Introduction

Concussions are a specific type of athletic injury that have become recognized as a serious injury in a variety of sports. Documentaries and films such as Concussion, which depicted Dr. Bennett Omalu’s discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy among deceased former professional football athletes, along with increased media coverage of high-profile athletes with severe concussions, have also increased the public’s awareness of this injury. A concussion is defined as a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that results from biomechanical forces transmitted via a direct or indirect blow to the face, head, or elsewhere on the body. On the spectrum of TBI, concussions are considered “mild” because they are closed head injuries that are typically not life-threatening. The majority of sport-related concussions occur as a result of participating in contact or collision sports like American football, rugby, and ice hockey. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.