New "Head Impact Telemetry System" technology is being placed in helmets to study injury mechanisms and may generate knowledge that will potentially help reduce the risk of concussions among American Football players.Educational interventions, such as handouts, videos, workshops, and lectures, can improve concussion knowledge of diverse groups, particularly youth athletes and coaches. Strong concussion knowledge may be associated with greater recognition of concussion symptoms, higher rates of concussion reporting behaviors, and reduced body checking-related penalties and injuries, thereby lowering risk of mTBI.Due to the incidence of concussion in sport, younger athletes often do not disclose concussions and their symptoms. Common reasons for non-disclosure include a lack of awareness of the concussion, the belief that the concussion was not serious enough, and not wanting to leave the game or team due to their injury. Self-reported concussion rates among U-20 and elite rugby union players in Ireland are 45–48%, indicating that many concussions go unreported. Changes to the rules or enforcing existing rules in sports, such as those against "head-down tackling", or "spearing", which is associated with a high injury rate, may also prevent concussions. Treatment
Adults and children with a suspected concussion require a medical assessment to confirm the diagnosis of concussion and rule out more serious head injuries. After life-threatening head injuries, injuries to the cervical spine, and neurological conditions are ruled out, exclusion of neck or head injury, observation should be continued for several hours.
If repeated vomiting, worsening headache, dizziness, seizure activity, excessive drowsiness, double vision, slurred speech, unsteady walk, or weakness or numbness in arms or legs, or signs of basilar skull fracture develop, immediate assessment in an emergency department is needed. Observation to monitor for worsening condition is an important part of treatment. People may be released after assessment from their primary care medical clinic, hospital, or emergency room to the care of a trusted person with instructions to return if they display worsening symptoms or those that might indicate an emergent condition ("red flag symptoms") such as change in consciousness, convulsions, severe headache, extremity weakness, vomiting, new bleeding or deafness in either or both ears. Education about symptoms, their management, and their normal time course, may lead to an improved outcome. Rest and return to physical and cognitive activity
Physical and cognitive rest is recommended for the first 24–48 hours following a concussion after which injured persons should gradually start gentle low-risk physical and cognitive activities that do not make current symptoms worse or bring on new symptoms. Any activity for which there is a risk of contact, falling, or bumping the head should be avoided. Low-risk activities can be started even while a person has symptoms, as long as the activity does not worsen existing symptoms or bring on new concussion symptoms. Resting for longer than 24–48 hours follow concussion has been shown to be associated with longer recovery.