Hidden Brain Injuries: High School Football Players May Suffer Significant Brain Impairment Even When Injury Isn’t Obvious.

High school students use sports as a way to get into college and make a future for themselves. But, one study has found that high school football can cause permanent brain injury, even in players that do not appear to be injured. Could the very activity that’s supposed to be opening doors be closing them instead?

The symptoms of concussions are a sign of brain injury. When football players suffer a concussion, they are taken out of the game and benched until symptoms are gone. However, researchers at Purdue University have found that some high school football players can have measurable neurological impairment without ever suffering a concussion. In fact, many high school football players who suffer frequent hits to the head show as much or more neurological damage than players who have suffer concussions. The research was reported in this month’s Journal of Neurotrauma.

The researchers conducted neurocognitive testing on 21 high school football playersusing the ImPACT concussion screening tool and functional MRI scans. The initial screening was done before the start of the 2009 season. During the season, the players wore sensors in their helmets that indicated the direction and intensity of any impact to the head during practice or games.

Eleven of the twenty-one players were selected for further in-season and post-season assessments because they had either suffered a concussion, had an unusually high number of hits to the head, or had a particularly strong hit to the head. Three of the players had sustained a concussion; eight had not.

Based on past studies, it was expected that the football players who sustained concussions would have significantly lower neurocognitive performance after their injuries compared with baseline values. This was shown to be true. These injured football players also had impairments in the regions of the brain known as the posterior middle and the superior temporal gyri. These areas of the brain are associated with a variety of processes including contemplating distance, recognition of known faces, and accessing word meaning while reading.

Four of the remaining eight players did show any impairments on neurocognitive testing and fMRI scans. However, the other four showed a significant reduction in their scores, as well as decreased activation levels in the areas of the brain associated with working memory. The impairments were at least as severe as those in the players who suffered concussions, and in some cases worse. These players had sustained a significantly greater amount of hits to their head than the other players during the football season.

Norfolk personal injury attorney Lawrence Land has represented victims of brain injury in Virginia for over 33 years. He understands the special needs and challenges that face those who have experiences traumatic brain injury as they recover and learn to live with their disability. If your loved one has sustained a traumatic brain injury, contact Lawrence Land today for a free consultation at (757) 251-0198.

To learn about the rights of injury victims, download a free copy of Lawrence’s book “5 Deadly Sins that Can Destroy Your Injury Claim.”