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How Does ADHD Affect Athletes' Concussion Risk?
- July 22, 2026
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Athletes with ADHD face greater risk from concussions, a new evidence review has concluded.
They could be more than twice as likely to sustain a concussion, and tend to report more severe and longer-lasting symptoms afterward, researchers reported recently in the journal Clinical and Translational Neuroscience.
"Recognizing ADHD as a modifier can lead to more accurate diagnoses, better symptom interpretation and safer return-to-play decisions," said lead researcher Jeffrey Parr, an associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi.
"It also highlights the need for athletic trainers to be particularly aware of which athletes have an ADHD diagnosis,” he added in a news release.
ADHD affects 4% to 8% of young athletes, researchers said in background notes. As many as 300,000 high school students sustain at least one sports-related concussion each year.
For their new review, researchers analyzed results from prior studies looking at ADHD and how it might influence risk of concussions.
"Our purpose was to bring together high-quality peer-reviewed research into one singular review paper for clinicians, coaches and athletes and also see how much ADHD actually does affect the risk, the assessment and the recovery of concussion," senior researcher Corbit Franks said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor and clinical education coordinator for athletic training at the University of Mississippi.
"I've had ADHD my entire life and doing concussion testing wasn't really a thing when I was playing baseball and football while growing up in Tennessee," Franks said. "What we called back then, 'getting your bell rung,' I know now I had several concussions playing, but they were never assessed or diagnosed or anything else."
Parr said his interest in the subject was sparked after his stepson suffered a head injury.
"My stepson has ADHD, and I noticed several of the symptoms he dealt with on a daily basis overlapped with what we see in sport-related concussions," Parr said. "Then when he fell and hit his head, I realized how difficult it was to differentiate between his normal ADHD symptoms and what we would consider concussion-related symptoms."
Results showed that athletes with ADHD might be 1.6 to 2.5 times more likely to sustain a concussion, possibly due to impulsive or risk-taking behaviors.
They also were more likely to suffer from worse and prolonged concussion symptoms. In general, it takes athletes with ADHD four to six days longer to recover from a concussion.
ADHD athletes also were more likely to experience differences in pre-concussion brain testing that might make it tougher to diagnose and manage any concussions they might later suffer, researchers said.
Franks said he’s seen this last problem in real life while serving as an athletic trainer called upon to perform concussion tests.
"I would take the test just to make sure I understood what it entailed, to be able to explain it to coaches, parents and athletes, and I always struggled on those tests staying focused," Franks said.
"So when athletes would come in and they had ADHD, it helped me understand that taking this test for them on a computer is not going to look the same as the athlete that maintains their attention all the time."
Future research should explore why athletes with ADHD take longer to recover, researchers said.
"Return-to-learn strategies and return-to-play protocols may need to look completely different for that sector of individuals, rather than our traditional way we've all done things," Franks said.
"When you look at athletics in general, for the last several years, we've started to attempt to treat athletes more as individuals, whether that's through mental health, counseling, their nutritional strategies, their performance strategies, strength conditioning, so why are we not looking at concussions more as an individualized thing?" he said.
"With ADHD individuals, it pushes further this idea that just like with learning or anything else, we don't fall into the normal box,” Franks said. “So, we have to look at routes to implement different strategies for the diagnosis and the management of concussions and ADHD individuals."
More information
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has more on concussion in kids with ADHD.
SOURCE: University of Mississippi, news release, July 14, 2026
