{"id":9708,"date":"2016-08-16T06:19:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T06:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=9708"},"modified":"2016-08-16T06:19:14","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T06:19:14","slug":"study-to-probe-how-concussion-affects-young-athletes-academic-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/study-to-probe-how-concussion-affects-young-athletes-academic-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Study to probe how concussion affects young athletes\u2019 academic performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UWlogo_ctr_4c\"<\/a>The serious, sometimes life-altering effects of concussions sustained by college and professional athletes have become an inescapable storyline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much less has been written about the impact on athletes at the high school level.<\/span><\/p>\n

This month, researchers from the University of Wisconsin\u2014Madison<\/span>\u00a0School of Nursing<\/a>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0School of Medicine and Public Health<\/a>\u00a0are launching a pilot study aimed at teasing out the academic effects of concussions on younger athletes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there is an overwhelming amount of media attention on the issue at the college and professional level,\u201d explains<\/span>\u00a0Traci Snedden<\/a>, a UW\u2013Madison postdoctoral fellow co-leading the new study. \u201cThere is a substantial gap in our knowledge about what is going on with concussion at the high school level and younger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Snedden, a nurse scientist who has worked as a pediatric emergency department nurse practitioner for a number of years, says school administrators, nurses, teachers, athletic trainers and coaches need a better framework for recognizing and supporting the effects of concussion on the field and in the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Snedden\u2019s longitudinal study, which is supported by the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, seeks to enroll 200 Madison-area high school athletes and their parents to explore the effects of concussion on learning and school performance. The results may eventually help determine interventions that could ease the academic challenges that may result from concussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

[pullquote]The animal models, according to Snedden, suggest that there is some process of shearing of axons, the nerve fibers on brain cells that are critical for the communication that routinely occurs in the brain.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to get a snapshot of academic issues over time,\u201d says Snedden. \u201cThe majority of the work will focus on symptom presentation and timing of student return to school in addition to types of academic support they may require. Eventually, we hope to implement and test evidence-based strategies that inform policy at the school district level in Wisconsin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A problem, she notes, is that concussion manifests itself differently in different people. Symptoms \u2013 headaches, dizziness, inability to concentrate, problems with balance \u2013 vary from student to student, as does how long they last.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pathology of concussion in people is something of a black box, says Snedden. \u201cExisting knowledge is primarily based in animal models. In humans, all we know is that concussion results in a complex, pathophysiological process that occurs at the cellular level. These changes are not discernable with standard testing or medical imaging techniques.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The animal models, according to Snedden, suggest that there is some process of shearing of axons, the nerve fibers on brain cells that are critical for the communication that routinely occurs in the brain. Such injuries can be especially worrisome in children and adolescents, as the human brain is not fully developed until later in life, sometime around the mid-20s.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the classroom, students recovering from a concussion may have difficulty taking notes, completing homework in a timely manner, or overall difficulty with focusing. They may also require more time to complete tests and quizzes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe call this a silent injury,\u201d she says. \u201cThese students return to school without a cast or crutches or any visible sign of injury. Those around them may not understand they have an injury. They look fine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Snedden\u2019s study, conducted with School of Medicine and Public Health associate professor and concussion expert Alison Brooks, entails a series of surveys aimed at high school athletes who may have suffered a concussion, as well as their parents. The online surveys are conducted at weekly intervals, the first occurring within seven days of injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, Snedden\u2019s research should help schools better recognize and accommodate students who\u2019ve suffered a concussion. \u201cThese are generally high excelling kids who can\u2019t do what they did before. They want to get back to their sport and to the classroom. Their motivation is high.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month, researchers from the University of Wisconsin\u2014Madison School of Nursing and School of Medicine and Public Health are launching a pilot study aimed at teasing out the academic effects of concussions on younger athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",1133,761,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",750,504,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c-1024x687.jpg",750,503,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",1133,761,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",1133,761,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",1133,761,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",849,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",600,403,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",600,403,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",730,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",536,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",95,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",640,430,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/UWlogo_ctr_4c.jpg",150,101,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}