American athletic trainers are getting behind guidelines that could allow students who sustain a concussion to return to class and physical activity sooner. A statement published Tuesday in the Journal of Athletic Training encourages practitioners to consider the psychological effects on students if they are kept out of school while they recover.

In one of the biggest football rule changes in recent years, NFL team owners approved a major overhaul to the kickoff play on Tuesday morning, borrowing a play design modeled by the rival XFL in a bid to reduce head injuries, as concerns over on-field concussions and lasting effects of CTE continue to mount.

A web of altered neurochemical pathways and physical brain changes result in post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The interplay between cortisol dysregulation, heightened norepinephrine levels, and structural alterations in key brain regions make some individuals more susceptible to PTSD than others.

Rob C., a firefighter in Idaho, undergoes psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in an attempt to address his PTSD.

Black veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder were more likely to be rehospitalized after a stroke than white veterans and Black veterans without PTSD, a new study has found. The study, which reviewed data from more than 93,000 veterans, was published Thursday in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Previous studies have shown that people with PTSD have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke and that they have strokes at younger ages than the general population. Studies also have shown that Black adults have a higher risk of rehospitalization after stroke. But this is one of the first studies to analyze how PTSD affects what happens after a stroke.

When it comes to the ancient Chinese art of acupuncture, all that’s old is new again. Since his hiring three years ago, Dr. Jeremiah Krieger, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS), has been embracing the time-honored practice and using it to treat Veterans’ pain, PTSD, and more.

Cleveland Clinic researchers are actively studying the use of psychedelics, like mushrooms and LSD, to treat certain mental health issues, and so far, the findings seem to show potential. “They seem to allow the brain to enter a state where it becomes more flexible, and it’s easier for a period afterwards, possibly weeks to months, to learn new things,” explained Brian Barnett, MD, psychiatrist for Cleveland Clinic. “And so, it’s easier to make changes to how you view the world, how you view your interaction with the world, and also, it’s easier if you are in therapy to take what you are learning in therapy and apply it in your everyday life.” Dr. Barnett said a lot of the research out there on psychedelics has centered around anxiety, depression and post-traumatic disorder.

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, and the CDC recently recognized domestic violence as a leading cause of traumatic brain injuries. Experts say domestic violence survivors who suffer a TBI are more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD and depression, and they say any brain injury can leave you suffering with severe headaches, dizziness and cognitive issues. One medical expert says this kind of awareness is the first step in the right direction to getting victims the help they need.

The Football Association “was always fully aware” of the risk of concussion and brain injury to players as early as the 1980s but failed to take steps to improve safety, the high court has been told. Lawyers representing several ­former footballers and their ­families have said in court documents that minutes from an FA committee ­meeting in 1983 “indicate” it knew of the risk posed by head injuries “but failed to take action to reduce the risk of players to the lowest reasonable level.”

The NHL loves its players and the positives they bring to the league: good publicity, lots of money, sponsors and fans. The league directly profits from its players and what they do on the ice — including the always popular fights that involve adult men punching one another in the face and bone-crunching. But what happens after?