Repeated Head Impacts (RHI)

“Much attention has been given to the effect of concussion have on football players, but even seemingly minor head impacts may be troublesome. A group of scientists found that repetitive, sub-concussive head impacts can impair cognitive brain function in youth football players.”

“‘Right now, all we know is that the brain is changing,’ says Davenport — and not in a good way. That correlation, she says, ‘tells us that just hitting your head, even without a concussion, can cause changes.’ She and others don’t know what the long-term effects of those white-matter changes might be.”

“The results showed sensitivity to impairments in players who did not have an official concussion diagnosis. That is, players who had low-magnitude impacts may not have noticed them and they may not have been noticed by coaches or other observers. These caused what the scientists called subconcussive changes and they were found to be significantly correlated with the number of head impacts over the season across both age groups.”

“In recent years, an increasing number of athletes, current and retired, in sliding sports, especially bobsled and skeleton, have said they battle chronic headaches, a heightened sensitivity to bright lights and loud noises, forgetfulness and psychological problems.”

“Scientists have long believed that a single traumatic brain injury (TBI) earlier in life may contribute to problems with memory, thinking and depression later in life. In most previous studies, however, research failed to examine the possible role of having a history of exposure to repetitive head impacts, including those leading to “subconcussive” injuries, in these later-life problems. In the largest study of its kind, an association has been found in living patients exposed to repetitive head impacts and difficulties with cognitive functioning and depression years or decades later.”

“Even with no concussions, the repetitive impacts experienced by the rugby players clearly had effects on the brain. More research is needed to understand what these changes may mean and to what extent they reflect how the brain compensates for the injuries, repairs itself or degenerates so we can better understand the long-term health effects of playing a contact sport.”

“In this cohort study of 13912 National Football League players, a 25% increase in reptitive head impacts during a professional football career was associated with a statistically significant increase in the hazard ratio of death.”

“The danger isn’t limited to the largest and fastest people. In fact, smaller repeated hits — as opposed to spectacular collisions — are the real danger. Researchers at Boston University and Carnegie Mellon and elsewhere focus on C.T.E. as the greatest threat and insist the culprit is not the concussion — as terrible as that injury can be. Rather, it’s thousands of cumulative hits over many years. So yes, taking a freight train hit from a pro linebacker is dangerous — but being repeatedly whacked and knocked to the ground thousands of times by players in Pop Warner, middle school and high school puts you at more risk for C.T.E.”

“A growing body of research has linked heading the ball in soccer to the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), caused by repetitive impacts to the brain.”

“A study published online Thursday in Brain, a journal of neurology, presents the strongest case yet that repetitive hits to the head that don’t lead to concussions —meaning no loss of consciousness or other symptoms that can include headaches, dizziness, vision problems or confusion — cause CTE.”