Long-lasting brain trauma as a result of repeated injuries or concussions has garnered much attention in recent years, especially from football lovers and the National Football League (NFL). Several high-profile cases of former players developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a serious degenerative brain disease, has led to the NFL investing tens of millions of dollars into methods used to definitively identify and prevent head trauma.
As is the case with many injuries, diagnosing concussions is a relatively subjective process, involving self-reporting of symptoms and assessments by experts on the field. Finding an objective way to test for brain trauma would dispel issues of players not being willing to report their symptoms and would give team physicians an irrefutable reason to call someone off the field.
Scientists are using NFL-supported technology to analyze proteins found in blood and spinal fluid that may correlate with concussions and brain injuries, such as neurofilament light (NF-L). Coincidentally, this NF-L protein could hold the key to detecting sub-concussion brain injuries.
A study conducted by Jonathan Oliver, a professor of kinesiology at Texas Christian University, and his team took blood samples from starters and non-starters, except those who were diagnosed with concussions, throughout the offseason, before two-a-day practices, right after two-a-day practices and then every 2-3 weeks until the end of the season.