A common neural signature of brain injury in concussion and sub-concussion

Repetitive Sub-Concussive Head Impacts (RSHI) cohort. Participants were 42 male football players on the University of Rochester football team (NCAA division-III), enrolled over the course of 3 seasons (2011, 2012, 2013). Three subjects were lost to follow-up and 1 subject lacked field map correction scans, yielding 38 complete datasets (mean age = 19.8, median = 20). All of the players sustained repetitive head impacts across the season, but only 2 of the 38 sustained clinically defined concussion/mTBI. For all participants in the RSHI cohort, MRI scanning was carried out 2 weeks prior to the start of the season and within 1 week after completion of the season. In order to record the inertial loading sustained by the players’ brains throughout the season of play, each player wore a helmet-mounted accelerometer that measured linear and rotational acceleration throughout all practices and games.