LANCASTER, Ohio (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- As female sports get more competitive, more athletes are coping with concussions. A new study finds high school and college girls are having even more brain injuries as they put themselves in the game.

Two concussions within seven months -- goalie Christin Anson recovered about a week after the first one. But the second one left this high school honor student reading at a third grade level.

"I would read a sentence and I couldn't comprehend the sentence I was reading," Anson told Ivanhoe.

"Deep down I always had that sense of what if -- what if she doesn't recover," said Linda, Anson's mom.

Anson was dizzy, her balance was off and she had a headache every day for a year-and-a-half.

"Concussions are not just a problem for boy's football players," Dawn Comstock, Ph.D., researcher at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, told Ivanhoe. "What we found was that in sports that both genders play -- basketball and soccer -- there was a higher rate of concussions among girls rather than boys."

Specifically, concussions occur 40-percent more in high school soccer, and 240-percent more in basketball. The patterns were similar in college athletes. One reason may be that girls have weaker neck muscles. Resistance training is a must.

Remember -- a concussion is a brain injury and can be serious. Symptoms include headache, nausea or vomiting, dizziness and sensitivity to light or noise.

Anson's back on the honor roll and back in the game. "I've learned the right way to go in for a certain ball or the safe way to do it," Anson said.

Because she never wants to go through what she did again.

If you would like more information, please contact:
Mary Ellen Fiorino
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Columbus, Ohio
Maryellen.fiorino@gmail.com