Concussion
Episodes
In this clip, Dr. Peter Attia describes the potential use of lactate or beta-hydroxybutyrate in the treatment of traumatic brain injury.
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In this clip, Dr. Peter Attia describes the potential use of lactate or beta-hydroxybutyrate in the treatment of traumatic brain injury.
Topic Pages
News & Publications
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Tiny brain hemorrhages found in 17% of people who've had a concussion—increasing their risk for dementia. jamanetwork.com
“Seeing stars,” “getting your bell rung,” and “knocked for a loop” are everyday phrases often used to describe experiencing a concussion. However, these expressions can downplay that even a “mild” concussion is a traumatic brain injury with the potential for lasting, harmful effects, including dementia. A recent study found that 17% of people who have had a concussion have microbleeds—tiny hemorrhages—in their brains.
The study involved more than 600 middle-aged adults with normal cognitive function. Researchers asked the participants if they had ever experienced a concussion—defined as a blow to the head where they lost consciousness—then assessed their brain health using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Then, they gave the participants various cognitive tests and asked about their sleep, mood, and overall health.
They found that more than one-third of the participants had experienced a concussion. Of these, 17% had evidence of brain microbleeds, and the more concussions they experienced, the more microbleeds they had. Those who had experienced a concussion tended to have poorer sleep and more gait disturbances, depression symptoms, and memory deficits than those without a concussion.
Microbleeds are markers of cerebral small vessel disease—age-related blood vessel impairments in the brain. These impairments compromise the blood-brain barrier, contributing to the development of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and stroke.
These findings suggest that even mild concussions damage the brain, increasing a person’s risk of dementia. Other studies have demonstrated that mild concussions cause acute and chronic brain damage, and people who experience three or more concussions tend to exhibit cognitive deficits that worsen with each subsequent concussion.
We’ve covered small vessel disease in great detail: - Listen to researcher Dr. Axel Montagne describe the prevalence of this condition as a cause of dementia. - Read more about the condition in our overview article.
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Harmful effects of concussion are still present six months post-injury. medicalxpress.com
Press release:
The harmful effects of concussion on the brain can linger long after the initial injury, a new study shows. Nearly half of all people who experienced even a mild concussion exhibited altered brain connectivity and impaired emotional and cognitive function six months post-injury.
Researchers compared brain scans of 108 people who had experienced a mild concussion to those of 76 healthy people. They also assessed those who had had a concussion for persistent symptoms.
They found that 47 percent of the people with mild concussion were not fully recovered six months post-injury, demonstrated by hyperconnectivity in the thalamus – a region of the brain that relays sensory impulses from receptors in various parts of the body to the cerebral cortex. This hyperconnectivity was associated with impaired emotional and cognitive function.
A concussion is a disruption in normal brain function caused by an external mechanical force. Even mild concussions have been shown to elicit acute and chronic damage to the brain. Symptoms of concussion include depression, cognitive impairment, headaches, and fatigue, many of which are still present as late as six months post-injury. People who experience three or more concussions tend to exhibit cognitive deficits that worsen with each subsequent concussion.
These findings indicate that even mild concussions can have long-term deleterious effects on the brain. Evidence suggests that sulforaphane, a bioactive compound derived from broccoli, promotes recovery from concussion. Learn more in this clip featuring Dr. Rhonda Patrick.
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Three or more concussions may worsen brain function later in life. www.sciencedaily.com
Experiencing multiple concussions increases a person’s risk of poor brain function later in life, a new study shows. People who experienced three or more concussions exhibited cognitive deficits that worsened with each subsequent concussion.
Researchers collected self-reported concussion histories from more than 5,700 adults between 50 and 70 years old. They administered cognitive tests to gauge changes in the participants' brain function every year for up to four years.
They found that participants who experienced three mild concussions in their lifetime had difficulty with attention and performing complex tasks later in life. Participants who experienced four mild concussions had difficulty with processing speed and working memory – an aspect of cognitive function that allows a person to remember information for relevant tasks. However, experiencing even one moderate-to-severe concussion impaired the participants' attention and the ability to perform complex tasks and process information.
These findings underscore the risks associated with even mild brain injury. Some evidence suggests that lactate and ketones may be beneficial in treating brain injury. Learn more in this clip featuring Dr. Dominic D'Agostino.
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Aerobic exercise following concussion reduces risk of persistent symptoms by 48 percent in adolescents. www.sciencedaily.com
“Sport-related concussion is a public health problem, particularly in adolescents.
Male and female adolescent athletes (aged 13–18 years) presenting within 10 days of sport-related concussion were randomly assigned to individualized sub-symptom threshold aerobic or stretching exercise at least 20 min daily, for up to 4 weeks after injury.
On survival analysis, controlling for sex, site, and mean daily exercise time, patients assigned to aerobic exercise were more likely to recover within 4 weeks after injury compared with those assigned to stretching exercise, with a 48% reduced risk of persistent post-concussive symptoms (hazard ratio for stretching vs aerobic exercise of 0·52 [95% CI 0·28–0·97], p=0·039).
This multicenter study found that early treatment with sub-symptom threshold aerobic exercise safely speeds recovery from sport-related concussion and reduces the risk for persistent post-concussive symptoms, an important result given the impact of delayed recovery on adolescent quality of life."
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Traumatic brain injury disrupts the brain's waste removal system, allowing toxic proteins to accumulate in the brain. www.sciencedaily.com
From the article:
The new research focuses on the impact that traumatic brain injury has on the glymphatic system. It has been long observed that the protein tau plays an important role in the long-term damage sustained by the brain after a trauma. Tau helps stabilize the fibers, or axons, that nerve cells send out to communicate with their neighbors.
However, during trauma, large numbers of these proteins are shaken free from the axons to drift in the space between the brain’s cells. Once unmoored from nerve cells, these sticky proteins are attracted to each other and, over time, form increasingly larger “tangles” that can become toxic to brain function.
Under normal circumstances, the glymphatic system is able to clear stray tau from the brain. However, when the researchers studied the brains of mice with traumatic brain injury, they found that the trauma damaged the glymphatic system, specifically the ability of astrocytes – a support cell found in the brain – to regulate the cleaning process.