Effects of Multiple Concussions
There is growing concern that suffering multiple sport-related concussions may increase an athlete’s risk of cumulative neurocognitive and neurobehavioral impairment. Many concerns have not been well-validated, however, owing to limited samples of repeatedly concussed players. In this article, we review the theoretical risks and current evidence regarding the extent to which repeat concussions impact players’ experience of and recovery following successive injuries. Concussion effects are considered at multiple levels (e.g., self-reported physical and psychiatric symptoms, neuropsychological performance, and neurophysiological measures) across both the acute and chronic phases of recovery. Recommendations for applying findings to injury management decisions are provided. Although repeat concussions appear to have the potential for cumulative neurophysiological burden, a number of factors (e.g., individual risk for experiencing or responding poorly to injury, recovery time between injuries) appear important to explain discrepant findings among studies and to translate general scientific principles into clinical decisions for individual players. Future work that accumulates larger, prospective samples will allow for clearer delineation of the factors that appear important for predicting how recurrent concussions impact individual athletes.