New research shows that concussions leave behind damage even months after their initial symptoms have passed.
A study published in the journal Neurology analyzed 100 participants, half of who experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and half who hadn’t. As expected, the study showed symptoms of decreased memory, thinking skills, headaches, dizziness, and even depression in participants who had suffered a TBI. However, after four months of testing, the results showed that participants who experienced a TBI showed even more evidence of abnormalities in the gray matter of their brains, according to Medical News Today. One scientist explained that the body handles TBIs much like burns; symptoms, such as pain, decrease long before the injury is actually healed.
Many athletes across all playing fields are told to sit out a week or ten days after a TBI. “After a head injury, they're back on the field once they can count backwards from ten," John Hardy, a professor at University College of London, told BBC News. "I think there's much too relaxed an attitude to head injury; we need to minimize the occurrence and when it happens it needs to be taken seriously and have the proper time off no matter how long it takes."
“After the Crash” in Outside’s December issue dives deep into the topic of head injuries in adventure sports.