The Concussion Blog

Scott Livingston of the University of Kentucky may have found some information about concussions that we previously did not know/understand.

The physiological changes of the brain injury concussion may still be present even after all the standard symptoms have resolved.  Being published in the Journal of Clinical Neuropyhsiology in February Livingston used motor-evoked potentials (MEP) to track brain physiological response at the same time patients were self-reporting symptoms;

Subjects were evaluated for evidence of concussion based on self-reported symptoms, computerized neurocognitive test performance, and MEPs for a period of 10 days. Post-concussion symptoms were more frequent and greater in severity in the immediate timeframe after the injury (24-72 hours) and decreased in the following days. Some subjects reported no symptoms by day 10, though others did not have complete symptoms resolution by that time. Neurocognitive deficits followed a similar pattern, proving greater just after the injury and returning to normal (or closer to normal) by day 10.

MEPs, however, showed delays in response time and smaller MEP size which continued up to day 10, with these physiological changes actually increasing as the concussed athletes’ symptoms decreased and cognitive functioning improved.

Just like the Purdue study, there needs to be more subjects to test this on, however it does lead us in a direction previously unknown.