This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2022
Please use the identifier:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127098 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/31313 in citations.
Repeated Sub-Concussive Impacts and the Negative Effects of Contact Sports on Cognition and Brain Integrity
Repeated Sub-Concussive Impacts and the Negative Effects of Contact Sports on Cognition and Brain Integrity
Sports are yielding a wealth of benefits for cardiovascular fitness, for psychological resilience, and for cognition. The amount of practice, and the type of practiced sports, are of importance to obtain these benefits and avoid any side effects. This is especially important in the context of contac...
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Personal Name(s): | Ntikas, Michail |
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Binkofski, Ferdinand / Shah, N. Jon / Ietswaart, Magdalena (Corresponding author) | |
Contributing Institute: |
Physik der Medizinischen Bildgebung; INM-4 Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance - Translational Brain Medicine; JARA-BRAIN Jara-Institut Quantum Information; INM-11 |
Published in: | International journal of environmental research and public health, 19 (2022) 12, S. 7098 - |
Imprint: |
Basel
MDPI AG
2022
|
DOI: |
10.3390/ijerph19127098 |
Document Type: |
Journal Article |
Research Program: |
Neuroimaging |
Link: |
OpenAccess |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Please use the identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/31313 in citations.
Sports are yielding a wealth of benefits for cardiovascular fitness, for psychological resilience, and for cognition. The amount of practice, and the type of practiced sports, are of importance to obtain these benefits and avoid any side effects. This is especially important in the context of contact sports. Contact sports are not only known to be a major source of injuries of the musculoskeletal apparatus, they are also significantly related to concussion and sub-concussion. Sub-concussive head impacts accumulate throughout the active sports career, and thus can cause measurable deficits and changes to brain health. Emerging research in the area of cumulative sub-concussions in contact sports has revealed several associated markers of brain injury. For example, recent studies discovered that repeated headers in soccer not only cause measurable signs of cognitive impairment but are also related to a prolonged cortical silent period in transcranial magnetic stimulation measurements. Other cognitive and neuroimaging biomarkers are also pointing to adverse effects of heading. A range of fluid biomarkers completes the picture of cumulating effects of sub-concussive impacts. Those accumulating effects can cause significant cognitive impairment later in life of active contact sportswomen and men. The aim of this review is to highlight the current scientific evidence on the effects of repeated sub-concussive head impacts on contact sports athletes’ brains, identify the areas in need of further investigation, highlight the potential of advanced neuroscientific methods, and comment on the steps governing bodies have made to address this issue. We conclude that there are indeed neural and biofluid markers that can help better understand the effects of repeated sub-concussive head impacts and that some aspects of contact sports should be redefined, especially in situations where sub-concussive impacts and concussions can be minimized |