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What exactly is a concussion? Think of the skull as an egg shell and the brain as the yolk floating within the egg white. If the egg shell gets spun or tilted but not shattered, the yolk inside is jostled. But outward signs that the yolk has moved are negligible. Similarly, the physical manifestations of Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (MTBIs -- read, concussions) are so subtle that CAT scans and MRI machinery can't spot them.

The symptoms, too, are subtle and often pass beneath the radar. "There has been a tremendous misconception that a concussion is a loss of consciousness when an athlete gets knocked out," says Collins. "However, there are many other signs that someone has had a concussion, like confusion, dizziness, loss of balance, fine-motor-coordination difficulties, personality change, headache, nausea and vomiting."

And the players themselves are often in the dark. "Until I had mine, for me I can say I never knew exactly what a concussion was or what it did. I always thought you had to be knocked unconscious, like in a coma. I didn't know you could be coherent and think you were all right even though you really weren't," admits the Utah lineman.

As it is, many athletes are loath to sit out. "Most athletes expect to play injured because the injuries are orthopedic. They expect to play with a sprained Achilles' tendon or minor groin pull," says Lovell. "The problem is when they apply that logic to the brain, because the brain is not like a muscle you can tape up and play on when it's 75 percent. It is a non-renewable resource."

So given this new data on concussions, what is the responsibility of the NCAA -- a source of funding for some of Collins' studies -- and the universities to their football players?

In a few rare cases, Lovell believes athletes should not play. He claims that some "appear to be more concussion-prone than others." Still, Lovell and Collins believe that in most cases, the number of concussions matters less than the recovery time allowed. "If an athlete sustains a concussion and the brain is given time to recuperate, we don't feel there are going to be any long-term consequences ... in most cases. It's when the athlete sustains a concussion and then gets placed back in the playing field immediately thereafter [that] the brain jostles around more," says Collins.

The initial findings of the study leave room for debate here -- Bleiberg, the psychologist doing the West Point study, and others are concerned. "People who have had one concussion do OK. Once you have gotten two under your belt, you are starting to enter a different group of people," says Bleiberg. "The literature clearly pointed in that direction. The JAMA papers were the frosting on the cake."

Next page | What was that locker combination?