Three Hard Hits for Football Players' Heads.

This article presents suggestions for football players to avoid injuries. Concussion effects, recurrence, and time needed before return to play in football have garnered much interest, yet little evidence-based guidance has been published. The article assesses the relative risk of incurring a second cerebral concussion, the cumulative effects associated with recurrent concussions, and the acute effects and postconcussion recovery time. The study employed a random selection of high school and college football teams from each of the four geographic regions of the United States. The relative risk for patients who had a history of concussion was 5.8 times greater than for patients who lacked a history.