AKRON, Ohio — Sarah Meeker is on the wrestling team at Firestone High School in Akron.

What You Need To Know

  • Concussions can be compared to having a bad cellphone battery; one doctor said a patient's brain tires out easily and needs rest in order to work at full capacity

  • Eighty percent of people with concussions recover within a couple weeks, but about 15% continue to have symptoms for weeks or months

  • Concussion symptoms include headache, confusion, lack of coordination, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, ringing in the ears, sleepiness and excessive fatigue

She wears headgear to prevent cauliflower ear, but no gear could have prevented the concussion she got late last year.

“I was wrestling our senior wrestler, and we hit heads,” Meeker said.

She described dizziness, nausea, headache and light sensitivity.

Meeker was prescribed brain rest, which meant refraining from strenuous activity and mental tasks.

Doctors have long prescribed rest for concussion, but a recent study on teens showed that adding cooling therapy shortly after injury helped reduce concussion symptoms.

The study looked at 167 patients between the ages of 12-19, with an average age of 15.

There is a list of 22 symptoms. The most common include headache, confusion, sleepiness and light sensitivity, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Eighty percent of people with concussions recover within a couple weeks, but approximately 15% continue to have symptoms for weeks or months.

There was a 25% improvement in people who had their brain cooled, according to Dr. Joseph Congeni, Director of Sports Medicine at Akron Children’s Hospital, who led the study.

The study involved wearing headgear with straps. The straps cool the vascular structures, like the carotid artery and the jugular, as the blood travels in and out of the brain.

Although football takes the blame for a lot of head injuries, he said it’s not just contact sports that can cause concussions.

“A lot of people think it’s direct head-to-head blow, but actually what we see a lot of is the body shot, whiplash, snap back or rotation. In fact, those are some that cause the worst concussions,” Congeni said.

Meeker was cleared to go back to her usual routine after seven weeks.

She was more afraid to reopen a cut she got above her eye while wrestling than she was about the concussion.

“I was worried about busting my head open again,” Meeker said with a laugh.