Is there any medical research showing that athletic concussions early in life can cause shorter attention spans in later years?

I know that you said “never mind” but I see this as an important subject!!!
CTE is seen frequently in boxers & football players including memory loss. Boston University has done some research on this subject as well as Harvard. The NFL tried to stop the research but failed. It seems in hindsight that they’ve found a way to bury the results!!!

Not only shortened attention spans, but aberrant behavior all around.

^^^ Splains me. ;-)

I didn’t mean to smack you that hard @canidmajor! Sry bout that.

I like to think of it as “eccentric”. :-)

@Dutchess_III, @canidmajor, and @Everyone – I own the aberrant behavior, with or without any brain damage. I think it puts me in good company ; )

I’m also aware of the CTE studies done on NFL players, but there seems to be less info available for athletes in other sports. And it’s not clear from studies I’ve read whether there’s a threshold in terms of number & severity of head impacts before CTE symtoms occur.

In my case I played fairly intense women’s team basketball in high school and for a short time in college, and I got slammed more than once but never lost consciousness. I also had a ski accident where I skidded into a tree and was knocked out, but saved from worse injury by my helmet (and my hair). After that I totalled my Camaro wearing a seatbelt & with all airbags deployed, but was disoriented for minutes afterward.

My point in asking this isn’t fear, it’s more curiousity. I survived and I have annual checkups that include xrays & scans. So far nothing has shown up that’s nearly as bad as what pro football players have suffered. There just seems to be a lack of data for players in other sports (especially women), and people who experience head impacts from what’s considered “routine” events at work or at home.

@jloon, when I was getting many head bonks teaching sailing and racing small boats (that’s why they call it a “boom”) nobody cared. Gotta wonder how many of us from those days have a certain level of undiagnosed impairment.
Then there was that unfortunate incident on hard wooden stairs…

I feel like it’s a triumph to be high-functioning after all is said and done.

I have a student who had a concussion a few years ago and now has had a few seizures and is doctoring for neurological issues. She seems to have great difficulty retaining new information and attention span seems part of the problem. I often need to walk here through projects step by step including very basic skills her classmates have mastered.
I also have a friend with epilepsy who experiences petit mal seizures during which he can have a conversation, but after will not remember. Most people would not even be aware it was happening.

This recent study showed that the risk of sport related concussion was 1.88 times higher in girls than in boys, which isn’t what you would necessarily expect.

@JLoon This is different info from Boston University geared towards female athletes. It’s not that enlightening but somewhat promising. Sadly, most of the studies have been done on males, so they are planning a few studies geared toward female soccer players. IF you’re feeling particularly feisty, you might send them a letter requesting a study on female basketball players. NEVER hurts to ask!!! OR…you might offer yourself as a subject for some of their studies. I had always noticed that many studies were done on retired/deceased NFL players or retired/deceased wrestling champions. It seems that they get the best info while doing an autopsy on the brain!!! So, give them something to work with BEFORE the fact!!!

It also appears that Boston U is the one doing most of the research on CTE at this point. Back in 2015, Will Smith starred in Consussion (2015_film) where he played Dr Bennett Omalu, the Forensic Pathologist that lead the fight against he NFL. I know Will is out of favor right now, but I seem to remember the hype at the time was how factual the movie was. It might be worth a peek to see what you can glean from it

I’m going to go with the wine.

I have had plenty of concussions, and my attention span is really… what were we talking about?

Hide the Wine.

When my hearing was tested 20 years ago, the audiolgist noted I could hear some sounds but not decode what was being said. Upon his recommendation, the Otolaryngologist ordered an MRI to see if I had any iunknown conks to the head that left damage.

Nothing was found, but I did have a few incidents in my early twenties, mostly related to heavy drinking, in which I probrbaly hit my head a few times but shrugged off any headache as part of a hangover.

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