New Study Finds Sub-Concussive Hits To The Head May Cause Brain Damage

BOSTON (CBS) Another warning about repetitive head injuries in sports: A new study finds that it doesn't take a full-blown concussion to cause brain damage.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Rochester Medical Center placed accelerometers in the helmets of 38 college football players to measure the number and intensity of impacts to the head. They also scanned their brains with MRIs before and after football season.

While only two players were actually diagnosed with concussions, more than two-thirds of the players were found to have evidence of white matter damage in their brains by the end of the season.

And the amount of damage was correlated with the number of hits the players took to their heads, suggesting that it's not just big blows that matter but that more minor dings can also add up.