Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

MRI Study Reveals Significant Brain Changes in Adolescent Football Players

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by Diagnosticimaging.

Emerging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research suggests that adolescent football players are susceptible to a variety of brain changes due to head impact exposure from the sport.

For the study, recently published in JAMA Network Open, researchers reviewed findings from structural MRI for 205 high-school football players and 70 high-school athletes who participated in non-contact sports such as swimming and tennis. The study authors also assessed resting-state functional MRI scans for 149 football players and 59 participants from non-contact sports.

In comparison to athletes in non-contact sports, the study authors noted the MRI findings for football players revealed deeper sulcal depth in “widespread brain regions,” including the frontotemporal regions, precentral gyrus, and the cingulate cortex. Noting a “water hammer effect” from traumatic insult with a rapid clustering of cerebral spinal fluid at the base of the sulci, the researchers noted the resulting potential for accelerated tissue atrophy.

“These findings shed light on the potential impact of mechanical stressors on brain structure and provide valuable insights into the dynamics of cortical changes in individuals engaged in football,” wrote lead study author Taylor Zuidema, a Ph.D. candidate who is affiliated with the Department of Kinesiology and the Program in Neuroscience at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., and colleagues.

Source: Diagnosticimaging.com
https://www.diagnosticimaging.com/view/mri-study-significant-brain-changes-adolescent-football-players

Soccer Heading Linked to Measurable Decline in Brain Function

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

New research being presented this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) links soccer heading -- where players hit the ball with their head -- to a measurable decline in the microstructure and function of the brain over a two-year period.

"There is enormous worldwide concern for brain injury in general and in the potential for soccer heading to cause long-term adverse brain effects in particular," said senior author Michael L. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiology at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and affiliate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University.

"A large part of this concern relates to the potential for changes in young adulthood to confer risk for neurodegeneration and dementia later in life."

While previous research has examined adverse effects on the brain related to soccer heading at a single point in time, this new study looked at brain changes over two years.

The study included 148 young adult amateur soccer players (mean age 27, 26% women). The research team developed a specialized questionnaire for players to determine how often they hit the soccer ball with their heads.

The players were assessed for verbal learning and memory and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MRI technique, at the time of enrollment and two years later.

Compared to the baseline test results, the high-heading group (over 1,500 headers in two years) demonstrated an increase of diffusivity in frontal white matter regions and a decrease of orientation dispersion index (a measure of brain organization) in certain brain regions after two years of heading exposure.

"Our analysis found that high levels of heading over the two-year period were associated with changes in brain microstructure similar to findings seen in mild traumatic brain injuries," Dr. Lipton said.

"High levels of heading were also associated with a decline in verbal learning performance. This is the first study to show a change of brain structure over the long term related to sub-concussive head impacts in soccer."

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231129112526.htm

Teens Are Quitting Sports as Social Media Ups Body Image Concerns

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Kids who get discouraged by idealized athletic bodies on social media may end up dropping out of sports, a small study suggests.

In a preliminary study of 70 kids who played -- or used to play -- sports, researchers found that some had quit because they thought they didn't have the "right" body for the activity. And most got that idea from media images, including TikTok and Instagram posts.

Experts said the findings add to evidence that unrealistic, often "filtered" or "edited," images on social media can make some kids feel bad about their own bodies.

And in the case of kids who play sports, the study suggests, those feelings could translate into action: quitting.

That outcome would be "heartbreaking," said researcher Dr. Cassidy Foley Davelaar, considering all that kids can gain from participating in sports.

She is scheduled to present the findings Sunday at a meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington, D.C. Studies released at meetings are generally considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Of kids who'd quit, the main reasons were poor body image, along with issues with coaches and competitive pressure. Among kids who'd quit because they thought they "didn't look right," about two-thirds said they often compared themselves with images in the media and on social media.

Overall, the study found, girls were much more likely to have quit sports than boys: Over 35% had, compared with 10% of boys. Girls also tended to have more body image concerns, with close to half saying they "looked worse than the ideal."

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/public-health/teens-and-social-media-2665995648.html

A Healthy Diet, Reading, and Doing Sports Promote Reasoning Skills in Children

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Reasoning skills are crucial skills in learning, academic performance, and everyday problem-solving. According to a recent study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland, improved overall diet quality and reduced consumption of red meat, as well as increased time spent in reading and organized sports, enhanced reasoning skills among children over the first two school years.

"Children with healthier eating habits showed greater cognitive development than other children. Specifically, better overall diet quality, lower red meat consumption, and higher low-fat dairy product intake were linked to better reasoning skills," says Doctoral Researcher Sehrish Naveed of the University of Eastern Finland.

