One mechanism of subconcussive injury is that of rapid acceleration/deceleration. This is called a coup contre-coup injury.
We often focus only on the mechanism of direct hits to the head as important head trauma and solutions often only focus on that mechanism. We find the best helmets for football, stop heading soccer balls, and create head gear for boxers. We hear things like “he was in a real bad car accident, but he didn’t hit his head.”
The problem with this is that our brains are suspended in fluid inside our skulls and rapid acceleration/deceleration impacts will cause the brain to slam forward and back inside the head.
Think of a fish floating in a fishbowl riding in your car and you get in an accident that results in rapid deceleration. The fishbowl can be untouched, but that fish will have been slammed against the insides of the bowl.
Hard landings when airborne, takedowns in combatives, riding broncs, shoulder checking in hockey- these are instances where rapid acceleration/deceleration can cause the brain to slam into the skull due to its suspension in fluid.
Like all subconcussive impacts, whereby definition there are no symptoms post-impact, a single hit is not concerning. It is the cumulative impact over time- the hundreds of hits in a season and thousands over a career- that cause the negative consequences of these hits.
But knowing the mechanisms of subconcussive injury allows us to mitigate unnecessary exposure and prioritize sleep after exposure. We can emphasize training of the sensory systems that are insidiously impacted by these exposures to maintain a high level of performance. We can promote proactive approaches to mental health, destigmatize mental health issues, and ensure that we are reaching out to those who have high levels of subconcussive exposures.
But we cannot just sit on information. Knowledge is only potential power. Act. What positive action can you take from this information?