Based on the Purdue Study and the new issue of Sports Illustrated, LA Time reporter Melissa Healy brings much-needed attention to this issue to a broader population.
The players sustaining those blows rarely satisfied the medical criteria for diagnosing a concussion. But the researchers found that as the season wore on, several players were suffering measurable declines in their working memory and in visual memory — both cognitive skills key to learning. And the ones who appeared most affected were not the ones who took the hardest and most flagrant hits but the ones who took the greatest number of milder hits. Their research is expected to be published soon in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
As we previously commented this area of head trauma will need further research. In the sport of football the equipment can have a big impact in helping decline this issue. Visit your local news stands for the Sports Illustrated edition devoted to concussions.
The Concussion Blog 