There has been a 41% increase in the number of adolescents presenting to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin with sports-related head injuries.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children has been hearing from a number of medical experts today about concussion or mild traumatic brain injury caused by sports injuries.
Professor John Ryan, a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, said a study looking at the number of the head injuries in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 sporting season has shown there has been a significant increase in the past year.
He said: "The biggest group that we've seen in the last year is adolescents, where we've seen a 41% increase."
Professor Michael Molloy, a Consultant Reumatologist at Cork University Hospital, told the committee that it can take between seven and ten days to recover from a concussion, and longer than that for children and adolescents.
He said children with concussion have to be treated different to adults because they are at a greater risk because frequently they bleed from the injury.
Prof Molloy said: “They have to be kept out of school, they shouldn't be allowed use their iPhones or play games on their phones. They have to evaluated slowly and they take longer to recover."
Professor Padraig Sheeran, Dean of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine at RCSI and RCPI, said there are currently no national guidelines at school level on dealing with sports injuries and concussions.
However, he said: "If we can have firm guidelines in the schools they will hopefully have a knock-on effect in the clubs."
Health experts said there is more awareness of concussion but more money must be spent on research to see if repeated concussions have long lasting effects on athletes.
