Concussions are among the most difficult injuries to assess in sports. The symptoms—fatigue, trouble concentrating, headaches, anxiety—vary widely from one athlete to the next, which can make a safe return to play hard to navigate.
A research team based at Université de Montréal worked with Cégep Montmorency to better understand what happens inside an athlete’s brain before and after a concussion, and to determine whether these changes differ between young women and men.
Led by Mariane Doucet, then a doctoral student supervised by Michelle McKerral, a professor in UdeM’s Department of Psychology, examined the resting electroencephalograms (EEGs) of 115 student-athletes between the ages of 16 and 22,.
Of those, 31 were women. Thirty of the athletes, eight of whom were women, later suffered a concussion during training or competition and were re-evaluated using the same measures.
One of the most striking findings of the study was the pre-concussion differences between the sexes. At baseline, the young women had higher beta wave power—rapid waves between 12 and 30 hertz (Hz)—than the young men.
High levels of low-beta power (between 12 and 20 Hz) are generally associated with heightened alertness and vigilance, though in certain contexts they can also signal stress or anxiety.
An increase in high-beta power (between 20 and 30 Hz) is more specifically associated with stress or anxiety.
