Soldiers and the price of concussions

For athletes who get hit too hard, too often, and suffer repeated concussions, the brain damage is stunningly similar to what happens to the brains of young Americans exposed to a more intense level of combat, such as roadside bomb explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That’s the finding of a new study published Wednesday in a peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine. The result of these blasts, like the result of devastating hits in football, can often be chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Laboratory mice developed this degenerative brain disease soon after exposure to a blast that simulated the intensity of a combat explosion. The disease caused by these blasts has long-term effects on a person’s ability to function.

Some scientists disagree with the findings of the study, and not everyone accepts that blast alone can cause the same damage as a blast that throws someone’s head against a solid object. But the report does have the salutary effect of keeping the debate going. This much is clear: Whether veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, there is no doubt that the effects of these wars on the young men and women who have fought in them will be a problem for them — and for society — for many years to come.