Special Veterans Day edition: Join concussion diagnosis and treatment studies (11/10/23 Newsletter)

This week's lead article, Join concussion diagnosis and treatment studies, is in the Opportunities category.

A flyer titled "TROOPS, TBI Research Opportunities and Outreach for Participation in Studies, with a photo of an older man and text about joining the studies

In this newsletter: Opportunities, Sports, Pathophysiology, Resources for Veterans, Therapies & Diagnostic Tools Under Research, Statistics, and CTE and Neurodegeneration Issues.

This Veterans Day, we thank our veterans, service members, and their families for their service; we are publishing this special edition in their honor. While these synopses cover research related to veterans, service members, and military cadets, the majority also carry relevance for the general population.

Enjoy and happy Veterans Day!

We appreciate the Concussion Alliance volunteers and staff members who created this edition:
Writers: Sravya Valiveti, Aamy Woldesenbet, Susan Klein MD PhD, Fadhil Hussain, and Amanda Cheney-Zitting

Editors: Conor Gormally and Malayka Gormally

Do you find the Concussion Update helpful? If so, forward this to a friend and suggest they subscribe.

Opportunities

Join concussion diagnosis and treatment studies

Seeking research study volunteers 🧠 Open to civilians as well as veterans!

We are super excited about this opportunity! When you register with the TROOPS referral program, you will be connected with multiple research teams, several of which are recruiting for studies of treatments for concussion (mTBI). Civilians are welcome to join, and there is no upper age limit.

TBI Research Opportunities and Outreach for Participation in Studies (TROOPS) is a website-based referral program from the Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (MTBI2). TROOPS helps people 18 years and older with a concussion get in touch with relevant studies that match their needs and availability. Self-enrollment takes less than 10 minutes, and participation is completely non-obligatory. Civilians and Service Members alike are welcome to sign up.To enroll or learn more, visit troops.mtbi2.nih.gov.

Friday, November 10, Veterans Day, 8:00-9:00 pm EST, and then streaming: ABC will host After the Blast: The Will to Survive, a special following Bob Woodruff as he returns to the site in Afghanistan where, as a journalist, he was hit by an IED and suffered a severe TBI. Mr. Woodruff has since founded the Bob Woodruff Foundation to support veterans. The program will stream on Hulu the following day (we don’t know how long it will be on Hulu).

Tuesday, November 14, 6:00 pm EST: a free webinar, Concussion Mythology and Non-Evidence Based Therapies, will be presented by Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, hosted by the Canadian Concussion Centre. Register in advance.

Thursday, November 16, 12:00 - 1:00 pm EST: a webinar hosted by Love Your Brain, Mental Well-being for Veterans & Civilians with TBI: Digital Therapeutics, Mindfulness, and Belonging. Presenters include Dr. David Brody, MD, PhD, who is a Principal Investigator with the Troops referral program discussed at the top of this newsletter. There is a sliding scale fee for the webinar, including a free tier.

Sports

Answering questions while walking: multi-domain assessment to clear athletes & cadets for return-to-play

Blog

A recent literature review conducted by Danielle DuPlessis et al. investigated the use of multi-domain assessments in tracking the recovery from concussion in both sports-related and military contexts. The study, published in Physical Therapy in Sport, found a strong preference for dual-task assessments, specifically, combinations of walking on a level surface while the participant answered questions.

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Pathophysiology

Blast exposure from firing heavy weapons potentially causing unrecognized brain injuries

Blog

Repeated blast exposure from firing heavy weaponry such as cannons, mortars, shoulder-fired rockets, and even large-caliber machine guns is causing long-term injury to the brains of our military service members. The New York Times reported on the military’s struggle to understand the life-changing mental and physical problems U.S. troops face as a result of blast exposure.

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Resources for Veterans

seven male and female veterans sit in chairs facing towards a speaker whose back we see

Our Resources for Service Members and Veterans page has in-depth resources about

Government treatment centers (inpatient and outpatient)
Non-governmental treatment centers that provide free services
Nonprofit organizations that serve veterans
Apps developed for veterans by the VA
Related websites and podcasts.
Pledge your brain to accelerate research
Related blog posts

Therapies & Diagnostic Tools Under Research

Newly developed therapy “CBT for headache” benefits veterans with post-traumatic headaches and PTSD

Blog

A study published in JAMA Neurology aimed to find out whether cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) could be a viable option for veterans suffering from severe levels of both PTSD and PTH. The study found that a new therapy, CBT for headache, reduced how much these veterans were affected by headaches and PTSD when compared to the usual treatment and that the treatment effect lasted up to 6 months after the therapy.

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Statistics

Risk for stroke significantly elevated for veterans with all levels of TBI, including mild

Blog

Risk for stroke significantly elevated for veterans with all levels of TBI, including mild

A study published by Andrea Schneider et al. in the American Heart Association journal Stroke highlights how a prior history of traumatic brain injury is strongly associated with long-term stroke risk among US military veterans. Based on previous research, TBI is highly prevalent among military veterans. Those with prior TBI are at an increased long-term risk for stroke.

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CTE and Neurodegeneration Issues

A small but significant association between a history of TBI and cognitive decline in a study of older veteran male twins

Blog

“Veterans who reported having at least one traumatic brain injury or TBI at any time in their life had lower cognitive scores in later life, compared to twin siblings who did not experience a TBI,” observed Dr. Chanti-Ketterl during a recent podcast about a twin study of WWII veterans (published in Neurology), of which she was the first author.

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