A new study of brain injuries among high school football players finds that concussions that football players suffer may often be the cumulative result of many hits received on the playing field as opposed to the result of one big hit. As hits to the head pile up, a player's brain functioning may become increasingly altered.

The study was conducted by scientists at Purdue University. Researchers tracked the number of hits to the head players on a football team of a high school in Indiana suffered on the playing field over two successive seasons. They did this by equipping the players with helmets outfitted with sensors to record the number of impacts on their heads and the force of these impacts.

Researchers would also reportedly give the players MRI scans to track the activity of their brains while they were attempting to complete memory and thinking exercises.

Researchers found that the players experienced anywhere from 200 to over 1,800 impacts on their head during a season. Reportedly, during the study, six of the players ended up suffering full blown concussions as a result of hits they took on the field.

Researchers also found that 17 other players, while not developing concussions, experienced changes to the functioning of their brains. The amount of changes to brain functioning these players experienced reportedly correlated with the number of hits to the head the players took.

This study gives rise to some interesting and important questions. Are the changes in brain functioning the study found permanent? Do such changes in brain functioning have any long-term impacts on players? How many hits to the head can a football player take before they are in danger of suffering brain damage? Should there be a "hit limit" for high school football players? It will be interesting to see if future studies end up being undertaken to answer these questions and, if they are, what answers they come up with.

Source: NPR, "Many Hits, Rather Than A Big One, Pose Greatest Concussion Risk," Nancy Shute, Feb. 3, 2012