Blows to the Head, Not Just Concussions, Can Seriously Impair Ability to Learn, Think
If your son or daughter is thinking of going out for a contact sport, you -- and they -- might want to think again. Concussions have been in the news lately, mostly because, in the past, it was not known they could be responsible for depression, possibly Alzheimer's, even death. Today we know all that but a new study has found that "E ven in the absence of a concussion, blows to the head during a single season of football or ice hockey may affect the brain’s white matter and cognition, or memory and thinking abilities," according to newswise.com. “We found differences in the white matter of the brain in these college contact sport athletes compared to non-contact sport varsity athletes,” the Web site quotes study author Thomas W. McAllister, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. “The degree of white matter change in the contact sport athletes was greater in those who performed more poorly than expected on tests of memory and learning, suggesti...