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Learning Center – Trusted sources

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Concussion Resources

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Heads Up: Hoja Informativa sobre la conmoción cerebral

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This Centers for Disease Control concussion clinical guidance provides healthcare providers with evidence-based recommendations and diagnostic tools for the effective diagnosis, prognosis, and management of mild traumatic brain injuries in pediatric patients.

This Centers for Disease Control post-concussion discharge handout provides parents and caregivers with a practical guide for managing a child’s concussion recovery, including how to monitor symptoms, follow a gradual four-step return to regular activities and school, and identify emergency warning signs.

This video interview features concussion expert Dr. Stanley Herring discussing the importance of balancing brain safety with the health benefits of physical activity 05:10, the role of collaborative care teams in pediatric recovery 45:38, and evidence-based strategies for managing a student’s safe return to school and play 48:53.

What Should I Know About Concussion? A one-page pamphlet summarizing the chances that your child will have a concussion, concussion symptoms, the potential long-term outcomes of a concussion, and a graduated return-to-play guide.

Concussion Recognition Tool 5 . A sideline tool to help parents, coaches and athletes recognize a concussion and know when a brain injury is an emergency.

The Centers for Disease Control HEADS UP website serves as a centralized hub for concussion safety, offering tailored educational resources, online training, and response guidance for families, schools, and medical professionals to help recognize and manage brain injuries. Resources include:

  • This handout details Rocket Blades, a free mobile game developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to teach concussion safety to children ages 6 to 8.
  • This CDC training portal offers audience-specific online courses designed to help healthcare providers, school professionals, and sports coaches recognize, respond to, and manage concussions in youth and high school athletes.
  • This CDC helmet safety page provides essential guidelines on the proper fit, maintenance, and certification of helmets to help prevent serious brain and head injuries across various sports and activities.

U.S. Soccer, Let’s Take Brain Injuries Out of Play. A one-page handout with concussion facts, including signs and symptoms and an explanation of the critical importance of reporting concussions.

Exercise & Health Resources

Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (Second Edition). This resource for health professionals and policy makers explains the benefits of physical activity, provides specific recommendations and offers guidance on how to help people incorporate physical activity into their regular routines. (U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)

The Physical Activity Alliance Youth Report Card page provides comprehensive biennial assessments that evaluate and grade physical activity levels and support systems for American children and youth, featuring links to full reports and summaries from 2014 through the most recent assessment.

How much physical activity do children need? This CDC overview page details physical activity recommendations for children, highlighting that preschoolers (ages 3–5) should be active throughout the day and older children (ages 6–17) require at least 60 minutes of daily activity.

The World Health Organization’s guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior provide a high-level summary of recommended physical activity levels and sedentary behavior limits across all age groups to improve global health outcomes.

Exercise Is Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine

Exercise & Health References. These scientific papers explore some of the research that informed The Sport Institute’s article “Movement, Play and Sports: What Are the Benefits?”

Female Athlete Resources

Exercise and Pregnancy

Exercise during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans contains a section on exercise recommendations during and after pregnancy. These include: doing 2 hour and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, preferably spread throughout the week; and for women who regularly engaged in vigorous activity before pregnancy, continuing these activities during pregnancy and the postpartum period. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

Blood Clot Risks and Prevention

Air Travel–Related Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism. One-page patient handout on factors that can increase the risk of blood clots during extended air travel, including sitting with bent knees for long periods without much activity. (Journal of the American Medical Association)

Ten Things People Should Know about Blood Clots. One-page handout on blood clots, including their symptoms, factors that increase the risk of having one, and blood thinners that can prevent and treat them. (American College of Sports Medicine)

Athlete Triad

The Athlete Triad is a syndrome consisting of three interrelated conditions that exist on a continuum of severity. It can affect both female and male athletes. The three components of the Triad include energy deficiency, reproductive suppression and bone health issues.

Food with Benefits. Two dietitian nutritionists explain how to gain a competitive edge with a “food-first” approach to fueling. (ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal)

Fueling for Fitness. Food and fluid recommendations for before, during, and after exercise. (ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal)

Female Athlete Issues for the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement—2017 Update. Written for team doctors, this summarizes the medical issues facing female athletes, including anterior cruciate ligament injuries, concussions, menstrual dysfunction, bone stress injuries, the female athlete triad and exercise before and during pregnancy.

2014 Female Athlete Triad Coalition Consensus Statement on Treatment and Return to Play of the Female Athlete Triad. Written for researchers and healthcare providers, this exhaustive document covers the research on the female athlete triad, including diagnosis and recommendations on treatment and return to play. (British Journal of Sports Medicine)

Injuries & Prevention Resources

General Injury Prevention 

FIFA 11+ Kids. A video-guided set of 7 warmup exercises designed to be fun, prevent injuries and teach young players effective movement patterns for playing soccer. Exercises are progressively more complex based on athletes’ age and ability.

Female Athlete Issues for the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement-2017 Update. A paper reflecting the recommendations of doctors from the American College of Sports Medicine and other major medical societies on medical issues especially pertinent to female athletes, including ACL tears, patellofemoral (knee) pain, bone stress injuries and more.

Overuse Injuries and Early Specialization

This two-page handout from STOP Sports Injuries explains how overuse injuries occur, risk factors for developing them, and how they can be treated and prevented. (American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine)

The American Academy of Pediatrics provides information for parents on sports specialization and overuse injuries in young athletes, including:

Youth basketball guidelines. These guidelines from the NBA and USA Basketball advise young athletes to postpone specialization in basketball until age 16 or later. They also provide recommendations on time to spend in organized practices and games each week, optimal hours of sleep per night, time off during the year and more.

Benefits of playing multiple sports. USA Baseball encourages players to participate in other sports, noting the additional opportunities to develop as an athlete and the risk of burnout and injury from early specialization.

Project Play parents’ checklists in English and Spanish for children ages 0-5 and 6-12. The checklist poses 10 questions parents should ask about sports programs for their children, and includes a scoring matrix for judging a program. (Aspen Institute)

Estimated probability of competing in college athletics. This table shows how many athletes compete in each sport played at the high school and NCAA levels, along with an estimate of the percentage of high school athletes going on to compete in the NCAA. (NCAA)

Ankle Sprains

Ankle Sprains in Youth. This one-page patient summary from JAMA Pediatrics provides a general overview explaining what an ankle sprain is, how to treat and rehabilitate one, and uncommon but serious situations when imaging may be helpful.

Ankle Sprain. This web page from the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society provides a high level of detail about the anatomy of the ankle, factors that increase the risk of an ankle sprain, and the diagnosis and graded rehabilitation of an ankle injury.

ACL Injury Prevention

FIFA 11+. A highly detailed 76-page booklet from the international soccer association FIFA describing the 15 exercises that comprise the FIFA 11+ program for prevention of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Developed by USA Lacrosse, LaxFit is a research-driven program designed to reduce injury risk while enhancing player performance at all levels of play. (US Lacrosse)

PEP. A brief document summarizing PEP (Prevent injury and Enhance Performance), a five-part ACL injury prevention program designed for teams to use three times per week. (Santa Monica Sports Medicine Research Foundation)

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Resources

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (video). A seven-minute course to prepare youth coaches and league administrators for an acute sudden cardiac arrest emergency (planning, recognition, screening and four steps to survival). USA Football developed the course, but the information is relevant to basketball, baseball and other sports in which sudden cardiac arrest can occur. The video features University of Washington and Seattle Seahawks team physician Jonathan A. Drezner, M.D.

American Heart Association

American Medical Society for Sports Medicine

National Athletic Trainers Association

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation

UW Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology