Childhood Sports Injuries May Affect Brain Function

Are your children active in sports? Researchers uncover disturbing findings about the influence of children sport injuries to brain function.

According to a study published in Science Direct, two years following sports concussions may affect their brain function to children. Millions of brain injuries in sports are treated every year in the United States. However, the link between this injuries and brain functions remains unclear.

The research study, which was led by Charles Hillman from the University of Illinois, had included 30 children, ranging from ages 8 to 10 years old. 15 out of 30 children had experienced brain injury for the last 2 years. The study is only limited to children who were actively involved in sports.

Executive control tasks for memory, attention and impulse control were given to the young participants. While completing these activities, their brain activities were also monitored. Event-related potentials (EKR) were also put into test. The outcome of the study gave  compelling evidence to support the link between head injury and brain function.

As written in the publication, the researchers found that children who have history of sports-related concussion show problems in attention, working memory, impulse control and ERP. Children who have experience one sport-related concussion show "subtle" deficits in brain function. However, the researchers noted that these injuries may be "pervasive".

"Our data indicate that children who sustain a concussion demonstrate deficits in brain function and cognitive performance approximately two years after injury, relative to others their age who do not have a history of mild traumatic brain injury," Hillman said, according to the Illinois News Bureau.

Another related study published at Brainline also supports its association to brain function. In the research, traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children can influence their cognitive area. Similar to the study by Hillman and his co-researchers, problems in attention, staying on task and sequence prediction was noted.

The findings have given an opportunity to better understand the aftermath of a brain injury, Hillman says. Due to these, the researchers have recommended an immediate intervention following a concussion. This way, it could help improve the child's brain health after the injury.

"These data are an important first step toward understanding sustained changes in brain function and cognition that occur following childhood concussion," Hillman said. "Our study suggests the need to find ways to improve cognitive and brain health following a head injury, in an effort to improve lifelong brain health and effective functioning."