The NFL said in a report released Friday that 271 concussions were documented during the 2015 season, an increase of 65 from the previous season.
It is the highest number of reported concussions in an NFL season since 2012, when there were 261 reported.
The NFL revealed the statistics in its annual injury data report, which includes concussions from preseason and regular season practices and games.
NFL officials were encouraged last January when concussion data for 2014 revealed the fewest number of reported concussions since 2012. There were 206 concussions documented in 2014. NFL officials cited changes to in-game rules and practice schedules as a way to better deal with concussion problems.
Jeff Miller, the NFL senior vice president of health and safety policy, said on a conference call Friday that the league doesn’t know why concussions increased so rapidly in 2015.
According to the league’s report, there were 182 concussions sustained in regular-season games in 2015. Eight concussions from regular-season practices also were documented. There were 81 documented concussions during the 2015 preseason, including 52 in games.
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The data revealed that 92 of the 182 documented concussions during regular-season games were the result of another helmet, the highest number since 2012, when 91 concussions were caused by another helmet. Playing surface (29) and the shoulder (23) were the other top causes of concussions in 2015, according to the injury data.
There were 229 documented concussions in 2013, according to the NFL.
5:31 FootballLife after football: Ex-players talk about concussions 
Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that former Giants safety Tyler Sash, who died in September at the age of 27 from an accidental overdose of pain medications, was found to have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in people who experience repeated head trauma. According to the Times’ report, Sash’s condition had “advanced to a stage rarely seen in someone his age” and was similar to the results found in the brain of Junior Seau, who committed suicide in 2012 at age 43.
The NFL’s injury report also revealed 56 ACL sprains during the 2015 season, seven more than 2014. There were 170 MCL sprains in 2015, an increase of 31 from 2014.
The injury rate per game for Sunday and Monday was 6.6, which is less than 2014 (7.3). But the injury rate for Thursday games was 5.7, an increase from 2014 (4.8).
- Newsday