This week in neurochemistry, we talked about the topic of concussions. I had not known a lot about concussions before the week, but I knew that it was caused by some kind of blow to the head. From what I knew, a concussion was just associated with headaches, sensitivity to light, and a few other symptoms along those lines. What I did not realize was the long term effects that these concussions can have on the brain.
Going to high school in Minnesota, we had the impact test when someone was suspected to be the victim of a concussion. We would take a baseline test in the beginning of the season to provide as a comparison if we needed to take the test again to see if we had a concussion. This test was good and all, but many athletes would try to manipulate the test to make sure that they could return to sports as soon as possible. So the test was good for those who took it seriously, but not for those that didn’t. For those who didn’t take it seriously, they would often be allowed to return back to sports quickly because they really wanted to play in that big game. At the time it probably sounded like a good deal to them, but if they knew the effects concussions were having on their brain, they may have used their brain and thought twice.
This is where the long term effects of concussions come into play. Concussions can be related to short term problems like headaches, sensitivity to light, and other physical immediate symptoms, but they can also have long term effects on the brain. When you get a concussion, the brain has basically been rattled in the head. This can cause damage to parts of the brain that will die and cause the brain to be off, making other parts of the brain compensate for the part that was damaged. This can effect the development of the brain in those of the younger population, and contribute to the brain being more susceptible to a second concussion.
This is where second impact syndrome comes into play. If an athlete returns to sports too quickly after a concussion, they can run the risk of second impact syndrome. This is where the brain hasn’t recovered after a blow to the head, and when another blow to the head takes place the effects are amplified. One often gets inflammation of the brain, which can lead to death in many cases. This is the reason high school sports are often the focus of concussion talk. These athletes are often returned to game play without having the proper amount of time to recover. It is difficult to measure how long it takes the brain to recover because the long term effects it is having on the brain are hard to detect. So instead of keeping athletes out for a long time, they are allowed to return to play once their short term symptoms are cleared up, and they then run the risk of second impact syndrome, or are more susceptible to another concussion.
Overall, we still have a lot to learn about concussions. We don’t know exactly how these concussions are effecting the brain and how to measure all of the effects precisely. These creates a problem in the case of second impact syndrome because athletes want to return to play, but its hard to determine when exactly they should. Due to this they are often allowed to return to early. Hopefully as time progresses, more methods for analyzing concussions will be developed to give us more insight on how to measure these concussions and when to allow athletes to return to play.
Concussions: Do we really know enough?
