Memory and Executive Attention Impairments in Mexican Karate Practitioners with a Sport Related Concussion

Physical activity and sports have both physical and mental benefits. However, in contact sports such as karate, when using physical contact techniques, they pose a risk of suffering a head injury. The most common cause of brain damage is from trauma, which is called traumatic brain injury (TBI), these can be classified as mild, moderate or severe. Brain concussions (BC) are a subtype of mild TBI, a sudden and transitory altercation induced by traumatic biochemical forces of direct or indirect transmissions to the brain; although they are not characterized by loss of consciousness, they are associated with long term neurophysiological effects and are more commonly associated with contact sports. That is why, the objective of this research is to describe neuropsychological (attention, memory, executive functions) characteristics of a sample of karate professionals, in order to identify those characteristics which, present an altercation with clinical significance. The sample was divided into karate practitioners who do combat and have reported BC (n=14) and karatekas who do not fight and have not reported BC (n=18), to compare the results according to the history of concussions. It was found that karateka who reported a history of concussions obtained significantly lower scores in tasks of auditory-verbal memory and attentional control linked to executive functions. In conclusion, contact sports provide benefits at the cognitive and emotional level; however, concussions can negatively affect these results in long term despite previous belief that CC are benign.