Grant: Fellowship - PA: Traumatic Brain Injury - Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation

Sport-related concussions are now recognized as a major public health concern for several reasons: a growing number of participants in sport and recreation, possibly playing their games faster, combined with public awareness of injuries to some high-profile athletes have created a concern that concussions have reached "epidemic" levels in sport. Unfortunately, initiatives to prevent, diagnose, and treat concussions remain difficult due to the complexity of the injury and lack of understanding the underlying mechanisms of such brain injuries. This study proposes to explore how the brain reacts following concussion, examining what abnormalities in brain function relate to specific symptoms and cognitive difficulties. To date, it has been impossible to look at the relationship between these specific problems and brain activity, for technical reasons. Advanced neuroimaging techniques will allow us to observe how the brain functions while performing the actual cognitive tests used to demonstrate impairment during clinical assessments of concussion. This will improve our understanding of which parts of the brain are impaired in concussed athletes with specific symptom profiles and specific cognitive difficulties.