Study reveals how concussions slow brain activity in high school football players

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FILE-High school football players work out during practice. (Photo by Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

Researchers released a study to show the impact of concussions on brain activity in high school football players.

Symptoms of concussions include cognitive disturbances, like difficulty with balancing, memory or concentration, according to the Radiological Society of North America, an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists.

Scientists gathered data for their report from 91 high school football players, including 10 who were diagnosed with a concussion. These players took part in the study before and after a season of playing.

Researchers also used magnetoencephalography (MEG), a neuroimaging technique that measures magnetic fields that the brain’s electric currents create.

Their evaluation of the football players was to understand brain rhythms and trauma, while pinpointing the effects of concussions of aperiodic activity.

Aperiodic activity is treated as "background noise" on brain scans, but recent studies emphasize that this background noise is significant in how the brain functions, according to the study.

Findings from the report also noted that high school football players who sustained concussions displayed slowed aperiodic activity.

Aperiodic slowing was strongly connected with worse post-concussion cognitive symptoms and test scores.

Moreover, slowed aperiodic activity was present in areas of the brain that contain chemicals linked with concussion symptoms like impaired concentration and memory.

Researchers explained in the report that young football players should take the necessary time to fully recover from a concussion before returning to any sport.

Findings from the study are being shared at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting.