It was in the clinics where she began to hear the girls’ stories.”Snedaker said she suffered her concussions in a series of accidents, but has been lucky not to develop permanent symptoms.She founded her nonprofit advocacy group PINK Concussions in 2013 in response to what she discovered was a lack of information and research on female concussions.“We need more data collection. Doctors agree more research is needed on any gender differences and whether women experience more severe symptoms or take longer to recover.”Snedaker has sought to keep a light shining on the need for more research, better medical care, and more community support for girls and women with concussions and other China din7981 brain injuries suffered through sports, military service, domestic violence and accidents. Many shared similar stories of not healing as fast as people thought they should, doctors minimising their conditions and feeling isolated while recovering at home, she said.“It’s adjusting attitudes,” she said.”Snedaker, Kerr and other advocates and doctors are optimistic about a million, three-year study being done by the NCAA and the department of defence.

Other sources of her concussions include a car accident in college, being hit by a lacrosse ball, hitting her head on a door frame and slamming her head against a wall while flopping onto a bed, she said. “What I wanted to do was educate the public. Preliminary results are expected to be released in late January.A major impetus to Snedaker’s activism has been hearing stories in support groups and in surveys from women and girls suffering from concussions.“These are all total screw-up accidents,” she said. She has organised several conferences that have brought together medical experts and military leaders she has met, done dozens of media interviews, and launched a website — Pink Concussions — to share information.Hartford, Connecticut: Katherine Snedaker says she has had 20 concussions, the first three decades ago from a car accident when she was 16.“There’s a lot we don’t know,” said Snedaker, 49, a licenCed clinical social worker who gave up her regular job to advocate full-time at her own expense.She went on to start support groups and educational websites, as well as co-found and work in concussion clinics. But it wasn’t until her son suffered a series of concussions in the sixth grade, around 2008, that she felt compelled to learn all she could about head injuries to help him recover.

“What totally got me were these women who were isolated and alone.Dr Brian Hainline, chief medical officer of the NCAA, said it also will be the largest-ever study of female concussions.”“Katherine has done a lot of great work as an activist,” said Dr Zachary Kerr, an assistant professor in exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina and former director of the NCAA’s injury surveillance programme. “It’s educating women.“There are all these different theories out there about why concussions are higher in women than in men, but we really don’t know why,” he said.“These girls had been cycled through the medical community and kind of spit out,” Snedaker said. She formed the group during a yearlong medical leave to treat breast cancer and while rebuilding her home, damaged by Superstorm Sandy.She has pledged to donate her brain to medical researchers when she dies.In March, Pink Concussions will hold its second annual international summit on female concussions and traumatic brain injuries; it will be hosted by the National Institutes of Health.We need more surveillance at all levels.

We need to get more information out there.Most research has focused on men, especially dozens of former football players who died from a degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions.During her journey of learning, she has become a nationally known advocate for better research, medical care, and support for girls and women with brain injuries, including concussions.Some studies show females suffer more concussions than males when playing similar sports. The results may lead to sports rule changes and international guidelines on prevention and treatment, he said.The study is billed as the largest ever of concussion in sports, involving more than 25,000 student athletes. Her son’s concussions, suffered in soccer, skateboarding and lacrosse, spurred her to research head injuries, contact experts and attend medical conferences.