NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- More than 130,000 young people suffer concussions while playing sports every year. Athletics are second only to car crashes as the leading cause of brain injury for 15- to 24-year-olds. Experts say many young athletes aren't taking concussions seriously and getting back to the game too soon can cause problems for the rest of their lives.

From the grid iron…to the ball field…to the soccer stadium. Athletes put their hearts, and sometimes their heads, into every move.

"The guy's forehead hit me right in my mouth, and I blacked out right away,"

Jonathan Weber told Ivanhoe. The 16-year-old soccer star suffered a concussion.

"I got headaches for a month or a month and a half after," Weber explained.

Before he was allowed back on the field, Weber had to go through two months of rest, rehab and monitoring. He thought it was overkill. Experts say it's necessary.

"If you can function, and you can remember your name and remember who's president, you're OK to go back to sport. That's just not the case anymore," Trent Nessler, P.T., D.P.T., M.P.T., managing director at Baptist Sports Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., told Ivanhoe.

Physical therapists spend weeks building up Weber's reflexes. They also work on balance. While staring at a disco ball, Weber has to focus on not falling. His heart rate is monitored weekly. He's not allowed on the field until he can get his heart rate up without headaches and nausea.

Studies show more than 40 percent of high school athletes return to action too soon after a concussion.

"Every time you have a concussion, you're more susceptible to another concussion," Nessler explained to Ivanhoe.

Returning too soon is also linked to depression, early dementia and, in rare cases, second impact syndrome where the brain swells causing respiratory failure.

Sitting on the sidelines wasn't fun, but Weber knows it will pay off even after his high school soccer days are done.

Last year in North Carolina, two high school football players died from second impact syndrome. They returned to play two days after suffering from a concussion.