Hurt players focus of concussion study

EUGENE, Ore. – Football players who suffer concussions may offer University of Oregon researchers some insight into how the brain is affected by sports injuries.

Using sophisticated motion analysis techniques as well as neurophysiological tests, the researchers are trying to measure how concussions affect motor control.

“We are able to pick up an abnormality in these patients up to a month after the injury,” said Li-Shan Chou, who is conducting the study with Paul van Donkelaar as part of a three-year, $720,000 federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, they’ve found that athletes do not recover as quickly from a concussion as they do from similar blows to other parts of the body.

The researchers also are working with club sports athletes as well as nonathletes who suffer head injuries. Their work could identify areas of the brain most vulnerable to impacts.