Study places women’s lacrosse as No. 2 sport for concussions

Football players continue to stand the greatest risk of suffering a concussion, but a new study suggests that women’s lacrosse players are second on that list.

The study, published in Injury Epidemiology, examined the incident rate of concussions in seven sports. Women’s lacrosse was ranked second, followed by men’s soccer and then women’s soccer.

From USA Today:

In football, the two positions most likely to sustain concussions were quarterbacks and running backs. In women’s lacrosse, where there is supposed to be less contact than men’s lacrosse, defenders were the most likely positions to sustain concussions.

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While player collisions were considered the most likely cause of concussions in football, men’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s soccer, the most likely reason a lacrosse player sustained a concussion was from contact with another player’s stick or the ball.

Data gathered for the study included athletes at both the college and high school levels. Click here to read the complete report.