Researchers are Looking at Brain Healing Times of Football Players and Other Athletes
Research is trying to find why it takes so long for brains to heal after playing football. Researchers are looking at brains of people who played professional football and are trying to find why brains are working overtime to try to heal themselves years after athletes stop playing. They utilized PET scans to look at microglia, which are a type of brain cell that remove and repair damaged neurons. They are most present after some type of trauma and disappear over time as the brain heals itself. It is usually a good sign that these cells come in and heal the brain, but their presence long after trauma has occurred could be problematic because this could mean patients have other issues.
Microglia can be found in other trauma victims, but it is harder to find and track these people compared to people who played football in the NFL. Researchers first found the microglia cells working overtime in 2015. There were four active players and 10 former players from the NFL whose careers ended within at least 12 years of the study. There were higher levels of biomarkers in these players indicating that there was increased microglia activity. This could mean that players are also at risk of developing a deteriorated memory, mood disorders, or Alzheimer’s disease.
The research wants to find players whose brains are improving faster so they can find out why this happens. This could lead to new, innovative treatments that could help people with brain trauma. The second phase of the study looked at younger former players because they are less likely to have other health issues that might show up in the results, ruining the data. There have been 22 former NFL players and 25 other athletes in the study. The researchers hope to have a total of 70 participants. This could help researchers look at different causes including genetics, other medical conditions, position of player on the field, when the player started playing, and other factors.
This is a very small study despite multiple former players participating in it. It is in early stages of finding how traumatized brains behave and react to trauma. This research is extremely important because it can help find early signs and symptoms of diseases linked to all types of head trauma. There is no good way to diagnose Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases early, so finding early symptoms could greatly improve the care of patients moving forward. The study is being performed blind, so individuals are not told about their results, but the data being collected is crucial and can help the individuals participating, they just have to wait for the research to be completed.
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