Concussion: Contact Sports and Brain Injuries: Videos & DVDs

Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines the impact of concussions in the most popular youth sport, soccer. As technology advances, we are learning more about concussions and the brain than ever before, but there is still a long way to go.

Biomedical engineers created eye-tracking software to measure brain functions. It can quickly track eye movement and detect possible problems-slower, less controlled eye movements are typical symptoms of a concussion. The technology will be used on any smartphone or tablet.

High school football has never had a higher profile, with nationally televised games, corporate sponsorships and minute-by-minute coverage on sports websites. FRONTLINE examines teams whose workout schedules, practices, and styles of play increasingly imitate the pros, and asks the question has the amped-up culture of high school football outrun necessary protections for the boys who play the game?

Head injuries in youth and high school football pose daunting challenges that sensational media coverage has many parents believing are insurmountable. Factor in a sport culture resistant to change, too many coaches still teaching players to block and tackle using their heads, players unwilling to report concussions, and a game in which concussion identification and management remains haphazard and poorly understood, and it's no surprise that concerned parents are left wondering what, if anything, can be done to improve safety. In this program, Brooke de Lench-an acknowledged expert in youth sports health and safety and the founder and editor-in-chief of MomsTeam.com, an online publication for mothers parenting children active in youth sports-enlists her own team of doctors and coaches to show how football programs and athletes can reduce concussions by playing smarter. The Smartest Team begins where other concussion documentaries leave off.

Football players take pride in their ability to take a few knocks on the chin, but the long-term effects of multiple concussions are genuinely shocking. This video segment features neurologists in the U.S. whose findings are changing the rules of contact sports.

The NFL is under assault as thousands of former players claim the league has covered up football's connection to long-term brain injuries. This FRONTLINE investigation details how, for years, the league denied and worked to refute scientific evidence that the violent collisions at the heart of the game are linked to an alarming incidence of early onset dementia, catastrophic brain damage, and CTE.