Children who spent more time in reading and organized sports showed better reasoning skills than their peers. On the other hand, excessive time spent on a computer and unsupervised leisure-time physical activity were associated with poorer reasoning skills. Screen time, active school transportation, recess physical activity, and physical activity intensity were not associated with reasoning skills.

Published in the  Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, the results of this study are based on data from the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) study. This sub-study examined the effects of a two-year diet and physical activity intervention on cognition among 397 Finnish elementary school children. The associations of dietary factors, physical activity, and sedentary behavior with cognition over two years were also studied. The analyses considered parental education and income as well as children's body fat percentage and maturity level.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230817164006.htm

Researchers Comprehensively Assess the Safety of Using Your Head in Youth Soccer

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Repeatedly heading a soccer ball has been previously associated with negative long-term brain health for professional players. However, in a new study from researchers at the Minds Matter Concussion Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), a small number of repeated soccer headers equivalent to a throw-in did not cause immediate neurophysiological deficits for teens, suggesting that limited soccer heading exposure in youth sports may not result in irreversible harm if players are properly trained.

The findings, which represent the most comprehensive real-time study of soccer headers in adolescent athletes, were published in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

For some professional athletes, repeated head loading in sports -- using your head as part of the game -- is associated with negative long-term brain health even when there are no initial clinical symptoms. Despite the awareness of long-term consequences, short-term neurophysiological issues after repeated head impacts like soccer heading are poorly understood in youth athletes.

In 2015, the US Soccer Federation implemented limits on soccer headers for teens during practice -- no more than 30 minutes of header practice time and no more than 15 to 20 headers per week.

"Soccer is a sport where intentionally using your head to hit the ball is an integral part of the game, and concern over its long-term effects has parents, caregivers and coaches understandably concerned," said first study author Colin Huber, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University who conducted this research while with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP. "We wanted to simulate these effects in a controlled laboratory setting and build upon the work of prior studies to quantitatively assess the neurophysiological effects of repeated soccer heading."

In this study, 19 participants (17 male, 2 female) between 13 and 18 years old were assigned to either a frontal heading group (directing the ball back to where it came from), an oblique heading group (directing the ball to the right) or a kicking control group. These participants completed neurophysiological assessments immediately prior to, immediately after and approximately 24 hours after completing 10 headers or kicks. These assessments included multiple eye movement tracking, pupil response and balance tests.

The study ultimately found no neurophysiological issues in either group when compared with the kicking control group, even when taking the six different assessments into account. However, oblique headers resulted in higher levels of angular head motion. Angular motion is associated with concussions and other brain injuries, suggesting that players should be properly trained to head the ball in a frontal fashion to reduce the risk of injury.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230524181945.htm

Which High School Sports Cause Kids the Most Injuries?

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Fewer high school athletes are getting hurt playing sports, but those who do are more likely to suffer severe injuries that require surgery or a timeout from their chosen sport, new research shows.

Which teens are most at risk? Those who participate in football, girls' soccer and boys' wrestling, the study authors found. Knee and ankle sprains and strains, along with head injuries such as concussions, were the most common injuries seen.

Exactly why injuries are becoming more severe isn't fully understood, but having kids specialize in sports too early may play a role. That can lead to an increase in overuse injuries, overtraining and burnout, said study co-author Jordan Pizzarro, a medical student at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Washington, D.C.

For the study, the researchers tapped into 2015 to 2019 injury data from 100 high schools. These schools have athletic trainers who report injuries for five boys' and four girls' sports.

Overall, there were 15,531 injuries that occurred during 6.8 million athletic exposures. (An athletic exposure is defined as one athlete participating in one practice or competition during which an injury could potentially occur.) This equals an overall rate of nearly 2.3 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures, which can be extrapolated to 5.2 million sports-related injuries among high schoolers nationally.

Most injuries took place during games. Overall, the injury rate was higher in boys' sports compared to girls' sports, and 3.5% of all injuries were fractures, and these mainly occurred in boys' baseball, basketball and football. Overall, just over 6% of injuries — most often from wrestling, girls' basketball and boys' baseball — required surgery.

In total, 39% of sports injuries resulted in athletes taking less than one week off from their sport, while 34% of injuries required taking up to three weeks off to heal. Seven percent of injuries required athletes to take more than three weeks off to heal, and nearly 21% of injuries led to medical disqualification for the season or career.

Still, the new data isn't a reason for kids to stop playing sports.

"Sports build endurance and stamina and help with growth and maturity," Pizzarro said. Instead, parents should talk to the school or coach about pre-season training programs that may help stave off injuries among young athletes.

The new research was scheduled for presentation at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting, held in Las Vegas from March 7 to 11. Research presented at medical conferences should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/sports-injuries-2659479745.html

Three or More Concussions Linked with Worse Brain Function in Later Life

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Experiencing three or more concussions is linked with worsened brain function in later life, according to major new research.

