“What if the concussions were more serious than you think?”, That’s the question Le Figaro in an article relaying a recent study entitled “Acute and subacute changes in neuronal activation during recovery from sports-related concussion”.
In France, each year, the emergency services of French hospitals receive more than 100,000 people victims of head trauma, 90% of which are considered light. But “light does not mean benign,” recalls the Institute of Health and Medical Research. It is for this reason that American researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Cleveland Clinic conducted tests on twelve student American football players who had suffered concussions.
In their study, published by the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, scientists say they gave athletes an MRI during attention tests and memory within thirteen hours of the accident. Seven weeks later, when the players had no symptoms for more than a month, the researchers repeated the experiment.
Professor Stephen Rao, co-author of the study, told the Figaro that “by comparing the examinations at these two times, we have a better understanding of the flexibility of the mechanisms that the brain uses to adapt and compensate during the period of transition between the initial phase and the convalescence phase.” Because by analyzing the test results, the researchers found an increase in cortical activity (hyperactivation) at the seventh week, which means that “people who have been concussed will show less mental stamina and tire more quickly during prolonged stress during this recovery period, ”the study authors explain.
Be careful not to resume sport too quickly after having suffered a trauma, whether severe or light.