that they're played on snow and ice.”
Concussions can happen to high level athletes, and to people pushing their skills.
Dr. Benert says there can be a wide range of symptoms.
“Everybody is a little bit different. So you can have things, um, that present objectively, like balance issues, headaches, vision changes. Cognition can be affected with memory difficulties or trouble concentrating. You can have emotional changes, including anxiety or irritability, and sleep can often be affected as well,” says Benert.
Symptoms don’t always appear right away, and adrenaline can make a person feel fine at first. That can make it hard to know whether a concussion occurred or how serious it might be.
“It may be tempting to brush off a fall or hard hit to keep playing, but that can lead to more severe injury,” said Dr. Benert. “Taking a break to monitor symptoms is always the best choice.”
More serious symptoms, such as loss of consciousness, persistent nausea or vomiting, or significant balance problems, require urgent medical attention.
He says helmets can help, but they don’t eliminate the risk.
