Single Concussion Affects Athlete Brain Fitness & Reaction Time
Long-Term Brain Fitness Loss May Result From One Sports-Related Concussion!
Public outcry over media images of beloved athletes involved in sports-related head injuries showing obvious, increasing signs of declining brain fitness (especially world-renowned figures like Muhammad Ali) has grown to a fevered pitch over the past ten years. Medical and scientific communities have begun to look more rigorously into the issue despite signs of resistance from various sports agencies and lobbyists.
A recent report in Brain - a scientific journal - a Canadian research team from the University of Montreal (led by Louis De Beaumont) conducted a study involving athletes ranging in ages 50 to 65 who had played university level sports in years past, with just under half having sustained a concussion more than three decades prior, while the remainder reported having had no such injuries during their college playing days.
The results of numerous brain fitness tests measuring attention and memory along with question-based examinations revealed that the participants who reported having had a past concussion did not perform at the same level of those who received no concussion during their playing days. According to the findings, athletes with even a single concussion can display delayed reaction times, degraded memory, and weakened control over attention even as much as 30 years after the incident.
"This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age," Researchers propose, suggesting, "athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes so that they know about the risks associated with returning to their sport."
These study findings should also serve as a clear wake-up call to coaches, rehabilitation specialists, physical therapists, and mental health professionals working with athletes (in all sports and at all levels) that the neural damage caused by seemingly innocuous sports-related head injuries is not to be taken lightly. Parents of athletes who suffer head injuries should seek second opinions when confronted with any professional medical assessment that fails to treat the prospect of brain fitness declines with proper concern.
