It’s Not Just Concussions

Joseph Stromberg observes that one “reason many doctors are especially concerned about the risks of playing football is the mounting evidence that mild, routine hits — which present no immediate symptoms and are generally categorized as sub-­concussions, rather than concussions — might lead to [chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)] as well.” He highlights a new study that supports this theory:

In it, doctors studied 25 college football players who’d previously suffered concussions, 25 who’d never been diagnosed with concussions, and 25 non-football participants of similar ages. Using MRI scans, they looked at the sizes of each person’s hippocampus — a brain region heavily involved in memory. This is important because people with CTE often have dramatically shrunken hippocampi by the time they’re diagnosed.

They found that previously concussed players had smaller hippocampi than non-concussed players — but, disturbingly, both groups had smaller hippocampi than the non-players. Within both groups, the more years of playing time a player had, the smaller his hippocampus.