Sports-Related Concussions & Subconcussive Injuries

There is good news and bad news in a first-of-its-kind study about implementation of the nation's first youth sports concussion safety legislation. The good news is that nearly all football and soccer coaches at public high schools in Washington State have completed the required concussion education, are generally knowledgeable about concussions, and are comfortable in deciding when to refer players for additional evaluation for a suspected concussion. The bad news is that concussion education of athletes and parents was much less extensive.

A simple vision test performed on the sports sidelines was able to identify nearly 8 out of 10 athletes later found to have suffered a concussion, and when test results were combined with tests for cognition and balance, allowed identification of concussed athletes with 100% accuracy, according to researchers at New York University.

A 2014 study (Rowson S, Duma S, et al 2014) reporting that football helmet design can reduce concussion risk has prompted criticism from some of the football helmet manufacturers whose helmets were not involved in the study. In the interest of accurate and complete reporting on the study, set out below is the full text of an email dated February 10, 2014 from Rob Erb, Chief Executive Officer of Schutt Helmets.

In an effort to reduce contact above the shoulders and lessen the risk of head and neck injuries in football, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has revised the rules governing high school football for the 2014 season to add definitions of "targeting" and "defenseless player." 

A 2014 study (Rowson S, Duma SM, et al 2014) reporting that football helmet design can reduce concussion risk raises more questions than it answers, says Mike Oliver, Executive Director of the National Operating Committee Standards and Equipment (NOCSAE), the non-profit group that sets standards for football helmets.

Concussions result in microscopic white matter and inflammatory changes to the brain, say three new studies published in the Journal of Neurosurgery. The studies add to a growing body of research suggesting that concussion can no longer be thought of as a transient injury resulting in a temporary disruption of brain function, but results in structural and electrophysiological changes which persist long after the injury occurs.

A new study provides the first good clinical evidence that helmet design can lower the risk of concussion in games and practices but leaves unanswered the practical question faced by football parents, coaches, and administrators: whether a difference in concussion risk reduction exists between currently available helmet models incorporating the latest design features.

A 2014 study has found that the risk of sustaining a concussion for players wearing a helmet with a newer design was 46.1% lower than for players wearing a helmet with a 20-year-old design. To find out more about the study and its implications, MomsTEAM's Senior Health and Safety Editor Lindsay Barton conducted an interview via email with one of the lead authors, Stefan Duma, PhD, head of the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering. Here is what she reported.

Using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), researchers have identified microstructural changes in the brains of male and female college-level ice hockey players that could be due to concussive or subconcussive trauma.