fMRI

You have seen us blast the Australian Rules Football league on occasion for how they handle concussions, but you have also see us applaud the forward thinking of research coming from Down Under. Now there is a movement to subject players to a yearly brain scan exam in hopes of identifying problems;

Andrew Krakouer’s manager Peter Jess has written to the AFL seeking changes, as he stresses links between depression and continuing concussions in football.

The AFL research board has funded a study to see if elite players are more susceptible to cognitive disorders later in life due to concussions.

But Jess said the league must go further, and was frustrated with AFL doctor Hugh Seward’s assessment that there is no link between concussion and depression.

Jess said at least one brain scan — Continue reading →

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Last October, Purdue University released their first study on concussions and hits that high school players take in a season. The take-away message from that initial study was;

Purdue researchers who monitored the helmets of 21 Lafayette Jefferson High School players found that players may be damaging their brains even if they have not been diagnosed with a concussion.

Another year and another set of data brings the West Lafayette group (Evan Breedlove, Eric Nauman, Lenny Leverenz, Thomas Talavage, Jeffrey Gilger, Meghan Robinson, Katherine E. Morigaki, Umit Yoruk, Kyle O’Keefe, & Jeffrey King) – called the Purdue Neurotrauma Group – back into focus, now beginning to confirm their working hypothesis;

“The most important implication of the new findings is the suggestion that a concussion is not just the result of a single blow, but it’s really the totality of blows that took place over the season,” said Eric Nauman, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and an expert in central nervous system and musculoskeletal trauma. “The one hit that brought on the concussion is arguably the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Using the same techniques of; neurocognitive testing, functional MRI and helmet impact telemetry the Purdue group Continue reading →