Grant funds research on how concussions affect females

April 28, 2015 / Sports Medicine
A $60,000 grant will help fund research into the way concussions affect young female athletes.

HeadInjuriesResearches at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the UT Medical Branch and Transitional Learning Center in Galveston, Texas, will help lead the project. They’ll be joined by Dr. Summer Ott, and the study is expected to take two years, according to KHOU 11 News in Houston.

The grant was awarded from the Moody Endowment, which provides support to organizations committed to the rehabilitation of those who suffer from head injuries.

A couple of Ott’s comments, as reported by KHOU:

“We’ve been focused on male dominated sports for quite some time,” explained Dr. Summer Ott, a neuropsychologist at Memorial Hermann. “We’ve never really had the opportunity to study females shortly after concussions happen.”

“We don’t understand that females might have a longer recovery process, that they may endure different types of blows to the head than males. There’s a lot yet to be researched.”

Research will focus on female athletes ages 14 to 18. Ott said she hopes the study allows doctors to give better advice when it comes to preparing and treating female athletes.


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