As a tactical athlete you are frequently exposed to low level blasts. It is important to know that cumulative exposure to these subconcussive blasts can slowly chip away at your performance and brain health.
An important study out of Walter Reed Medical Center has looked at the impact of blast exposures on active duty military and law enforcement who are still fit for duty. [1] Here are a few of the important findings of that study.
- They had higher blood biomarkers for brain inflammation and neurodegenerative disease as compared to controls.
- These individuals were either breachers, snipers firing 0.50 caliber rifle systems, or those with hand grenade blast exposure. (Other individuals, such as machine gunners or mortarmen, were not included in this study but their blast exposures should not be disregarded).
- The longer the individual’s service, the higher the amount of a protein in their blood that is associated with poor neurological outcomes.
As a tactical athlete with frequent exposure to blasts, what do you do with this information?
Know that repeated low level blast exposure can have a negative cumulative effect.
Ideally we would mitigate exposure, promote good sleep, and increase the time between exposures. But those solutions are often outside of your control.
What you can control is a proactive, performance based approach of continuously training to maximize the systems that can be impacted by repeated subconcussive blast exposure. And if you are experiencing symptoms, seek medical evaluation and communicate your history of neurotrauma – including any repeated low level blast exposure.
REFERENCES:
- Boutté, A. M., Thangavelu, B., Nemes, J., LaValle, C. R., Egnoto, M., Carr, W., & Kamimori, G. H. (2021). Neurotrauma Biomarker Levels and Adverse Symptoms Among Military and Law Enforcement Personnel Exposed to Occupational Overpressure Without Diagnosed Traumatic Brain Injury. JAMA network open, 4(4), e216445-e216445.