The study -- the largest of its kind -- also found having just one moderate-to-severe concussion, or traumatic brain injury (TBI), can have a long-term impact on brain function, including memory.

Led by teams at the University of Oxford and the University of Exeter, the research included data from more than 15,000 participants of the online PROTECT study, who were aged between 50 and 90 and based in the UK. They reported the severity and frequency of concussions they had experienced throughout their lives and completed annual, computerized tests for brain function.

Published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, the paper found that people who reported three or more concussions had significantly worse cognitive function, which got successively worse with each subsequent concussion after that. Attention and completion of complex tasks were particularly affected.

Lead investigator Dr. Vanessa Raymont, from the University of Oxford, said: "We know that head injuries are a major risk factor for dementia, and this large-scale study gives the greatest detail to date on a stark finding -- the more times you injure your brain in life, the worse your brain function could be as you age.

"Our research indicates that people who have experienced three or more even mild episodes of concussion should be counseled on whether to continue high-risk activities. We should also encourage organizations operating in areas where head impact is more likely to consider how they can protect their athletes or employees."

The team found that participants who reported three episodes of even mild concussion throughout their lives had significantly worse attention and ability to complete complex tasks. Those who had four or more mild concussion episodes also showed worsened processing speed and working memory. Each additional reported concussion was linked to progressively worse cognitive function.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230130213948.htm

Basketball Better for Building Stronger Bones in Youth Athletes Than Track

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

According to a recent study, youth athletes who play multidirectional sports like basketball, instead of unidirectional sports like track, are able to build stronger bones that decrease their risk of bone injury in adulthood.

The findings are in line with other recommendations that say that younger children should play a variety of sports that require them to move in various directions, then wait until they’re older to switch to a sport that they want to hone in on. By then, they’re more likely to have a stronger structural foundation, which supports less risk of stress injury.

“There is a common misperception that kids need to specialize in a single sport to succeed at higher levels. However, recent data indicate that athletes who specialize at a young age are at a greater risk of an overuse injury and are less likely to progress to higher levels of competition,” says Stuart Warden, associate dean for research and Chancellor’s Professor in the Indiana University School of Health and Human Sciences, in a statement.

In this study, Warden and team used high-resolution imaging to assess the shin bone by the ankle and bones in the feet, where bone stress injuries often are found in runners. They discovered that athletes who did running as well as multidirectional sports had 10-20% stronger bones than those who just ran.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/basketball-bone-strength-children-track/

Sports Like Soccer, Basketball Better for Young Athletes' Bone Health Than Running Alone

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Young athletes who participate in multidirectional sports instead of specializing in a unidirectional sport like running can build stronger bones that may be at less risk for bone injuries as adults, according to a new study from Indiana University researchers.

Published in the American College of Sports Medicine's Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the study examined Division I and II female cross-country runners, who often experience bone stress injuries like stress fractures. The researchers found that athletes who ran and participated in sports that require movement in many directions -- such as basketball or soccer -- when younger had better bone structure and strength than those who solely ran, swam, or cycled.

As a result, the study's findings support recommendations that athletes delay specialization in running and play multi-directional sports when younger to build a more robust skeleton -- and potentially prevent bone stress injuries.

"Our research shows that the runners who played multidirectional sports when younger had stronger bones as collegiate athletes, which puts them at less risk for bone stress injuries, including stress fractures," said Stuart Warden, associate dean for research and Chancellor's Professor in the IU School of Health and Human Sciences at IUPUI. "We want to ensure people have better, stronger bones as they grow, become adolescents, and go through life. Specializing in one sport at too young of an age means they are more likely to get injured and not make it at the collegiate and professional levels."

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221011183910.htm

Concussion Aftermath Could Drag Down Teens' Grades

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Efforts to prevent concussions from happening at school or in school-related sports activities may help keep teens from lagging behind in their academics.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Washington found that those who had a recent concussion could be 25% more likely than classmates to be in poor academic standing.

"History of concussion was significantly associated with poor academic standing and experiencing multiple concussions could be particularly harmful on student outcomes," according to study author Julian Takagi-Stewart, of Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues.

About 2 million U.S. youth suffer a concussion each year. The researchers wanted to learn whether there was a link between a history of these temporary brain injuries and teens' academic standing.

For the study, they analyzed data on more than 10,000 teens who were part of the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Survey, which monitors health risks among U.S. students.

In all, about 15% of high school students reported having had at least one sports and activity-related concussion during the previous year.

In all, 79% of students said they were in good academic standing, the findings showed.

Having at least one concussion in the past year was linked with a 25% higher risk of poor academic standing. This link was stronger for students with repeated concussions, according to the report published online Sept. 12 in the journal Injury Prevention.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/b-9-14-concussion-aftermath-could-drag-down-a-teens-grades-2658197510.html