WORCESTER, Mass. — A new study could change the game when it comes to community sports.
Researchers just found that sports-related concussions may not be so bad on the brain for young athletes in the long term.
A lot of parents have been hesitant to let their kids play sports like football over fears of concussions leading to long-term health issues.
“My son is one of them where my wife, she’s a nurse and she’s like I don’t want him playing football because of concussions, and I’m like dude that’s not how it works, you know you gotta really look into it,” said Ramon Llanos, a father and youth coach.
This new study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry is exciting news for many parents, coaches, and young athletes.
The study, which includes researchers from Harvard, looked at more than 15,000 adults ages 50-90 years old who weren’t professional athletes.
Many of them had suffered a sports-related concussion at a younger age.
Researchers found there were: “no long-term cognitive or behavioral deficits compared with those with no concussions,” and “in fact, they showed better performance in working memory and verbal reasoning at the study baseline.”
To be clear, these results don’t include professional athletes, who could still experience long term issues from concussions.
“NFL is a different story, you got 400-pound men smashing into people, high school you got young kids, they’re just playing and having fun,” said Charles Johnston, a father and coach in Worcester.
The study’s researchers say this could be great news for people to learn that the benefits of playing community sports likely outweigh the risks of a concussion.
Parents and coaches already agree with that when it comes to youth sports.
“They make so many new friends, they become more confident with themselves,” said Llanos.
To view the full study, click here.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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