TBI

A study which followed 20 members of a youth football team in New Jersey found that wearing padded helmets and using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly cut the chance of head injuries and concussion.

Players wore helmets equipped with a system that tracked the number and severity of impacts that each player sustained during their 20-practice, seven-game season. A tackling coach taught players and coaches safe methods for blocking, defeating blocks, and tackling that reduced head contact for both offensive and defensive players.

In a study involving 594 patients with sports-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), only 45% had made a clinical recovery (had no more symptoms) after 14 days. The finding challenges current belief that most people with a sports-related mTBI recover within 10 to 14 days

A randomized clinical trial involving 103 teenage athletes who sustained concussions while playing sports found that those who underwent a supervised, aerobic exercise program took significantly less time to recover compared to those who instead engaged in mild stretching.

New method finds undetected brain impairments in ice hockey players with and without diagnosed concussions

The American Academy of Pediatric now supports children and teens engaging in light physical activity and returning to school as they recover. It also now advises against complete removal of electronic devices, such as television, computers and smartphones, following a concussion.

"We've learned that keeping kids in dark rooms and eliminating all cognitive and physical activity actually worsened a lot of kids' symptoms rather than improving them."

Can stronger necks reduce concussion risk & severity?

A review of research on the role that the neck’s strength, size, and posture play in reducing concussion risk has concluded that neck strength, size, and posture may reduce risk by lessening the magnitude of force upon impact. It’s suggested that exercises that increase neck strength and possibly size could substantially reduce risk or severity of injury.

A review of nearly 2.8 million patient cases in Denmark found that the risk of dementia in individuals with a history of TBI was 24% higher than those without a history of TBI, after accounting for other risk factors.

Risk was greater when the TBI was characterized as "severe" — 35% compared to an increased risk of 17% for a single "mild" TBI or concussion.

Moreover, dementia risk increased 33% higher for two or three TBIs, 61% higher for four TBIs, and 183% higher for five or more TBIs.

A study showing that a certain type of instructor-led brain training protocol can stimulate structural changes in the brain and neural connections even years after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) challenges the widely held belief that recovery from a TBI is limited to two years after an injury.

The study included 60 adults with TBI symptoms lasting an average of eight years. Participants were randomly placed into one of two cognitive training groups:

Key points that are new in the 5th International Consensus statement on concussion in sport:

A small study involving 71 adults who struggled with persistent cognitive difficulties after suffering a traumatic brain injury at least four months before has compared two cognitive training programs with and without drug therapy.

The two six-week programs were