How Sports-Related Concussions Affect Professional Athletes Playing Time: A Comparative Study

This study aims to examine how sport-related concussions (SRCs) affect the playing time of professional ice hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL) following an SRC, by comparing their post-injury return to play with that of pro athletes in the National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2023-2024 season. By using quantitative statistical analysis to analyze secondary data, different numerical angles are provided by examining the relationship between an SRC and playing time across three high-contact professional sports. Through this study, it was found that players in the NHL’s sample had a playing time decrease following an SRC of 2.7%, players in the NBA’s sample had an increased playing time post SRC of 3.9%, and players in the NFL’s sample had a playing time increase post-SRC of 30.2%. In summary, only players in the NHL demonstrated a decline in playing time. It was concluded that the extent to which players in the NHL’s playing time changes in contrast to players in the NBA is minimal with a 6.6% difference. Also, the extent to which players in the NHL’s playing time changed in comparison to players in the NFL was more notable, with a 32.9% difference. The strength of these sports concussion protocols is also highlighted by the results found in this study. These results imply that the NFL’s concussion protocol may be the most effective out of the three at rehabilitating their players back to full playing abilities.