University athletes with a recent concussion had changes in their brain structure and function even after they received medical clearance to return to play, a new study has found.
University athletes with a recent concussion had changes in their brain structure and function even after they received medical clearance to return to play, a new study has found.
In a study published today in Scientific Reports, researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital used advanced MRI to measure brain structure and function in 27 athletes within the first week after a concussion and again after they were medically cleared to return to play. They compared those findings to a group of 27 uninjured varsity athletes.
They found that brain changes seen in the first MRI scan were still present when athletes were cleared to return to play, including:
- Persistent differences in the structure of the brain’s white matter, the fibre tracts that allow different parts of the brain to communicate with each other
- Differences in brain activity, particularly in areas associated with vision and planning, with athletes that took longer to recover also showing changes in areas of the brain associated with bodily movement
Read more at St. Michael's Hospital
Image: Dr. Tom Schweizer, head of the Neuroscience Research Program and a co-author of the paper. (Credit: Courtesy of St. Michael's Hospital)
