Helping solve the hidden concussion epidemic

Ronda Rousey, a former MMA fighter, tells her story of her life-long experience with concussions and lasting health impacts in a recent interview with The Guardian.

A study published in JAMA Network Open challenges the existing idea that early childhood concussion may have relatively benign effects and highlights that postconcussive symptoms can be relatively long-lasting.

In a study published in Sports Health, Master et al. found that the existence of pre-injury mental health diagnoses correlated with longer concussion recovery time and increased emotional symptoms.

A six-year study in the Journal of Neurotrauma explored the impact of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) on concussion recovery in adolescents and young adults.

A study conducted by Matthew Smith et al. and published in The Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine found that, in adolescent athletes, cooling therapy was associated with a significant decrease in post-concussion symptoms.

The journal Neurochemistry International recently published a review that details the role of mitochondria in traumatic brain injury (TBI).

In the 2023 Women’s World Cup, there was a new introduction to the state of play for the tournament: concussion spotters. Spotters are certified athletic trainers not tied to any specific team.

A study found that there was a small, not statistically relevant relationship between greater neck strength and a lower risk of sustaining a sports-related concussion in athletes.

A study found that athletes who used cannabis regularly had better eye focus ability and lower levels of brain inflammation compared to the non-cannabis group after repetitive subconcussive head impacts.

A study published in JAMA Network Neurology found that “repetitive heading during a professional soccer career is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment later in life” and self-reported dementias in retired male professional soccer players

A recent report by Memmini and colleagues identifies key principles of return-to-learn for college athletes to explore how non-athletes fare in the college classroom after a concussion.

In October 2023, Willie Stewart et al. published a paper in Acta Neuropathologica demonstrating an association between the development of CTE and the length of a person’s rugby career.

A study published in Biological Psychiatry

found that concussions may alter the trajectory of white matter maturation in female children and that this alteration may play a role in the onset of new depression and anxiety after concussion. 

Findings from a recent study in Nature Mental Health exploring the gut-brain-microbiota axis revealed that those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet experienced reduced PTSD symptoms,

In a recent study, Lily Li-Wen Wang et al. found that macrophage-adhering GLAMs can be used to identify the presence of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) that do not show up on standard MRI brain scans.

A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that in mice, memory loss after being subjected to a high frequency of mild head impacts was linked to a deficiency in synaptic plasticity rather than “a loss of neural infrastructure.” There is the possibility that “cognitive impairment caused by head impact” could be clinically reversed.

A study published in Sports Medicine showed the recovery trajectories for both sexes to be quite similar. However, the study authors note that females have a greater overall symptom burden during their recovery period.

The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published a study that found a significant correlation between children who sustain mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs/concussions) and risk of developing affective disorders (anxiety, depression, OCD, or adjustment disorders) and behavioral disorders (ADHD or Conduct Disorder) within four years post-injury.

On February 28, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing about traumatic brain injury from repeated blast exposure for U.S. service members. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the subpanel, led the two-hour hearing in which senators questioned experts. Senator Warren said, “We need to do better for our troops, and we need to do it right now.”

A recent study has found that acupuncture has a statisticcally significant effect on reducing symptoms of PTSD.

The Journal of Neurotrauma recently published a study comparing conventional rehabilitation to high-intensity training (HIT) in patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury. Compared to rehabilitation, high-intensity training participants showed better outcomes in the physical tests used to measure locomotive outcomes (6-min walk test and peak treadmill speed). There were also more improvements in aerobic capacity and cognitive functioning after HIT. 

A landmark study published in Nature Medicine found that ibogaine, an “atypical psychedelic” derived from the root bark of an African shrub, showed highly beneficial effects on emotional well-being and cognition in a group of Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans with chronic illness relating to their military careers and history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), primarily mild TBIs.

The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation dedicated its latest issue to chronic pain after TBI, featuring a series of ten papers. A press release by UW Medicine describes the team’s survey findings that about 60% of the 3,800 patients from the TBI cohort reported current or previous chronic pain.

There is a significant gap in knowledge and guidance on handling IPV-related injuries among medical providers. To address this gap, Canadian organizations have collaborated to develop a resource to aid healthcare professionals in understanding and managing these injuries effectively.

In Sex with a Brain Injury, On Concussion and Recovery, author Annie Liontas tells how their injuries have affected every area of their lives, including sex, marriage, work, and sense of self.

Concussion can alter heart function through an upset to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), part of the nervous system in charge of involuntary body processes, such as the heart beating, breathing, and digestion.

According to a news release by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, women are significantly more likely to experience depression following a concussion or other traumatic brain injury (TBI) when compared to men.

A recent study reported results on a handheld device, tested on a pig model, that can scan the retina of the eye to detect biochemical markers produced by the brain immediately after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).