Youth football accounts for nearly one in five sports-related brain injuries

Youth football accounts for the largest share of sports‑related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and young adults, nearly one in every five TBIs, according to a preliminary study released March 4, 2026, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 78^th Annual Meeting taking place April 18-22, 2026, in Chicago and online.

Youth sports and activities included in the study, in addition to football, were soccer, basketball, cycling, skiing, snowboarding, running, baseball, hiking, roller skating, skateboarding, wrestling, cheerleading, ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey and volleyball.

Traumatic brain injuries from sports are a common, yet preventable, source of long-term neurological and psychiatric issues in children and young adults. Our study found that nearly one in five of these injuries occurred in youth football, with these athletes also experiencing more repeat brain injuries than youth in other sports."

Steven Wolf, MD, study author of Boston Children's Health Physicians in Hawthorne, New York, and member of the American Academy of Neurology

For the study, researchers reviewed a health records database to identify 72,025 children and young adults, age 25 or younger, who had experienced their first sports‑ or recreation‑related TBI. Average age at injury was 14 years, and 32% of cases occurred in girls.

Researchers found that football accounted for 19% of all activity‑related TBIs, with soccer being the second highest accounting for 11% of TBIs, basketball accounting for 10%, and cycling accounting for 7%.

Each athlete with TBI was matched to an athlete of the same age and sex who had experienced a lower‑leg fracture during similar activities but had no history of TBI.

Researchers found that repeat TBIs were common, occurring in 37% of football injuries compared to 32% across all sports.

After adjusting for age and sex, researchers found among those who played football, those with TBI had a 23% higher risk of chronic headaches compared to those without TBI, as well as a 5% higher risk of visual impairment, a 5% higher risk of anxiety, a 3% higher risk of depression and a 1% higher risk of substance use disorders. Visual impairment included double vision, decreased ability to see and in rare cases, complete blindness.

When looking at timing, researchers found that TBIs at younger ages were associated with developmental and mood disorders, while TBIs at older ages were associated with substance use disorders.

"Our findings highlight youth football as a critical public health priority, suggesting that brain injuries sustained during key stages of development may reshape health later," said Wolf. "Prioritizing safety standards like delaying tackle football participation and finding ways to limit repeat injuries could help better protect developing brains."

A limitation of the study is that clinical data was used, making it difficult to figure out the cause of a TBI since the majority of TBIs are recorded without a cause. This may have influenced how researchers attributed TBIs to particular activities.