Avoid Concussions: EEG Study

Concussions are increasingly being recognized as a public health issue. Traumatic brain injuries, like concussions, have short and long term side effects. The long term effects of concussions are not fully known, however, it has been observed that multiple concussions have cumulative effects. (Kutcher et al., 2013). Understanding the effects of concussions on brain activity is key to developing assessments and preventing future injury. Current assessments rely on symptom inventories or other clinical measures that are lacking in accuracy. Athletes’ safety is at risk without subjective measures to diagnose and evaluate recovery from a concussion. With further research, brain imaging techniques like EEG could be used to evaluate concussions

EEG has previously been used to measure frontal lobe dysfunction, and EEG studies have linked brain wave abnormalities in the frontal lobe to depression (Thibodeau, Jorgenson, & Kim, 2006). These findings indicate that the depression experienced post-concussion could be linked to the frontal lobe. More importantly, EEG could potentially measure the frontal lobe dysfunction caused by concussions. One study proposed EEG could be used to identify players at risk for future concussions by examining differences in healthy athletes and previously concussed athletes’ brain activity. This study had a small sample of 42 athletes and did not report the time since concussion in their findings. However, they did find significant attenuation of previously concussed players’ brain activity in multiple parts of the frontal lobe including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus (Virji-Babul et al., 2014). These findings indicate that EEG is able to measure frontal lobe abnormalities between concussed and non-concussed individuals, however, more research is needed involving the changes concussions have on the frontal

The study on retired football players previously mentioned provides evidence that there could be cumulative effects of concussions on the frontal lobe. EEG’s ability to measure frontal lobe abnormality could be used as an assessment tool for identifying players that are suffering from the effects of repeated concussions. This is important for maintaining the health of people who choose to participate in high impact sports. Understanding the repeated effects of concussions and potentially being able to measure them could provide players with an opportunity to make an informed decision about continuing their athletic