Brain Injuries with Young Athletes

Thanks to Linda Sanet, COVT, for bringing this article to our attention.

“When researchers looked at the electrical activity of the students’ brains, they found that the concussed athletes showed noticeably less activity in portions of the brain associated with attention. ‘‘They had suppressed attentional resources,’’ said Steven Broglio, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois. He and his colleagues speculated that, as a result, the injured athletes most likely were devoting a greater percentage of their total mental reserves to each task than the uninjured athletes in order to achieve similar intellectual results. The effort wasn’t obvious. ‘‘These were high-performing college students,” Mr. Broglio said. ‘‘They were succeeding in school.’’ But it raises the question of ‘‘what this might mean down the line,’’ he continued. ‘‘All of us start with an inborn mental reserve and then lose some of our mental resources with age.’’ Do concussions, by quietly stealing a portion of that reserve, ‘‘accelerate the process? We don’t know. But it’s worth thinking about.’’

to read the full article, Phys Ed.

Remember, 70-80% of patients with brain injury also have visual consequences!  Vision therapy can be an effective treatment to improve overall performance.