Violent-Impact-Driven Long-Term Brain Disease

"We're really excited about this. No one else in the world will have these data sets."
"In hockey, you don't see people dying from a hit to the head, and that is because the helmet works reasonably well for catastrophic injury. Football, you do get some deaths, but it's fairly well-managed or mitigated. But neurological disease and concussion are not managed very well by a helmet. So this data will be very helpful for us; it will get us precision."
"The better data we get to capture the risk of concussion, the more innovation we can do in terms of helmets to reduce that risk."
"So, when we look at trauma related to neurological disease, we are only validating part of the brain and its response to trauma. This study is going to give us a really good opportunity to map different parts of the brain. ... We are going to be able to get into parts of the brain we think are really important in terms of predicting risk."
"The brain is mostly water, so it doesn't compress, but it does shear. It's like Jell-O. You can't compress Jell-O easily but you can shear it. And when you shear it,  you damage it, and that is what is happening in the brain."
"We're trying to understand trauma associated with sport that put athletes at risk for neurological disease. We connect the trauma to disease."
Dr. Blaine Hoshizaki, director, Neurotrauma Impact Science Laboratory, University of Ottawa

David Koncan, a Phd candidate in the Neurotrauma Impact Science lab at the University of Ottawa, measures impact on a head with a linear impactor machine. Julie Oliver / Postmedia

"When you think about environmental exposure to a chemical, you have acute exposure and low-level, long-term, repeated exposure that can be detrimental in the long run."
"If you're looking at head injuries in sport, you have acute, severe injuries but also low-level repeated injury that over time could develop into a disabling condition."
Dr. Oren Petel, department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Carleton University

Thee has been a long-overdue increase in focus on long-term brain disease, following on the findings of a study by Boston University scientists. Their research pointed out that close to 90 percent of 202 studied brains -- donated by individuals or families resulting from behavioural issues or brain disease while the individuals were alive -- of deceased football players, revealed that signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy were present in forms of mild to severe.

Similar research undertaken on the brains of former NFL players as part of the sample, proved even higher for the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), at 99 percent. It yet remains an educated hypothesis that there is a definite but undiscovered tell-tale link between concussions and CTE. Neurological scientists undertaking their unprecedented search in this area do so with the drawback of the reality that parts of the human brain have not yet been entirely mapped.

The Ottawa study now being undertaken through cutting-edge research into brain injuries and sport helmet design will have the function of ultimately succeeding in filling in some of those unexplored areas of the brain. Together with Dr. Patrick Bishop, lead researcher from University of Waterloo with a background in sports-injury prevention and head protection, Dr. Hoshizaki and Dr. Petel are collaborating in the use of high-speed X-rays to reach their eventual goal.

A research grant to the value of $700,000 was received for this express purpose; a three-year study on the scientific response within the unknown reaches of the brain, reacting to high-speed impacts. Cadavers will be utilized in impact-testing labs, along with computer mapping in the end game of designing a safer helmet for sports such as football and hockey. As yet unknown is whether repetitive, lower-impact strikes can result in long-term injuries to the brain, or whether it is just one violent slam causing concussion that is responsible.

The intention is that the researchers will discover the way in which the brain moves, becomes deformed and tends to shear under the pressure of violent contact. Relatively minor-seeming and localized effects might turn out to be worthwhile investigating as well, to determine just how the complex interaction of the brain is involved with violent contact to the skull.

As far as Dr. Hoshizaki's lab is concerned, it is an imperative that they succeed in developing a helmet capable of reducing brain rotation on violent contact. "It makes no sense to decrease participation in sport and recreation", he states, "because it enriches people's lives."