Here's a NY Times article on how some researchers are making connections between what soldiers experience from bomb blasts and athletes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/us/brain-disease-is-found-in-veterans-exposed-to-bomb...

It can basically be boiled down to this quote:

"If you reduce it to physics, the brain injuries on the playing field are very similar to the brain injuries in combat."