Grant: Catalyst Grant - Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Ontario

Mild traumatic brain injury(mTBI) in sport is a serious health concern and has potential for long-term debilitating consequences. The incidence of mTBI, or cerebral concussion, is higher in sport than in the general population. Concussions result in physical and psychological symptoms, which are often shaken off. There are no reliable hallmark indicators: clinicians rely on self-reported symptoms for diagnosis. Absence of symptoms is a poor indicator of recovery as underlying thinking, emotions and physiological processes may not be restored. Returning athletes to play prematurely may cause re-emergence of symptoms, prolonged healing and risk of subsequent concussion. Thus, clinicians need objective assessment methods. Concussion stresses the athlete disrupting homeostasis and biochemical, physiological and psychological processes: Stress causes decreased heart rate variability (HRV), alters biochemical stress markers such as cortisol, and causes mood disturbance. To date, there have been no studies on stress markers in concussed athletes, and no objective, efficient and cost-effective markers of the stressful impact of concussion on athletes. Mental or physical stress increases susceptibility to and impairs recovery from athletic injury. The proposed study investigates psychophysiological stress and mTBI in male and female athletes, and any sex/gender differences in these markers from injury to return-to-play(RTP). The aim is to measure stress by two psychological variables (mood disturbance and life stress) and two physiological markers (HRV; and salivary cortisol). If stress markers are reliable, objective indicators of concussion, they can influence RTP decisions and concussion management. Expensive neuropsychological and advanced imaging tools are often not practical or available. Effective tools for assessment of concussion and recovery will improve mTBI treatment not only in sports, but in general medical and rehabilitation populations.