Does a concussion increase your risk of other sports injuries?

College athletes who return to sport after a concussion get hurt below the neck more often than teammates who never had one. A 2022 meta-analysis pooled five studies, 348 concussed and 482 control athletes, and found a 58 percent higher relative risk of lower extremity musculoskeletal injury (RR 1.58). The risk was front-loaded: in the first 90 days after return to play it more than doubled (RR 2.20), while at one year the increase was no longer statistically significant (see [1]). An earlier meta-analysis covering athletes at every level landed in the same place, with an incidence rate ratio of 1.67 and roughly twice the odds of a musculoskeletal injury after concussion (see [2]).

Why would a head injury show up as a sprained ankle or a torn knee ligament? The leading explanation is that symptoms clear, and standard sideline and clinic tests return to normal, before the brain's movement control has fully caught up. The review authors point to lingering deficits in visuospatial attention, slower reactions to things happening in peripheral vision, and altered gait under dual-task conditions. Athletes may also lean on conscious, top-down control of posture, which is enough to pass a quiet balance test but not enough when a defender cuts across the field of view (see [1]).

The timing data matter here. A 2025 lab study had 23 people with a concussion history and 23 without perform jump landings and cutting while counting backward by threes or sevens. The concussed group was, on average, about 45 months past the injury, and their history did not change any biomechanical, cognitive, or task-demand outcome. The authors suggested the deficits may simply have resolved by then (see [3]). That fits a picture of a vulnerable window, not a permanent mark. The caveats are real: the evidence is observational, samples are small, most pooled athletes were men, and prior leg injuries were not accounted for (see [1]).

I think in phases, and this research is a reminder that symptom-free and fully recovered are two different milestones. The meta-analysis authors argue return-to-play assessments may need harder, dual-task style challenges to catch what is left over (see [1]). It is also why a head injury belongs in your injury history alongside the knee and the ankle, which is part of what we cover in how an injury-aware workout app uses your history.

This is general information, not medical advice; talk to a qualified clinician about your own situation.