Damaged nerve behind athletes' post-concussion issues

Date:
April 4, 2022
Source:
Lund University
Summary:
Depression, dizziness, difficulty focusing the gaze and balance
problems.

Many professional athletes who have sustained head trauma in
sports have lingering symptoms that affect everyday life. Little
help has been available as the cause has been unknown. A clinical
study can now show that the problems originate in an injury to
the vestibular nerve.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Depression, dizziness, difficulty focusing the gaze and balance
problems. Many professional athletes who have sustained head trauma in
sports have lingering symptoms that affect everyday life. Little help
has been available as the cause has been unknown. A clinical study from
Lund University in Sweden can now show that the problems originate in
an injury to the vestibular nerve.


========================================================================== Athletes in contact sports such as ice hockey, football and skiing have
an increased risk of sustaining a head injury. If the impact is severe
enough, the athlete can suffer a concussion. Even minor head injuries
can have serious consequences. The problems have been brought to light
within American football, where players who have suffered from repeated concussions have developed dementia, severe depression and cognitive impairment.

In many cases, the symptoms after a concussion are temporary, but an
increasing number of athletes experience long-term problems that make
it difficult to work, go to school or play sports. The symptoms are
aggravated by activity or impressions and include headaches, depression, anxiety, nausea, difficulty focusing and problems with balance.

"It has been unclear what causes the symptoms, and it is difficult for healthcare professionals to help these athletes. We wanted to investigate
this further to find out what really causes the symptoms," says Niklas Marklund, professor of neurosurgery at Lund University, consultant at
Skaane University Hospital with a scientific interest in sports-related
head injuries and one of the researchers behind the article.

A total of 42 people were included in the study. One group included 21
healthy athletes without previous trauma to the head, and the other
21 athletes who all suffered from sports-related concussions and who
had experienced persisting symptoms for more than six months. All the participants underwent various tests in which the researchers examined,
among other things, their balance organs.

Using a so-called 7-Tesla MRI, the athletes' brains were studied to
understand more about what caused the symptoms. The researchers found
impaired function of the balance organs in the inner ear of 13 athletes
in the group with long-term problems. In the group of healthy athletes
3 people had similar findings.

"The test results show that the injury is located to the vestibular nerve, which is connected to the semicircular canals in a cavity inside the
skull, and which is directly adjacent to the cochlea in the ear. These
injuries lead to the inward nerve impulses not working properly, and
the brain therefore does not receive important information about body
movements and sensory impressions required to maintain a good balance,"
says Anna Gard, doctoral student at Lund University, resident in
neurosurgery at Skaane University Hospital and first author of the study.

When you suffer from a concussion, it is often because the head rotates
too fast, for example when tackling in ice hockey.

"We have not examined athletes with short-term problems after blows to
the head, so we cannot say anything about them. This study applies to
athletes with prolonged symptoms after concussion. The rotation of the
head that occurs in connection with a concussion could lead to a stretch
of the vestibular nerve, which then leads to impaired function. Now
that we have more knowledge about where the problems are located, it
is easier to find possible therapies that could help these athletes,"
concludes Niklas Marklund.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Lund_University. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Anna Gard, Ali Al-Husseini, Evgenios N. Kornaropoulos, Alessandro De
Maio, Yelverton Tegner, Isabella Bjo"rkman-Burtscher, Karin
Markenroth Bloch, Markus Nilsson, Maans Magnusson, Niklas
Marklund. Post-Concussive Vestibular Dysfunction Is Related to
Injury to the Inferior Vestibular Nerve. Journal of Neurotrauma,
2022; DOI: 10.1089/neu.2021.0447 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220404105720.htm

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