Female Teen Athletes Burn Fewer Calories Than Males During Concussion Recovery

Understanding how physical activity patterns differ between sexes during injury recovery could inform more personalized rehabilitation approaches and optimize healing outcomes for young athletes.

Researchers studied 122 adolescent athletes (62 female, 60 male) within three weeks of sustaining a concussion. Participants wore wrist-mounted activity trackers for one week to monitor daily steps, caloric expenditure, and resting heart rate.

After adjusting for symptom severity, body mass index, and mental health history, female athletes burned 336 fewer calories per day compared to males. However, both sexes took similar numbers of steps daily and maintained comparable resting heart rates. Importantly, physical activity and energy expenditure increased progressively throughout the monitoring week for all participants, regardless of sex.

These findings highlight important metabolic differences between male and female adolescents during concussion recovery. The lower caloric expenditure in females, despite similar activity levels, suggests different energy utilization patterns that could influence nutritional needs and recovery timelines. The progressive increase in activity across both sexes likely reflects symptom improvement and gradual return to normal function.

For health optimization, this research underscores the importance of sex-specific approaches to post-injury nutrition and activity recommendations. However, the study was limited to adolescent athletes within 21 days of concussion, so findings may not apply to other age groups or injury types.