Football is a violent sport and despite rule changes and new equipment to better protect players, serious injuries can still occur. In particular, new protocols seek to protect players from head injuries.
A groundbreaking study has revealed that concussions in high school football players significantly impact a previously overlooked brain signal, known as aperiodic neurophysiology.
The findings, set to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), shed new light on the effects of concussions on brain function and could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment strategies.
Resulting cognitive issues
Concussions, a common risk in high school football, often result in cognitive issues such as difficulties with balance, memory, and concentration.
Traditionally, concussion research has focused on periodic brain signals, which appear in rhythmic patterns and are crucial for functions like attention and sensory processing. However, this new study, led by Kevin C. Yu, a neuroscience student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, shifts the focus to aperiodic neurophysiology—brain signals that do not follow rhythmic patterns.
Aperiodic activity, often dismissed as “background noise” in brain scans, is now recognized as playing a vital role in brain function.
"While it's often overlooked, aperiodic activity is important because it reflects brain cortical excitability," said Dr. Christopher T. Whitlow, the study's senior author and a distinguished professor at Wake Forest University.
Cortical excitability is essential for cognitive functions such as learning, memory, and decision-making.
What the research found
The research team collected pre- and post-season magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 91 high school football players, including 10 who were diagnosed with concussions. MEG is a neuroimaging technique that measures the magnetic fields produced by the brain's electrical currents. The study utilized the Post-Concussive Symptom Inventory to correlate physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms with the MEG data.
The results showed that players who sustained concussions exhibited slowed aperiodic activity, which was strongly associated with worse cognitive symptoms and test scores post-concussion. This slowing was particularly evident in brain areas linked to chemicals associated with symptoms like impaired concentration and memory.
"This study is important because it provides insight into both the mechanisms and the clinical implications of concussion in the maturing adolescent brain," noted co-lead author Dr. Alex Wiesman from Simon Fraser University.
Wiesman said the findings emphasize the need for protective measures in contact sports and highlight the importance of allowing young athletes ample time to recover from concussions.