Traumatic brain injury in contact sports

• Main Author: Rios, Javier Salomon
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Neurosciences; Chronic traumatic encephalopathy; Diffuse axonal injury; Focal cortical contusions; Neurodegenerative disease; Sport concussions; Traumatic brain injury
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/14325

Traumatic brain injury is a topic that in recent years has received increased scrutiny by the media and is viewed as a cause for public health concern in athletes that are participating in contact sports. There has been an apparent rise in the reported number of traumatic brain injuries over the last decade possibly due to a number of factors such as an increase in enrollment of sports and suspected better understanding of brain injury in the sports world. Direct or indirect impact forces applied involving acceleration/deceleration and linear/angular forces primarily cause trauma to the brain. This insult results in evident diffuse axonal and focal injuries to varying degrees in brain tissue. The spectrum of pathophysiology in traumatic brain injury involves structural, neurochemical, metabolic, vascular, inflammatory, immunologic, and ultimately cell death, which plays a hand directly in the nonspecific presentation of symptoms reported by athletes as well as the progression of recovery. Traumatic brain injury is typically associated with short- and long-term sequelae, however, inducing repetitive episodes of trauma over a career, as may happen in sports, may lead to a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been known to affect boxers previously, but in recent years the attention has shifted and found this disease in athletes from other sports. The spectrum of disease in chronic traumatic encephalopathy involves a progressive tauopathy that spreads across different regions of the brain in a classified four staged grading system. Several risk factors have been identified in placing athletes at risk for traumatic brain episodes, however no risk factors have been directly linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Much information is lacking in a complete understanding of traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, therefore emphasizing the importance of further research and consistently improving modifications in the protocols for assessment, recognition, management, and return to play criteria for injured athletes. Furthermore, despite the gaps in knowledge, preventative measures should serve a particular role in reducing the incidence of detected traumatic brain injuries, which should include policy changes, sport rule changes, and especially changes to the accepted sports culture through mandatory education.