{"id":64941,"date":"2017-11-30T15:19:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T21:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=64941"},"modified":"2017-11-30T15:19:39","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T21:19:39","slug":"the-concussion-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-concussion-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Concussion Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers are still perplexed as to the effects of concussions on female athletes. But a Northwestern duo believes accounting for the menstrual cycle could be the key.<\/h3>\n

By Brittany Callan<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

For rugby player Brittany O\u2019Dell, it took a Will Smith movie to scare her into taking sports injuries seriously.<\/p>\n

The 2015 true-life film \u201cConcussion\u201d chronicled the discovery of the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, and starred Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the physician who discovered the condition. O\u2019Dell, who plays for Chicago North Shore Women\u2019s Rugby, says watching the film opened her eyes to the potential long-term effects brain injuries in her sport could have for athletes who didn\u2019t take them seriously. \u201cThat made me scared a little bit,\u201d she says. \u201cThat made me want to enforce recovery to everyone.\u201d
\n
\nDespite more awareness of the dangerous effects of concussions, players of contact sports are still returning to field before waiting for their concussions to subside. While research is focusing on the long-term effects of concussions, there is still much that is not understood, especially when it comes to female athletes.<\/p>\n

Concussions in females haven\u2019t been studied as often as those in male athletes, according to researcher Amy Herrold, who works in the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at Northwestern University.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Researcher Amy Anne Herrold. (Photo courtesy of Herrold)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moreover, current research on concussions is failing to take into account notable differences between male and female brains, Herrold says.<\/p>\n

The most obvious difference between female and male athletes? The menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n

Recent studies show the menstrual cycle affects brain function and even how the body heals from such common sports injuries as Achilles tendon strain. Researchers are betting there\u2019s a good chance the menstrual cycle affects the way our brains respond to concussion, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some evidence that this is a major gender difference that hasn\u2019t been addressed,\u201d Herrold says.<\/p>\n

Herrold and Yu Fen \u201cJennie\u201d Chen, who is a researcher in Northwestern\u2019s department of radiology, are currently leading a unique study that controls for the phase of the menstrual cycle when study participants undergo an MRI. Their study is part of the larger research efforts of the Concussion Neuroimaging Consortium and is receiving funding from the Eleanor Wood-Prince Grants Initiative.<\/p>\n

Herrold and Chen\u2019s study also controls for the types of oral contraceptives players take, as birth control induces a certain phase of the menstrual cycle and creates differences in hormone levels. Their study\u2019s eventual goal is to compare female athletes who participate in collision sports and have suffered a concussion to athletes who participate in non-collision sports.<\/p>\n

The study measures participants\u2019 brain activity while the athletes are at rest, which will give an idea of how different regions of the brain are connected to each other and if those connections change following a brain injury. It also will measure cerebral vasculature reactivity (CVR), which is a measure of how blood vessels respond while people hold their breath. Higher levels of CVR are good indicators that the blood vessels in the brain are healthy enough to respond to stress. Chen also plans to explore how white matter, the connective tissue between brain regions, could be affected by concussion.<\/p>\n

Currently one of the issues with diagnosing concussions and tracking the recovery process is that the resulting abnormalities in the brain aren\u2019t visible using classic imaging techniques. Because concussions are only mild traumatic brain injuries, easier-to-see brain lesions are not often present.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where these advanced metrics come into play. It would be really nice to have an objective measure that can be used for diagnosis as well as understanding recovery,\u201d Herrold says.
\nHerrold and Chen expect work on their study wrap up by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Beyond their current research, another promising possibility the duo is exploring is monitoring concussions in the future using eye tracking tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can use eye movement as kind of a window to the brain to look at measures that may indicate subtle deficits in cognitive and sensory motor function,\u201d Herrold says.<\/p>\n

The researchers plan to use eye movement assessments pre-and post-season to compare collision and non-collision athletes to see if there are any cognitive sensorimotor deficits happening from just participation in a season of collision sport. Even athletes who aren\u2019t suffering concussions could still be feeling effects from multiple sub-concussive hits to the head and this could be a way to measure their injury and recovery.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, coaches and players are becoming more aware of the importance of fully recovering from a concussion before returning to the game.<\/p>\n

When O\u2019Dell had her first concussion in 2009, she had only a team captain and no athletic trainers on the side of the field to discourage her from returning to the game. When she suffered her next concussion in 2011, she had an athletic trainer that required her to get cleared by a neurologist before returning to play, even though her coach would have allowed it. And when she had her most recent concussion this August, her coach didn\u2019t want to let her play until weeks after she was cleared by a doctor.<\/p>\n

The experience has made O\u2019Dell more responsive to fellow players who are reeling from concussions, often going out of her way to give them pointers on how to recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to be someone to promote taking your brain seriously because you only have one,\u201d O\u2019Dell says.<\/p>\n

PHOTO AT TOP: After being sidelined by a concussion, rugby player Brittany O\u2019Dell (center) is trying to raise awareness of the injury\u2019s effect on female athletes (Courtesy of Amy Kish).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers are still perplexed as to the effects of concussions on female athletes. But a Northwestern duo believes accounting for the menstrual cycle could be the key. By Brittany Callan Medill Reports For rugby player Brittany O\u2019Dell, it took a Will Smith movie to scare her into taking sports injuries seriously. The 2015 true-life film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":64943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1,3516],"tags":[3951,2846,3952,1370,1372,3954,1497],"class_list":["post-64941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-uncategorized","category-winter-2017","tag-amy-anne-herrold","tag-athlete","tag-brain-injury","tag-concussion","tag-cte","tag-menstrual","tag-soccer"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Concussion Conundrum - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-concussion-conundrum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Concussion Conundrum - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers are still perplexed as to the effects of concussions on female athletes. 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