At 4 a.m., they came to take Helen Maroulis’s blood. She was angry. She was confused. Only two years before she had won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, defeating the world’s most formidable 53-kilogram female wrestle. But by the summer of 2018, she was in a psychiatric treatment center somewhere in Utah. Post-traumatic stress disorder, they said. From concussions. From wrestling, the thing she loved the most. 

When the artistic swimming team competition begins on Friday at the Tokyo Games, the goal of the swimmers will be to make their movements appear effortless. But while viewers will see smiling performers, sparkly suits and gelatin-slicked hair, a risk lurks beneath the surface: the potential for concussions.

While debates in rugby rage about what equals a red card and what a suitable stand down following brain injury might be, science continues to bleed unnerving evidence into the mix that none of the above is relevant. If heightened risk of neurodegenerative conditions in later life is the greatest threat to the sport’s survival, which it is, one-off events are of at best marginal significance.

As women’s soccer, rugby and other sports gain popularity, scientists are racing to understand how the female brain responds to head injury.

In a new study, researchers comparing three treatments for Veterans with PTSD found that the longer the time period between trauma and treatment, the greater the decline in symptoms.

“Their symptoms are unlikely to subside without treatment,” Dr. Sheila Rauch says. “All of the Veterans in the study showed reductions and benefit. It means that they do not have to worry if they have been suffering a long time with PTSD because treatments do work regardless of how long it has been.”

After nearly a decade of bureaucratic slowdowns, advocacy efforts and stalled legislation, veterans may be getting increased access to one of the more effective treatments for combat-related mental health conditions: a service dog.

Nearly one in four U.S. servicewomen reports being sexually assaulted in the military. Why has it been so difficult to change the culture?

The Army’s special operations community has borne the brunt of twenty years of war that has led to destructive effects on the mental health of many soldiers. The podcast featured 1st Sgt. Joshua Thompson, a 19-year special operations veteran and Master Sgt. Chris Copper, a Green Beret and former Ranger. 

The two Green Berets have a combined total of 14 combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan between them.

But they weren’t there to talk about their resumes.

Women service members are expanding their service in the military. Since the Defense Department opened all military roles to all service members in 2016, there have been many female “firsts” across military forces. As the population of women veterans grows, we learn more about the visible and invisible wounds these women experience from their time in service, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

A veteran is currently biking through Colorado as part of a trip across the country to raise support and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Marine Corps veteran Nick Novotny started the 4,000-mile trek in June. Novotny said it’s all to honor his friend, Cpl. James Currie, who died in May of last year.